The Recall: What we learned from LCK Playoffs, Rounds 1 and 2

T1 and Gen.G are top seeds for a reason, while Dplus KIA and Liiv SANDBOX are done until summer — here's what we learned from the first two rounds of the 2023 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Spring Playoffs.

In Round 1, LSB were eliminated in a 3-1 series vs. kt Rolster, and DK were eliminated 3-1 by Hanwha Life Esports. In Round 2, T1 beat KT in a five-game classic and GEN knocked out HLE in a 3-1 series, sending KT and HLE into the lower bracket to play for a chance at the loser of T1 and GEN's upper bracket bout on March 31.

GEN possess the best win percentage in playoffs with 75% of their four games and 100% of their one series ending in victory. The team also leads in overall kill-death ratio with 1.58 (52-33) and gold spent percentage (60.6%), but fellow undefeated squad T1 is close behind with 57.2% rating.

GEN mid laner Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon leads all players in KDA with a ratio of 9 (14/4/22), and his bot laner Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan ranks second with an 8.8 ratio (17/4/18); the two players also have fewer deaths and deaths per game than any player with four. GEN jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho  leads all players in jungle percentage, taking 56.1% of the jungle CS in games he plays.

Close behind him, T1's jungler Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun ranks second in jungle percentage with 55.9%. T1 bot laner Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong possesses the league's best damage per minute stat (674), and T1 ranks first among all teams with 0.83 kills per minute.

KT leads all teams with nine games played, as well as kills (128) and deaths (107). KT bot laner Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram's 49 kills in nine games ranks first, but T1 Gumayusi's 31 kills in five games gives him the 6.2-5.4 edge in kills per game. Likewise, KT support Son "Lehends" Si-woo 's 72 assists in nine games (8 per game) ranks first in total assists, but T1 support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok's 57 in five games (11.4 per game) is the best per-game statistic.

Other notable stats

• DK support Kim "Kellin" Hyeong-gyu leads all players with a 85.7% kill participation rate. He's also the only player in the playoffs with 0% of his team's kills, instead scoring 24 assists in his team's four-game run.
• HLE bot laner Park "Viper" Do-hyeon's 13 deaths in eight games are the fewest of any player with more than four games played.
• Four playoff players have a CS per minute of over 10: GEN Peyz (10.9), T1 Gumayusi (10.5), LSB bot laner Lee "Envyy" Myeong-joon (10), and HLE mid laner Kim "ZEKA" Geon-woo (10).
• K'Sante is the most picked champions of playoffs so far, with 11 games played.
• Sejuani and Annie each have a 100% pick-ban rate, with Annie being banned in all 17 games so far.

All stats from Leaguepedia and Oracle's Elixir. Featured photos courtesy of the LCK/Riot Games.