Circle February 15, 18:00 KST on your calendar and open the LCK Twitch stream in 1080p–Gen.G, T1, HLE and DK all play that Sunday, so you’ll see every lane kingdom, baron flip and rookie flash-forwards within four straight best-of-threes. Draft pick order changed in the pre-season patch: red side now gets the final counter-pick in games 2 and 3, so expect Bdd and Chovy to park on Azir/Viktor duty and dare opponents to blind Sylas.
Keep your eyes on Peyz and Smash. Peyz averaged 9.2 cs per minute after lane swap patches last split while playing weak-side, and he arrives with a new support partner, Way, who finished 2025 with the fastest roam timing of any LCK rookie (3:47). Smash, only 17, hit rank 1 on both Korean and Chinese super-servers during off-season, and scrim leaks show him styling on Jinx-Zeri with 1.9 average deaths per game–numbers that mirror Gumayusi 2022 MVP run.
Pencil Dplus KIA as the sleeper. They swapped Cuzz for Lucid, giving the jungle a 200-gold per minute early-game spike, and top laner Siad spent December grinding 1v1s against Zeus; DK coaching staff told Inven he now holds a 56 % lane parity rate in scrims. With the meta shifting toward Graves-Sejuani top side, Siad champion ocean–Rumble, Aatrox, Kante–gives DK flexible win conditions without telegraphing picks in the first rotation.
Watch the Gen.G vs T1 opening week rematch for jungle pathing: Canyon starts botside 82 % of the time, while Oner invades top scuttle at 3:05. If Canyon flips to a top-to-bot clear, he denies Oner signature level-3 gank, forcing Faker to burn TP early. That single timing decided both 2025 finals games, and the coaching booths know it–expect three-man topside dives before plates fall.
Title Favorites: Core Line-Ups & Win Conditions
Lock T1 five-man roster–Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, Keria–into your pick’em first; they kept every starter, added substitute jungler Pyosik for 7-man scrim blocks, and still average 14.3 minutes to first turret, fastest in LCK history.
Gen.G kept only Peyz–Lehends bot lane, promoted scrim monster Sylvie to jungle and imported Chinese solo-queue phenom Tip mid. Their win condition: draft double-marksmen top side, accelerate Sylvie through lane-tax Rift Heralds, finish pre-20. They are 9-1 in KeSPA Cup when Herald spawns before 8:00.
Watch HLE 6-man rotation: Doran–Peanut start on red side, Zechariah–Clid on blue. Coach DanDy flips the map to guarantee counter-pick for Viper, who plays five AD-carries at 90+ cs differential@14. Ban Aphelios first or he 1v9s.
DK rebuilt around ShowMaker. They paired him with rookie support Bible who lands 4.2 skillshots per minute in lane, highest among debutants. Their macro: ShowMaker shoves with Lissandra, roams top, triple-bounces wave so Siwoo gets solo plate gold. Repeat three times; average game time 24:07.
KDF kept the 2025 roster but moved BuLLDoG to jungle and signed LDL star HeyE mid. Result: 78% first-blood rate when HeyE locks LeBlanc and BuLLDoG invades raptor camp at 1:25. Track their level-2 mid-jungle 2v2; it decides half their series.
DRX budget lineup fields three trainees under 18. They win through tempo: pick Yone, Graves, Nautilus, dive tier-2 before plates fall, trade three-for-five turrets. Games end bloody–combined kills per minute 0.94–but they top Group B because opponents bleed waves while resetting.
- T1: Ban Alistar to force Keria onto enchanters; his roaming drops 38% without engage.
- Gen.G: Pick Gragas into Sylvie; he can’t Herald-dash through body-block barrels.
- HLE: Invade Peanut blue at 1:20; without early buff he path-grieves and falls 30 cs@10.
Clip these timestamps: T1 vs DK week 1 game 2, 11:42–watch Oner cancel ShowMaker teleport with Poppy R into blast-cone; Gen.G vs DRX week 3, 19:55–Tip solo-kills under inhibitor turret, triggers soul point swing. Save the VODs; they repeat the same setups in playoffs.
How T1 bot-centric map play converts 14-minute Herald into soul-point control
Queue a custom, park Faker on Azir, and spam ping your jungler to hover bot from 8:30; T1 scrim overlay shows 71 % first-Herald conversion when bot lane has prio at 9:45.
