With six days remaining until the LCK second stage group matches move into super week, the last match day saw HLE from the Ancient Dragon group clash with DNS from the Great Dragon group. Despite HLE taking the win in this seemingly one-sided game, the process was tough. The teams battled through three games before HLE earned their second victory of the season. Zeus was dominated by Dudu in two straight games in this BO3, and Rabbit, playing Quasanti, was surprisingly solo killed in lane.

Playing long-range champions against short-range ones with no advantage, and still getting solo killed, by the end of the match Zeus and Rabbit’s record was 1-8. It’s somewhat surreal—Zeus is only 22 years old, yet his recent performances have been increasingly disappointing. Even bottom-tier teams’ top laners dare to challenge him. If he faces Kiin later, it feels like he’ll be spun around like a top. Unable to beat strong teams and barely scraping wins against weaker ones after full BO3s, this year’s HLE doesn’t feel like a strong team.

Another match featured the first-place teams from two groups, DK versus GEN. Early in the season, Xu showed some promise but mostly just bullied weaker teams. Against the legendary GEN, DK was powerless, getting swept 2-0 with a quick shutout. Xu wasn’t completely crushed but could only barely hold on. The disparity in the top, jungle, and mid lanes was huge, especially in the top lane where Siwoo was thoroughly dominated by Kiin.

In the current meta, falling behind by 6K gold in the top lane is almost unheard of, but hoping for DK to beat GEN was unrealistic from the start. The “intra-league gods” title for GEN is well-earned. After this loss, DK’s record against GEN now stands at 20 straight defeats. The last time DK beat GEN was back in the 2021 summer split during the first round of the regular season when Xu led the team to a win.

Over the past five years, DK has faced GEN twenty times without a single victory. Xu’s shameful record is truly historic. The strangest part is that both teams have never changed their mid laners during this period, meaning Daenyoo has defeated Xu 20 times in a row. This record was actually set last year, but in the third stage Xu moved to the Nirvana group and didn’t face GEN, so the 20 consecutive losses milestone was only reached this year.

Losing 20 straight matches is indeed surreal, but there is another LCK team even worse off than DK. Since NS joined the LCK in 2019, they have never beaten GEN in any BO3 or BO5 series. The two teams have played at least 30 times, and NS has yet to claim a single win in seven years. Even perennial bottom-dwellers DNS managed to beat GEN in 2023. It remains to be seen if Scout can pull off an upset this year and break this disgraceful streak.

HLE beat NDS, DK lost to GEN, and now the two groups are tied again in points. In the Ancient Dragon group, every team has won at least one game, with DK temporarily leading, while BFX and HLE each have 2 points. In the Great Dragon group, most teams are clinging to stronger ones; GEN started 4-0 undefeated, T1 is 3-0 without a loss, NS and DNS each have one win, and BRO has played three games but still hasn’t secured their first victory, dragging the group down.

In the super week, teams with the same rankings in each group will play BO5 matches. GEN and T1 have already locked in the top two spots in their group. Their likely opponents will be DK and BFX. Both DK and HLE have one game left and are expected to lose; DK faces T1, while HLE meets GEN. If HLE loses the last match, they will remain at 2 points and rank below BFX, who still have two games left, including one against NDS.

Conclusion:

Just by changing the jungler and AD carry, HLE has become a third-tier team this year. Kanavi, used to picking on weaker opponents in the LPL, seems lost after returning to the LCK. Zeus and Grandma are also in poor form. This HLE lacks competitiveness, and Redmi’s coaching skills seem mediocre at best—he’s turned a star-studded team into a mere canoe.

So, do you think DK can defeat T1?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and discuss!