The opening series of the split will be a rematch of the lower-bracket semifinal from the LCK Spring playoffs, where KT Rolster defeated Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 in a best-of-five series.

After their best finish in the LCK since winning the LCK Summer 2019 split, KT Rolster are ready to challenge the likes of Gen.G, Dplus KIA and T1 this upcoming season. Even though they haven’t added any new players over the break, this team is ready to win, and KT should be able to go deep into the playoffs for the second split in a row.

Hanwha Life Esports signed five new players to fill their roster before the LCK Spring split, and there was a renewed hype about the team that finished in last place for both the spring and summer splits during 2022. However, the start to the spring split wasn’t great, as the roster was still trying to work out how to play with one another.

Slowly but surely, however, HLE found their way through the middle stages of the regular season. Their upset victory over Dplus KIA in the quarterfinals showed that the roster is on the right path, but Hanwha still weren’t good enough to match the likes of KT Rolster, Gen.G and T1.

Both KT Rolster and HLE will be pushing for a top-four position in the LCK for this split, and we believe that we will see a good three-map series to open the LCK Summer split.

Dplus KIA jumped out of the blocks to begin the spring split, winning three of their first four series, with one of those wins coming against SANDBOX Gaming. However, late in the campaign, when they had to battle with the likes of KT Rolster, Gen.G and T1 for a top-two spot, they dropped a couple of matches and ended up finishing the regular season in fourth place.

Even though they went into their opening playoff game against Hanwha Life Esports as a heavy favourite, Dplus were knocked out of the playoffs in quick fashion. The core of this roster has been together for some time now, and we still expect Dplus to be fighting for a top-three position at the end of this split.

SANDBOX Gaming were one of the few teams that made a change over the break, adding Park “Teddy” Jin-seong as their new AD carry after Lee “Envyy” Myeong-joon left. It will take some time for the roster to gel with Teddy, so we could see some early-season struggles — especially against the bigger teams.

With SANDBOX trying to work things out with their new player, and with Dplus KIA known for their strong starts, expect Dplus to get the job done rather comfortably.

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Fredit BRION handed Liiv SANDBOX their first loss of the split on Wednesday thanks to their strong early game, which allowed them to snowball their leads. SANDBOX looked better in game two but lost a crucial dragon fight and had to admit defeat to Fredit BRION, who were simply the better team that day.

We didn’t like Liiv SANDBOX forcing to play Jhin. Picks like that suggest SANDBOX don’t have their drafts figured out since Jhin isn’t a very good pick in the current meta. Still, you can’t take much from one game, so we have to let this one slide.

Liiv SANDBOX stumbled a bit in their split opener, but it’s not like Nongshin RedForce impressed in their fixture against KT Rolster either. Expect a close match with all three maps played.

Hanwha Life Esports lost their LCK 2021 Summer opener against T1 (0-2). Despite that defeat, you have to give HLE some praise for their unique picks – Kog’Maw + Braum in the bottom lane, Volibear in the mid lane, and Lulu in the top lane.

HLE held on relatively well in game one but got stomped in game two in what was a reasonably close series, however, there wasn’t much to take away from it. HLE have had some flashes of greatness, but they have yet to show what they’re capable of.

Gen.G enter this match priced as $1.37 favourites with esports betting sites, which overrates them quite a bit. They might be the better team, but the offered betting odds are way too pricey for the first week of the split.

HLE are talented enough to compete with the best teams in the league, and they should at least force a thigh series on Saturday. HLE with a map handicap at $1.61 is a solid bet.

KT Rolster enter this match off a 2-0 victory against Liiv SANDBOX on Saturday, which marked their first win of the split. Their only previous game happened last Wednesday when KT Rolster lost (0-2) against Gen.G.

Since KT Rolster played only two games so far, it’s hard to say how far they can go, but there are no clear weaknesses in the team, which gives us hope they can pick up a few wins early on. Standing on the other side of the Rift on Friday will be Hanwha Life Esports, who have split their first two games of the season against T1 (1-2) and DRX (2-1).

Even though HLE’s record is not exactly bad, we are a bit concerned with this team and their long-term success, namely because Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu are the only two players who look good. On paper, HLE are stronger, but they have way too many weaknesses for us to trust them with our money. KT Rolster at $2.44 is a great bet with the top esports betting sites.