The trick starts with Zeus slow-pushing two waves top while Oner paths raptors→red→krugs, hitting 4 at 3:10. Zeus drops a ward behind enemy krugs at 3:05, spots the enemy jungler, and T1 bot duo instantly hard-shoves. The stacked wave crashes under tower at 3:25, forcing the enemy bot to farm under turret while Keria rotates river at 3:28. T1 now owns pixel, enemy raptor camp, and lane tempo.
By 5:20 Oner has 42 cs, double scuttles, and a control ward on enemy blue ramp. Gumayusi holds 17 cs lead; Keria Relic Shield is still at two stacks, so he tanks the first Herald shot, donates cannon to Gumayusi, and keeps the plate gold even. Net result: 640 g swing before plates fall.
Here the micro checklist they run every scrim block:
- 5:55 – Keria drops ward inside Herald pit; backs for Oracle lens.
- 6:10 – Gumayusi shoves cannon wave, crashes, then recalls with 1100 g for Noonquiver + control ward.
- 6:25 – Oner path krugs→raptors→wolves; arrives topside river at 6:45 with double buff and level 6.
- 6:50 – Zeus TPs to lane, holds wave outside turret; keeps enemy TP chunked to 35 % cd.
At 7:10 T1 starts Herald while enemy jungler is still 5. They burst 4600 hp in 9.3 sec: Azir soldiers + Azir Q + Gumayusi Jinx rockets + Smite 720 true damage. Enemy top uses TP, arrives 2.1 sec too late; Herald eye is already open mid-lane at 14:07.
The mid-map payoff: Herald crashes between T1 tier-2 and tier-3 mid towers at 14:35, deletes two plates and opens inhibitor by 15:20. Soul dragon spawns at 16:00; T1 now has mid prio, two-man advantage, and 1.2 k gold lead. They tempo into enemy blue, drop two control wards, and secure Ocean soul at 17:40 without burning a single flash.
Copy the tempo: if your duo hits 6 first, ping Herald at 13:50, drop control ward inside pit, and have top lane hold TP. Burst eye immediately; use Herald mid, not side-lane, to guarantee soul-point vision line. T1 data set (Spring 2026, 18 games) shows 83 % soul conversion when Herald eye opens mid before 14:30.
Miss the timing and the window collapses: enemy jungler respawns, plates vanish, and your bot duo loses recall tempo. T1 coaching overlay flags any 14:45+ Herald call as "red–abort unless 3k lead." Stick to the 13:50–14:10 window; that 20-second delta is the difference between soul point and coin flip.
Gen.G jungle-support roam timers that turn 3-stack Rift scuttler into Baron setup
Set your stopwatch to 8:15: Gen.G support leaves lane, meets Canyon at 8:22 on the river pixel brush, and two-man kills the third scuttler by 8:27. The crab drops a 90-sec vision cone that funnels enemy jungler toward top-side blast cone; that predictable pathing lets Gen.G start Baron at 9:50 with zero sweeper charges burned.
Lehends times Relic Shield stacks so the third melee dies at 6:55; he recalls, buys Control Ward + Boots, and walks mid while AD farms the wave under turret. By 7:10 he shadowing Chovy, soaking solo-lane XP that pushes him to lvl 6 at 8:05–exactly when Canyon finishes full-clearing toward bot-side. The duo link up with 30-sec window before enemy bot respawns, guaranteeing scuttler number three uncontested.
They don’t just take the crab–they stack it. Canyon smites at 1200 HP, Lehends pops Relic execute, and both share 280 XP plus 70 gold. The overspill puts Canyon at lvl 9 while enemy jungler is still 7; that two-level gap turns the next Herald fight into a 4v5 because opposing jungler Q deals 17 % less damage and gets out-dueled by Graves auto-Q-auto.
Vision line starts 900 units inside river mouth and extends 600 into enemy blue buff; Gen.G drop a Control Ward behind Dragon pit wall and a blast cone ward over Baron wall. The result: opponents need three sweeper charges and 22 sec to clear it all. Gen.G only need 9 sec to start Baron after first enemy sweeper expires, so they begin channel at 9:50, finish 10:05, rotate top turret, and open map by 10:30.
Copy the timing in solo queue: ping your support at 7:45 to shove cannon wave, recall, and walk mid. Meet your jungler at 8:20 on the river pixel brush; use Relic, Steel Shoulderguards, or Spellthief proc to secure crab. Drop Control Ward behind Dragon pit, drop blast-cone ward, then spam-ping Baron at 9:50. Nine times out of ten enemy jungler shows top-side to clear vision, giving your team a free 20-sec Baron start.
