As the first stage of the LCK competition nears its midpoint, on the previous matchday, the winless 0-2 HLE faced the easy target BRO. Before the match, many expected HLE to sweep BRO 2-0 and claim their first win of the new season, but the audience overestimated HLE. The two teams went the full three games, with HLE finally winning to get their first victory. Except for the last two games in the decider, HLE fought BRO evenly.

An AD who kept dying early, a suddenly aggressive jungler, and a support that couldn't initiate fights—covering HLE’s team logo and player IDs, one might mistake them for T1. Even a big healer can act as the team captain. This was definitely unexpected by viewers. Although HLE secured their opening win, struggling against bottom teams shows their overall strength still lags far behind T1 and GEN, and they need further synergy improvements.

On the same day, another match featured GEN versus BFX. As a top-tier team, GEN demonstrated clear dominance over HLE. BFX is not a weak team in LCK either, but GEN easily took the series 2-0. This season, Sanshu has visibly improved a lot, showing that Ryu’s coaching is effective. Previously prone to dying and just following the game flow, Sanshu now can catch enemies and counter-gank, acting as a protector when teammates split push.

The roster remained unchanged, only the coaching staff switched, and suddenly the jungler knows how to play properly. Could last year’s GEN problems really have been due to Coach Kim? Comparing to WBG, whose roster is also strong on paper but is now last in the promotion group under Coach Kim’s leadership, it seems a good coach can bring qualitative changes. However, GEN has always been strong in the league, and their true strength will be tested internationally.

In the second game against BFX, Ruler picked Jhin. This season, Jhin is undoubtedly a meta trap — in the LPL, he was picked 8 times without a single win; once in the LEC; and thrice in the LCK, all losses. Before Ruler’s pick, Jhin’s global record this year was 0-13. Ruler’s victory marked Jhin’s first win, proving this champion is not well suited for the current meta, especially being weak in team fights.

In a crit-heavy AD meta, champions like Aphelios, Senna, and Miss Fortune dominate with strong sustained damage. Jhin can only capitalize on lane advantages by bullying weaker early-game AD carries or neglected picks like Ezreal. But in team fights, Jhin’s damage falls short. Four shots aren’t enough to win fights. Even with good early farm, his mid-to-late game role is mostly utility, as shown by Jiaqi’s 15-4 Jhin loss to IG.

Going forward, Jhin’s pick priority is expected to drop significantly. Among the five major regions, only the LPL still favors Jhin. The LCS and LCK have yet to pick him once this season. Coaches will need to reconsider whether to continue selecting him in upcoming matches. After beating BFX, GEN’s first stage record is now 3-0, tied with DK for first place in the Baron group standings.

After this week’s matches, LCK will enter a super week where teams with identical rankings will face off. Based on current group standings, GEN is likely to face DK, while T1 should meet BFX. Both groups are tightly contested at 7-7 records. To widen the gap, the super week’s best-of-five matches will be crucial, as winners earn 2 points directly.

In conclusion:

The elder brother of the Ancient Dragon group was supposed to be HLE and DK. Now, with HLE underperforming, BFX is stepping up. Given HLE’s current form, facing T1 or GEN will likely result in easy points for those teams. DK also struggles against these two. Unless something unexpected happens, the top three in the Dragon group will qualify directly for the LCK Cup playoffs.

So, what do you think — is Jhin a meta trap?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!