DRX are shaping up to be much stronger than many people expected and even though much of their success is due to other teams struggling, DRX is still a solid squad that can cause some damage to mid-table teams. Knowing they lack the individual talent to compete with the top teams, DRX instead use a more aggressive style of play which seems to be doing wonders, although that might not work against more organised squads.

Luckily, Liiv SANDBOX are not a team you could describe as organised but are rather the complete opposite. That said, they did show some improvement on Wednesday when they won against Afreeca Freecs, granted AF look like a mess so we shouldn’t value SANDBOX’s win too highly.

We expect SANDBOX to win, but their synergy is still not on point, which could see them drop at least one map. Over 2.5 maps is paying at $1.96 with the top betting apps, which is a good bet to take.

Afreeca Freecs enter this match off a 2-0 sweep of Fredit BRION in what was a surprisingly close and a sloppy affair.

Regardless, AF proved that they can come out of the chaos with gigantic gold leads, which speaks a lot about their quality as a team that will do fine against bottom of the table squads, but will likely struggle against the top dogs.

Liiv SANDBOX were not very successful last week, when they lost to Nongshim RedForce (1-2) and KT Rolster (0-2). If there is something we can take from SANDBOX’s games is that they have a lot of promise, but they’re very messy in execution, which suggests they should do fine later in the season, but for now they’re a bit hit-or-miss.

Despite AF’s shaky display against the league’s worst team, they are still the better side here. We expected them to be priced closer to $1.60 (with the top esports betting sites), which makes this a no-brainer pick for us.

Nongshin RedForce lost their most recent league fixture against DWG KIA which was expected, however we have to note that RedForce’s mid laner Park “Bay” Jun-byeong continues to disappoint in his debut as a pro. Based on his performance so far, it seems like he won’t be able to keep up with other mid laners in the league including DRX’s Song “SOLKA” Su-hyeong.

DRX are arguably one of the weakest teams in this League of Legends league, but they perform much better than expected. DRX’s biggest problem is their inability to gain leads on their own, however, they are fairly efficient in closing out games when given the opportunity.

Taking advantage of RedForce’s weaknesses (mid) will be crucial for DRX’s success and we are confident jungler Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon is aware of that. This seems more like an underdog or nothing type of match and at these odds and so early into the season, it’s hard not to take shot on DRX.

Nongshim RedForce (formerly Team Dynamics) had what you could call a solid rebrand and they did not need long to make quite a statement by reaching the grand finals of KeSPA Cup 2020. Much of their success came down to the performances of their new jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho, who has proven once more that he is an underrated player and still one of the best junglers in the league.

Unlike RedForce who enter the season with many new faces, Liiv SANDBOX (formerly SANDBOX Gaming) decided to run it back from 2020, which is not particularly bad considering they had a solid run towards the end of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2020 Summer. The only change on their starting roster is ex-T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho and it seems like the only reason Liiv SANDBOX signed him is because Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun retired.

Nongshim RedForce come off as a stronger team, but Liiv SANDBOX are not a squad you should write off entirely. We rank these two teams very close and feel like the betting odds are set solely due to RedForce’s impressive run at the KeSPA Cup, where they arguably overperformed. At these odds, betting on SANDBOX is not a bad choice, but it makes more sense to place our money on over 2.5 maps.

DRX enter the 2021 season with Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon as the only remaining player from last season. Since DRX lost all of their star players, it’s fair to say they won’t shine as bright as they did in 2020 and unless the meta shifts back in favour of carry junglers, there is even a world where DRX fail to finish above ninth.

While we are not convinced with DRX’s new project, the opposite holds true for Afreeca Freecs, who have made a couple of big signings. Their most notable signing was support Son “Lehends” Si-woo who is arguably the biggest upgrade any team could have made.

These teams last met three weeks ago during the KeSPA Cup, when DRX claimed an upset win, however, it seems highly unlikely AF will take the league matches as lightly as their KeSPa Cup fixtures. We wouldn’t be surprised if Afreeca manage to sweep the depleted DRX, but we will settle for a safer bet.

That combination of results means Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi and co. will miss out on the LCK postseason for the second split in a row, following their disastrous ninth-place finish in LCK 2020 Spring.