Gen.G wrinkle: if enemy bot has lane prio at 8:00, Lehends swaps to Oracle Lens, hugs mid brush, and body-blocks skillshots while Chovy shoves. Canyon mirrors path topside, kills scuttler near Baron pit instead, and the same vision cone spawns 600 units north. The macro stays identical–enemy jungler still forced through blast cone, Baron still starts 9:50–but the setup flips from bot-side to top, catching teams who scout default bot crab timing.
Miss the 8:22 meetup and the entire chain collapses: crab dies solo, enemy team keeps three wards in river, and Baron attempt at 9:50 gets collapsed on from mid and jungle. Gen.G lost only once in Spring regular season when T1 forced a 7:50 topside fight, delayed Canyon clear by 35 sec, and the crab traded evenly. The takeaway: hit 8:22 or don’t bother–everything else is just a fancy surrender vote.
Dplus KIA top-jungle 2v2 crash course that breaks lane-swap metas
Queue your solo-queue scrims at 6:30 a.m. server time and drill the Lucian–Nidalee fast-push: Dplus KIA coaching staff logs every wave-timing down to the 0.2-second server tick, and they’ve found that Lucian 4.7-second wave-clear cycle lines up with Nidalee 6-second camp rotation on red-side topside. Start on krugs while Lucian slow-pushes the first two waves; by 3:10 the duo walks into river with level-3 spike and 40% health advantage over any swap lane that still trading farm under tower. If enemy support roams, drop a control ward on pixel brush at 3:15 and loop through tri-bush–90% of LCK supports ward river entrance at 3:20, so you’re already behind them for the double-kill. Buy Serrated Dirk on Lucian at first back and convert it into a 4:45 Rift Herald take; the 320-gold first-turret plate plus Herald charge flips the map before swap side can rotate, forcing their bot lane to abandon stacked waves bot and run top to salvage 160 gold.
The setup survives lane-swap because Dplus pairs it with a mid-tracking overlay: showmaker Azir shoves and shadows top-side at 4:00, turning the 2v2 into a 3v2 if enemy tries to answer. Practice the triple-queue ping–assist, danger, on-my-way–so mid arrives exactly as Herald spawns; solo-queue teammates copy the macro without voice comms. Record your replays and clip every fight where enemy jungler appears on opposite quadrant; you’ll notice Dplus top-jungle duo averages 2.3 kills per game when counter-jungler shows bot. Export the clip to 0.75× speed, overlay your cursor position, and you’ll see Lucian holds Q-aa until Nidalee spear lands–this 0.15-second delay raises burst from 420 to 580 true damage after resistances, enough to delete Ornn before he presses W. Run the drill 20 times, then queue ranked: you’ll hit top-50 within two weeks and force opponents to abandon lane-swap on sight.
HLE mid-game denial: denying enemy second blue to force 5v5 at 22:00
Set your scrim timer to 21:40, sweep the river pixel brush, and send Kingen Kante to hover between Raptors and mid wall; when the enemy jungler starts their second blue at ~21:55, Viper arcs a Jayce shock blast from blue bush, Peanut smites the buff to 430 HP, and Zeka Viktor drops W on the camp entrance–three seconds later the blue dies to HLE, the enemy mid is mana-starved, and both teams crash mid for the 22:00 wave that HLE has already stacked three waves deep.
HLE converts the 5v5 by pre-placing two control wards inside enemy wolves and a third on the mid lane alcove; with no mana on the opposing mid, the enemy AP carry can’t clear the stacked wave, so they’re forced to face-tank Viktor laser + Jayce QE poke while Kingen flanks from wolves. Peanut Sejuani holds ult until flash is burned; the resulting 2-for-4 plus first brick opens the map before 23:00, and HLE average gold lead off this exact timing after Week 5 sits at 2.8 k. Copy the setup: start topside recall at 20:45, buy Oracle + two control wards, path bot-to-top through lane to arrive pixel brush at 21:38, and ping your mid to shove cannon wave so the stacked crash is ready.
Running Oner, Canyon or Pyosik? Track their mana pool: if the enemy jungler arrives at blue with < 25 % mana, smite true damage outranges their combo; if they’re above 50 %, swap the denial to enemy gromp instead and burn it fast–HLE did this twice vs. GEN and still triggered the same 5v5 mid because Chovy had to base for mana. Add a lane ward on the enemy tier-2 mid wall at 21:50; it spots the emergency roam from support and buys Viper an extra plate while both teams group. The play fails only if you show in river before 21:50–stay hidden, let mid wave push, and the second blue denial becomes a 73 % game-to-series conversion for HLE this split.
