The Recall: What we learned from LCK Week 9

T1 tied the LCK record for single-split series wins, Gen.G silenced doubters, and kt Rolster locked third place — here's what we learned from the ninth and final week of the 2023 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Spring Split.

T1 led the league in many key stats this split: wins (35), losses (8), kills (617 in 43 games), gold spent percentage (59.7%; 68.7% this week), gold difference at 15 minutes (2,123; 3,667 this week), and percentages of first towers (91%), first three towers (93%), Rift Heralds (64%), drakes (71%), and Baron Nashors (80%) taken.

T1 support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok also became the first support player in LCK history to win Player of the Split, awarded to the player(s) with the most Player of the Game awards; he had 13 in 43 games, a whopping 30.2% of his team's awards. His KDA of 54/66/402 and ratio of 6.91 in 43 games were the best of any players this split; Dplus KIA support Kim "Kellin" Hyeong-gyu's KDA of 28/57/364 and ratio of 6.89 in 40 games ranked second.

GEN was one of three teams to secure a 4-0 game record in Week 9, along with T1 and KT. Rookie bot laner Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan led the league in total kills (209 in 43 games) in his first split, as well as tying KT bot laner Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram for the most kills in Week 9 with 24 in four games. GEN support Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong's 419 assists were the most of any player this split, and jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho's 55.5% share of jungle CS also ranked first. Finally, GEN's gold spent percentage was the second best after T1 with a 59% rate.

KT's star bot lane locked in a few first places of their own, with bot laner Kim "Aiming" Ha-ram's 52 deaths in 43 games ranking the highest among players who played all their team's games, and support Son "Lehends" Si-woo's 25.6% death percentage being the worst in the league. Fortunately for him, Lehends's 43 assists in four games also led all Week 9 players.

Other notable stats

• Liiv SANDBOX led all Week 9 teams in kills, with 71 kills in five games, even though they had a 3-2 record.
• Despite a fourth place finish and a 0-2 week losing to T1 and GEN, DK still possessed the best kill-death ratio (486-303, or 1.6) and least deaths of any team in the split.
• The only four players over 10 CS per minute this split were KT Aiming (10.2), DK bot laner Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu (10.1), Hanwha Life Esports bot laner Park "Viper" Do-hyeon (10), and GEN Peyz (10).
• The most played champions this split were Sejuani (110), Zeri (108) and Wukong (94).
• Ashe led all champions with a 95.4% pick-ban rate in Spring.
• Annie was banned in all 22 games of Week 9.

Strafe LCK Player of the Week: GEN Chovy (15/2/21 in four games)

GEN mid laner Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon had the second fewest deaths and second best KDA of Week 9, but led his team to a 2-0 week after a 6-4 slide. Honorable mention to KT mid laner Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong, whose score of 12/1/22, death count of one, and KDA ratio of 34 led all players.

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