Even so, there was obvious improvement on SANDBOX’s performances from the previous split. They ended the LCK Spring with an equal-worst 5-13 record to drop into the LCK Summer Promotion series, where they lost the opening match to Team Dynamics (0-2) but bounced back with sweeps against Griffin (2-0) and Seorabeol Gaming (3-0) to avoid relegation to the Challengers Korea (CK) league.

After earning back their right to compete in the Korean top flight, SANDBOX quickly returned to their old ways and lost their opening five games. At that point, however, YamatoCannon’s 14-day quarantine ended and he took charge of the squad for the first time since signing on as head coach in May, which resulted in an instant resurgence.

With YamatoCannon overseeing his players, SANDBOX Gaming looked significantly better, started winning games, and managed an impressive 6-4 run to finish Week 8 in seventh place. Unfortunately, the hole SANDBOX Gaming had dug for themselves at the start of the split proved to be too deep to climb out of, and the unforgiving competition for a top-five finished did not make their experience any easier.

Going against all the odds, SANDBOX opened the series against Gen.G with a well-deserved win in just over 39 minutes with a 17-13 kill score and +5.2k gold lead. But things took a sudden turn for the worse in game two, where Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong got his hands on his signature Azir and carried his team to victory while earning his 12th MVP award of the split to take the top spot in the MVP standings with 1,200 points.

The third and last game of the series played out similarly to the second one. While Bdd was not quite as influential as he was in the previous game, he still played a crucial role in Gen.G’s triumph with an infinite KDA (2/0/6) and 13.361 damage (22.7% damage share).

Even after losing to Gen.G, SANDBOX Gaming still had a slim chance of making it to the postseason. For that to happen, KT Rolster would have to lose to SeolHaeOne Prince, but Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram and his crew ran riot and pocketed their seventh win of the season to keep their playoffs alive and kill off SANDBOX’s for good.

With their 2020 campaign done, SANDBOX Gaming now have all the time in the world to work on the foundation they have built with YamatoCannon and look towards the first-ever franchised LCK season next year.

The announcement surfaced this Thursday on SANDBOX’s official Twitter page, where they unveiled their second coaching change of the split after Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi took charge of the organisation’s League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) roster in May.

“We are pleased to announce ‘Nova’ Park Chan Ho has joined us as coach of SANDBOX Gaming Academy,” read the announcement.

“From his experiences as a player, we hope he will enable our academy players to reach their full potential. Please support Coach Nova on his new challenge.”

This will mark Nova’s first coaching stint in his three-year esports career, which began in January 2017 when he joined APK Prince (now SeolHaeOne Prince) as their main support player. Throughout his League of Legends career, Nova also played for Jin Air Green Wings, Seorabeol Gaming and SUDAEGI GAMING.

Even though Nova never achieved any notable results besides winning the Challengers Korea (CK) 2020 Spring title with Seorabeol Gaming, the 23-year- old pro has gained renown for his shot calling and strong understanding of the game.

He now joins forces with head coach Kim “PanDa” Gi-woong and assistant coach Choi “DooTi” Du-seong at SANDBOX Gaming Academy, where he will use his strategic skills to help develop promising young talent into LCK-level players.

SANDBOX Gaming’s trainee roster currently consists of top laner Jeon “Howling” Ho-bin, junglers Geum go and Park “Natalie” Geun-yong, ADC Yoon “Ice” Sang-hoon and Kingkong, support Lee “Muru” Seong-jo, and mid laners Kang “Ten10” Joon and Seo “TolanD” Sang-won.

In their rather short history, SANDBOX have fostered a few notable names through their academy project, including ex-Dire Wolves support Eun “Totoro” Jong-seop and most notably DAMWON Gaming ADC Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun, who is known as one of the best marksmen in the Korean top flight.

AFREECA FREECS vs SANDBOX GAMING LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

AFREECA FREECS vs SANDBOX GAMING LCK SUMMER BETTING PREVIEW

The 2020 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Summer Split is set to kick off this Tuesday as Afreeca Freecs and SANDBOX Gaming lock horns for the first time since March.

SANDBOX Gaming clawed their way back into the top tier through the LCK 2020 Summer Promotion series following their ninth-place finish in LCK 2020 Spring. While they lost their opening fixture of the promotion series against Team Dynamic (0-2), SANDBOX made easy work of Griffin (2-0) and Seorabeol Gaming (3-0) in the final round.