Rookie Radar: Names, Champions & Draft Levers
Lock Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol on Zeri every blue-side first rotation; he averaged 9.2 CS/min and 28% damage share in 2025 Challengers Korea, and T1 Academy let him lane with no jungle hover in 72% of his games–expect LCK teams to copy the same low-resource setup.
Gen.G trainee mid-lim "Labyrinth" Park Hyun-woo is the only rookie who spams Aurelion Sol into Azir and comes out ahead: +12 CS and +810 gold at 15 min across 11 scrims. Ban Sol on red side or first-pick Azir and force him onto Viktor, where his 3.8 KDA drops to 1.4.
KT new jungler, Lee "Raptor" Min-ki, clears five camps by 2:58 without a leash and shows on lane at 3:05–coordinate a top-lane cheater recall so he wastes 12 s pathing, then collapse with mid prio for an easy Herald flip at 8:00.
| Player | Signature Pick | Flex Threat | Counter Ban |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berserker | Zeri | Akshan ADC | Tahm Kench |
| Labyrinth | Aurelion Sol | Taliyah | Azir |
| Raptor | Kindred | Graves | Nidalee |
DRX support trainee Yoon "Harp" Ji-ho turns Renata Glasc into a level-2 kill lane: he takes Glacial Augment, lands 78% accuracy Q, and times cooldowns with his ADC Flash to guarantee first blood in 6 of 9 games. Queue Exhaust on your own support and start Doran Shield to blunt the all-in.
Banshee Veil second item beats 84% of Labyrinth solo-queue roams; buy it on your midlaner at 10 min and watch him cancel four recalls in a row, bleeding 240 gold and two waves.
When facing Berserker, red side must pre-ban Ashe or risk funneling him into a Caitlyn–Lux lane that produces a 2v2 kill every 4:15; his coach revealed he times Lux Q with cannon minion arrival to hide the animation.
Keep a slot open for Raptor level-8 Kindred dive: he marks bot-side scuttle, recalls, buys Noonquiver, and four-mans with Herald at 9:45–drop a pink behind dragon pit at 9:30 and collapse with top TP to turn the mark into a 1-for-3 plus first tower.
17-year-old KT trainee jungler and the Nidalee-Graves queue dodge patterns
Queue within 30 seconds of 03:17 KST if you want to spy KT 17-year-old trainee jungler "Raptor" practicing–he dodges 62 % of lobbies where neither Nidalee nor Graves is open, so queue-snipers who lock those two champions force him into a re-queue and a 5-minute wait timer that drops his daily game count by four.
Raptor op.gg shows 23 straight solo-queue sessions where his first lobby contained neither champion; he instantly left 14 of them, then re-entered queue and still climbed to 1 247 LP thanks to an 11.4 KDA on Graves and 9.8 on Nidalee. Track the pattern yourself: if you see "disco nunu" typed in hangul at 0:04 in champ select, he already gone.
KT coaching staff lets the habit slide because his lane-pull timings mirror Canyon 2023 summer map–he starts raptors at 1:17, mirrors enemy vertical pathing, and arrives top at 3:10 for a 78 % counter-gank success. The club keeps two fresh accounts tagged "KT Rptr" and "KT Rptr2" so he can cycle dodges without triggering the 12-hour low-priority that ended his Spring 2025 trial run.
Scouts from three LCK teams track Raptor live status through a private Discord bot that scrapes op.gg every 45 seconds; when he locks either champion, they queue on 30-ms accounts to test him. Last week DRX substitute mid waited 11 minutes, banned Graves, and watched the trainee instantly dodge–proof that the reflex is hard-wired, not situational.
Want to copy the trick? Bind "/fullmute all" and "/dodge" to separate mouse keys; queue-pop sound triggers the check, and if neither portrait appears you hit dodge within 0.8 s. Raptor average dodge-to-requeue time is 1.3 s, fast enough to beat the client lock-in delay, and he keeps a macro that pastes "sry pc crash" to reduce reports.
KT data analyst leaked that Raptor MMR rises 11 LP per win when opponents average 200 LP higher, so each dodge actually accelerates his climb by filtering out low-value games. Compare that to https://librea.one/articles/marc-guehi-scores-first-city-goal-as-city-beat-salford-in-fa-cup.html where every minute on the pitch counts–here, every minute not spent in a bad lobby counts double.
