With only one month left until the League of Legends World Championship officially begins, the five major regions that have qualified are all holding their playoffs one after another. The LCP region is the most advanced, and the seeding order for the three participating teams has already been set. TSW swept CFO 3-0 in the finals to win the third split title, entering the World Championship as the first seed. The losing CFO becomes the second seed, and MVKE finally secures the third seed.

As for the remaining regions, only BLG and HLE have confirmed their spots at Worlds so far. Due to the smaller number of teams in the LCK, its playoff progress is also significantly ahead of the LPL. On the most recent match day, DK was brutally beaten when facing KT. KT took just three games to easily defeat DK and advance to the second round of the winners' bracket. In the first two games, DK had early advantages, but once team fights started, someone would inexplicably begin throwing.

ShowMaker's Orianna in the first game really looked like Xiaohu—starting 2-0, he built Rod of Ages first, then Rocketbelt. When team fights broke out, the Orianna dealt zero damage. KT even chose to ignore ShowMaker and directly engage Smash. In the second game, DK's lead had grown to a point where losing seemed impossible. At 33 minutes, DK was ahead by nearly 15K gold, yet they repeatedly collapsed in team fights, allowing KT to turn the game around.

From the 33rd to the 40th minute, DK didn't secure a single kill. Every team fight went KT's way. Top laner Siwoo made several huge mistakes. In the deciding game, the two teams were evenly matched, with DK even holding a slight gold lead. But in the decisive fight, BDD gave an opening—DK failed to hold him down after his resurrection and were instead wiped out 0-for-5. For three straight games, DK lost team fights despite having advantages. Their team coordination is truly absurd.

Interestingly, before this match, all LCK casters predicted DK would win. So when KT pulled off the upset, the casters were completely wrong. The two casters on the main stage immediately kowtowed to the audience to apologize—that move was really hard to keep a straight face at. Clearly, everyone had high expectations for DK, but nobody expected them to fall apart so badly in their first playoff game. Could it be that the EWC prize money just arrived these past two days?

Before the salary dispute was exposed, DK's games looked pretty much like this one. During the Esports World Cup, the whole team suddenly stepped up and won the EWC championship. At the time, everyone joked that DK was the "Salary Warrior." They played quite well during the regular season, but come playoffs, they completely collapsed. If they play like this in their next match, DK might not even beat BFX, and they could miss out on Worlds entirely.

After both KT and T1 advanced, GEN chose to face KT. T1 and HLE were automatically paired. These two matches are crucial for the three teams: except for HLE, whoever wins locks in a Worlds spot. The match between BFX and DK is a do-or-die for both—the loser is eliminated, while the winner keeps their chances alive. DK's loss has put them on the edge of a cliff; they need to win two in a row to advance.

KT's performance in this BO5 was actually just average, which is why GEN chose them. As for T1, their form has improved a bit compared to the regular season, making them a tougher opponent. Given the current LCK situation, the Worlds spots will likely go to the four teams in the winners' bracket. For DK to make it, they'll need to play at their regular-season level and win two straight games. Right now, the odds of ShowMaker winning both seem low.

Conclusion:

The LCK playoff patch is behind the LPL's. The bot lane is still playing AP champions, and double AP compositions appear frequently. This is one of the main reasons DK got turned around in the second game—double AP comps have very low late-game potential. I wonder if the patch will change in the next round. If it updates to 26.17, DK might actually have a chance to win two in a row.

So, what do you think—does ShowMaker still have a chance to qualify?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!