The team opted for a plethora of changes after their poor performance in the Spring Split. Coaches Kang “Laden” Byung-ho, Shin “Coco” Jin-yeong and Song “Morning” Chang-geun all left in April and were replaced by Choi “DooTi” Du-seong, Jeong “FanTaSy” Myeong-hoon, and ex-support Cho “Joker” Jae-eup.

SANDBOX decided to further expand their coaching panel in May with the signing of Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi, who became the first Western coach to join a Korean LoL team. They also made one roster change in the off-season, acquiring former Griffin support Jeong “Kabbie” Sang-hyeon (formerly known as “Irove”).

Although SANDBOX have not made any major roster changes since the last split, their 10-man squad and seven trainee players ensure they have plenty of options. Having said that, they still don’t have a superstar around whom they can play.

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The two ADCs in Han “Leo” Gyeo-re and Moon “Route” Geom-su both had solid Spring Splits, although they failed to produce any outstanding numbers. The same can be said for jungler Son “Punch” Min-hyuk. All of SANDBOX’s players have shown potential, however, and only time will tell how high this team’s ceiling is.

Afreeca Freecs ended LCK Spring in sixth place with a 7-11 record. Although Kim “Kim” Gi-in and co. did not make it into the post-season, they were only two wins short in what was one of the most competitive LCK splits we have seen in a while.

That said, Afreeca Freecs also deserve some criticism for their poor performances in the final weeks of the split. In their last six games, they beat the sinking Griffin but suffered losses against APK Prince, DAMWON Gaming, Hanwha Life, Kingzone DragonX and T1.

Afreeca Freecs did not make any roster changes to their main team in the off-season, instead deciding to expand their trainee team with the acquisition of support Kim “MapSSi” Do-yeong and an unknown top laner in “??????love”. Apart from that, Afreeca Freecs also acquired former Kongdoo Monster, Clutch Gaming and Dignitas coach Han “Rigby” Earl.

This team has a few bright talents in the roster, namely top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in and jungler Lee “Spirit” Da-yoon. They both put up strong numbers in the last split and will hope to start LCK Summer 2020 in similar fashion.

AFREECA FREECS vs SANDBOX GAMING LCK SUMMER BETTING PREDICTIONS

These teams met twice last split. Afreeca Freecs won the first meeting 2-1 in Week 3 but suffered a 0-2 loss in the rematch in Week 6. While that defeat came at the time when Afreeca were struggling, that is no excuse for losing to one of the worst teams in the split.

SANDBOX enter this match as massive underdogs, but that does not necessarily mean they will go down without a fight. This team has the players to perform at this level and the change in coaching personnel should help them realise their potential.

Bringing in a former LEC coach will likely see SANDBOX change up their playstyle, which could take a few LCK teams by surprise. We are not ready to side with YamataoCannon’s side before we see them in action, but they should at least make Afreeca Freecs work for the win and force the series to three maps.

YamatoCannon takes over from Kang “Laden” Byung-ho, who parted ways with the Korean esports organisation in April shortly after SANDBOX concluded their LCK 2020 Spring Split campaign in the relegation zone.

“We are delighted to announce that a former Team Vitality head coach and LEC analyst Jakob ‘YamatoCannon’ Mebdi has been appointed as the new head coach of SANDBOX Gaming,” read the announcement.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24-year-old coach will be working with his new team remotely from Europe until his visa is approved and he can travel to Korea. His arrival could be delayed for a while longer, however, since there were more than 100 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Seoul last week.

YamatoCannon first appeared in the League of Legends esports scene in September 2011, when he played as a top laner for Team Mistral. He went on to play for Western Wolves, Absolute Legends.Alpha, Tt Dragons, H2k-Gaming and DragonBorns, with whom he made an appearance in the inaugural season of the European LoL Championship Series (EU LCS). After the team disbanded, the Swede moved to Heimerdinger’s Colossi. In June 2013 he joined against All authority, which was his last stop before transitioning to coaching.

As a coach, YamatoCannon took charge of MeetYourMakers, Glacial Phoenix and Team ROCCAT before joining Team Splyce in January 2016. He led Splyce to a silver medal at the EU LCS 2016 Summer Playoffs, won the 2016 EU Regional Finals and helped his team reach the 2016 LoL World Championship, where they finished 13th-16th after failing to claw their way out of the group stage.