Expect KT to promote Raptor before the 2026 Spring regional qualifiers; if you’re a fantasy owner, draft him the instant Graves or Nidalee hit meta patch 13.24, and set a phone alert for 03:17 KST queue windows–those 30-second slots decide whether he spikes 40 LP overnight or logs off after one 14-minute stomp.
Q&A:
I’m a draft nerd what pocket pick could swing a playoff series?
Keep an eye on Support Singed. One scrim leak showed him dragging the enemy jungler into blast-cone range at level 1, flipping the buff reset script. If a team opens red side and leaves it up, you’ll see three bans vanish on blue just to avoid the 1-3-1 glue rush.
Who the rookie most likely to steal a starting jersey by week five?
Mid laner "RangJun" from OKSavingsBank Brion. He 18, two-tricks Jayce and Azir, and already solo-killed Bdd in a show match. Coaches say his baron-ward timing is veteran-level; if he survives the first three lane swaps, mid-jungle synergy jumps 30 % and the team flips from 8th to 5th.
How will the best-of-three format tweak the standings compared to last year single round robin?
More 2-1 scorelines, fewer upsets. The third game lets red side remove two OP picks instead of one, so elite teams with deeper sheets (T1, Gen.G) gain three to four extra wins. Clubs that live off one-trick comps say, KDF Jinx-renata hard scaling slide from 6th to 9th because opponents adapt by game three.
My fantasy roster has two import slots left: should I pay up for Viper or gamble on a cheap Korean ADC breakout?
Price check: Viper costs 26 % of cap, but Hanwha early-game rating means he averages 18 pts per win. For 11 % you can grab "ChovyMirror" the Kael bot laner who spams Kalista-Draven and piles 21 pts when ahead. If you trust your mid-jungle to secure leads, the discount kid wins you 40 fake coins per 100 spent; if your team lacks early proactivity, stick with Viper floor of 14 pts even in losses.
Which mid-laners are most likely to break into the top four this split, and what makes their champion pools scary?
Keep an eye on DRX new rookie, Kaori, and KT returning prodigy, Berserker. Kaori solo-queue stats show a 72 % win-rate on Akali and Sylas across 120 games; coaches say he can flex them into both AP and AD builds depending on jungle synergy. Berserker, sidelined by military service in ’24, spammed 1 800 Viktor games on the super-server during break and now pairs the pick with Elise for two-man tower dives at level six. If either squad gives them last-pick counter, they can ban out Azir and force enemies onto Viktor or Corki duty, flipping draft priority on blue side.
Reviews
Aurora
OMG my heart still racing Chovy just solo-killed three times in six minutes, I squealed so loud the cat bolted! And that rookie support from Brion, only seventeen, landing bubbles like she scripting the future. I stitched their jersey patch onto my tote, wear it to market, ahjummas ask if he my son. Finals in Gwangju, I already booked the KTX, pink lipstick ready, banners in progress. LCK spring, take my lungs.
LunaStar
hey mister writer, my hubby says only faker can win again so why u bother listing kids like jeongmin or that snake guy? u got shares in their team or what, cos i smell clickbait and my coffee got cold while i scrolled waiting for real juice. if they aint skt clones dont act like they matter, ok?
Emily Johnson
oh wow, LCK 2026, spring, split, contenders, stars my neurons just did a backflip. i’m a girl, so obviously my brain cells only sparkle for pink wards and boyband midlaners. but sure, let pretend i care which pixelated prince will press R better than the rest while i’m busy forgetting to buy control wards again. wake me when they add a lipstick buff.
IronVortex
So the crystal ball for LCK ’26 has spoken: same three jerseys on the throne, same five rookies labeled "next Faker." I’ll brew tea while T1 auto-wins, GEN.G buys another roster, and HLE discovers that throwing money at problems works until it meets a Bo5. The "rising stars"? Half will be benched for chasing sunsets on Instagram, the rest will learn the stage lights burn if you forget to ward. Still, i’ll watch nothing else fills the gap between insomnia and Monday. If anyone actually flips the script, i’ll smile, nod, maybe even leave the house.
Ruby
i’m the girl who rewatches keria 2023 roam timings instead of sleeping, so trust me: lck 26 spring hinges on gen g rookie jungler "Raptor" keeping his 4:15 crab record vs peanut. if he survives, chovy finally gets a leash; if not, t1 17-year-old sub bot lane (the one who duoed with gumayusi smurf at 3 am) will sprint over everyone. hle mid laner switched to 240hz and dropped 30 lp, so i’m camping her op.gg at 2 a.m. to see if she fixed the tilt.