LCK Spring 2022 Playoffs Preview: DRX vs Kwangdong Freecs

Shadman Sabik Zaim
By Shadman Sabik Zaim
7 Min Read
Image Credit: League of Legends Champions Korea

Continuing on our previews of the LCK playoff series, we review the DRX vs Kwangdong Freecs series that kicks off this Thursday

DRX and KDF face off against each other in a best of 5 on the 24th of March. Both teams are looking to win the series but they have come to the playoffs in different ways. DRX has been the consistent team of the two but KDF’s form has been arguably better as of late. With two teams coming into the tournament in differing ways and different styles of play, let’s preview the series.

DRX vs Kwangdong Freecs

With this series, there is a fair bit to look at, starting with the styles of each team and their strengths. The teams operate differently in those respects and here we are with a potential fun series on our hands. Let’s start with DRX and then move on to Kwangdong Freecs.

DRX

This team has been projected as a top 4 team before the split began and they delivered on that. Despite their horrible early start and then the firing of coach Kim, they bounced back in a way that was not expected. After the Lunar Year break, DRX rebounded excellently through the efforts of Deft and Pyosik. It’s primarily been Deft as he is showing us that he still has a lot to offer to a potential top team. Combined with Beryl, they are a formidable bot lane duo.

On the flip side, a lot of DRX’s success also comes through Pyosik as he is a very important part of this team in terms of managing tempo and the likes. Working with his solo laners in Kingen and Zeka, this team works well as a team. Let’s talk about the win conditions for DRX to win the series.

  1. Bot Lane Success
  2. Pyosik Dominating The Jungle
  3. Drafting Better

The easiest win condition for this team is to unlock Deft and Beryl to carry the game. Beryl brings the same tools that he used in DK in the past along with a better duo partner in Deft who can carry games by himself. So it’s a no-brainer that this is a win condition for DRX.

As mentioned earlier, Pyosik has a lot of influence in terms of what DRX can do. He can be a very volatile jungler and thus, is often hit or miss. If he can play at a consistent level, he should have the upper hand over Ellim and control the pace of the game through the jungle. That way, he can help his solo laners, get advantages and snowball the game. Therefore, this is the 2nd win condition of DRX.

Lastly, the last win condition for DRX is to draft better. Their drafts have been wonky and have not worked well. This is most likely due to a bit of turmoil that they faced before firing their HC, who was on the job for a few months. This problem will need to be addressed by DRX

These are the win conditions for DRX and they are fairly straightforward, the bigger question will be if DRX can execute it. Let’s move on to Kwangdong Freecs.

Kwangdong Freecs

KDF has been great as time passed for the split and they rose well during the split. They have some really talented solo laners along with a great AD carry. However, their deficiency has generally been their jungler and support. Recently though, Hoit has found his footing and he is playing well along with Teddy. Let’s move on to win conditions for KDF.

  1. Kiin Supremacy
  2. Unlocking FATE
  3. Mitigating DRX’s Bot Lane

Kiin has been one of the best top laners in the LCK although he has not been the best as most people would expect. Regardless, he really made sure KDF got the 5th seed and that is the way for KDF to win. Thus, this is the best way for KDF to win if they can pull it off.

FATE has been on a tear as of late and he needs to keep at it for KDF to have a good shot at winning the series. KDF is finally looking like the team everyone expected and now it’s time to see whether they can rise up further. FATE will be an important player in this series and mid lane could decide the series for either side.

Like we said in the DRX win conditions, DRX’s bot lane is a handful and KDF has to limit that. Since KDF is a fairly solo lane-based team, putting some resources to stop Deft from reaching a point where he can carry is a safe bet to win games. However, that’s easier said than done as it’s not an easy feat to achieve.

Thus, these are the win conditions for KDF.

Predictions and Conclusion

DRX vs Kwangdong Freecs is a clash of two different styles with both teams posing different strengths. There will be a lot of back and forth in this series and you can expect a great series. For us, it should be 3-1 in favor of DRX as they are the better team performance-wise. However, KDF could really turn the tables on them depending on how the solo lanes go.

With that said, this is a good series to follow up DK vs BRO and we eagerly await to watch KDF and DRX fight it out as they face each other on Thursday, 24th March.

By Shadman Sabik Zaim Deputy Editor
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Shadman is a Deputy Editor of League of Legends and other Riot IPs (excluding VALORANT) at GameRiv. He is a computer science and engineering graduate who got into games pretty early. Also, he takes pride in trying multiple types of games and got into League of Legends pretty early. Games, Board Games, Writing, Music, and Sports are his passions and hobbies.