YamatoCannon’s breakthrough as a coach came during his stay at Team Vitality, where he rose to prominence as one of the most talented European LoL strategists. He made his second Worlds appearance in 2018 when the French esports organisation nearly made it to the quarter-finals. Vitality were grouped with Gen.G, Cloud9 and Royal Never Give Up, where they defeated Gen.G twice and took a win away from RNG en route to a 3-3 record – one short of making it to the playoffs.

YamatoCannon will join SANDBOX after a spell working for Riot Games as a LEC analyst while also creating his own content for YouTube. He will become the first Western coach in history to take charge of a LCK team. Although LCK commentator Nick “LS” De Cesare served as head coach of the BBQ Olivers in 2018-2019, they were playing in the second-tier of the Korean LoL ecosystem – Challengers Korea (CK).

With YamatoCannon’s arrival, SANDBOX Gaming will look to improve upon their disastrous run through the 2020 LCK Spring Split, which they finished in ninth place with a 5-13 record. That meant they had to fight their way through the LCK 2020 Summer Promotion tournament, where they eliminated Griffin and Seorabeol Gaming to join Team Dynamics in the upcoming LCK split.

Besides the signing of YamatoCannon, SANDBOX have also promoted jungler Kim “OnFleek” Jang-gyeom and mid laner Yoo “FATE” Su-hyeok to the main roster. Assistant coaches Shin “Coco” Jin-yeong and Song “Morning” Chang-geun have moved on, with Choi “DooTi” Du-seong, Cho “Joker” Jae-eup and Jeong “FanTaSy” Myeong-hoon replacing them.

The LCK will resume on Wednesday, June 17, with the schedule yet to be revealed.

GRIFFIN VS SANDBOX GAMING LEAGUE OF LEGENDS BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

GRIFFIN VS SANDBOX GAMING LCK SPRING SPLIT BETTING PREVIEW

Griffin and SANDBOX Gaming will meet on the Summoner’s Rift this Wednesday in Week 2 of the 2020 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Spring Split. Griffin will be eager to avenge their KeSPA Cup quarter-final defeat against SANDBOX back in December, while Kang “Laden” Byung-ho’s squad will look to continue climbing the ladder by pocketing their second win of the season.

Griffin had a tough start to the 2020 LCK season, losing to both Afreeca Freecs and Gen.G. They have shown glimpses of quality, however, and it is worth noting Choi “Sword” Sung-won and company played two of the strongest teams in the LCK in the opening week.

Griffin’s first-up defeat to Afreeca Freecs was not as one-sided as expected, yet there is no denying the winners deserved their spoils. Griffin then got stomped by the league favourites, Gen.G, who showed no mercy with their aggressive playstyle.

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SANDBOX Gaming will look to bounce back from the bitter loss they suffered on Sunday, when they were reverse-swept by the new-look DragonX. While Laden’s squad played well, the little mistakes cost them the win.

Han “Leo” Gyeo-re, while a solid ADC, had a few moments of weakness in the opening week. He was caught out of position at a critical stage in the loss to DragonX, so he will want to make amends this week.

On a more positive note, SANDBOX thrashed APL Prince in their first game of the season. They won’t be the only team to do that, however, as APL are expected to finish in the lower reaches of the table.

GRIFFIN VS SANDBOX GAMING LCK SPRING SPLIT BETTING PREDICTIONS

Looking at the betting odds, we believe esports bookmakers are not giving Griffin enough credit for what they have shown so far this season.

There is no going around the fact that Griffin are not the same team as last season, due to the Kanavi incident, but this team is capable of doing some damage. Griffin stood their ground against Afreeca Freecs, which suggests they can trouble the top teams in the LCK this season.

Park “Viper” Do-hyeon has been performing well and is averaging exceptional numbers, despite the fact Griffin played two of the strongest Korean teams in the opening week of the LCK Spring Split. On the other side, Leo looked very shaky and made some crucial errors that cost SANDBOX the win.

In the mid lane, Son “Ucal” Woo-hyeon will meet with Kim “Dove” Jae-yeon, which should be a tight contest. Sword is yet to show his true strength in the top lane, but his 2019 LCK Summer Split performances tell us he is not to be underestimated.

Griffin have the needed pieces to go toe-to-toe with the best teams Korea has to offer, but those pieces have yet to fall into place. Nonetheless, they have shown enough so far for us to believe they can pinch a map off SANDBOX.