Cover News Reporter Cai Shiqi
On the evening of April 7, in the last match of the second round of the 2024 KPL Spring Tournament held in Shanghai, Foshan DRG defeated Hangzhou LGD.NBW 4:1, continuing its tradition of returning to Group S in the second round of the card match.
At this point, the dust has settled in the spring card position match, and the two S/A card positions have been promoted from A to Group S with Foshan DRG and Suzhou KSG defeating their opponents, and in the two A/B card games, Group A BOA defeated Shenzhen DYG to retain the hope of advancing to the playoffs, while Wuhan eStarPro in Group B defeated Shanghai EDG.M to advance to the third round with Qingrong's comeback state warmed up.
In a season where the balance of power in the league has changed significantly, the self-redemption of former aces and the rebuilding of old powerhouses are especially evident in the card games.
Successful reorganization of old and new teams
Strictly speaking, Suzhou KSG is not a strong team in the traditional sense, and their best result in team history is the third place in the 2023 KPL Summer Tournament, which means that they really became a strong team last season.
However, in the 2023 Challenger Cup and the World Championship, their results are not ideal, and in the subsequent transfer period, the head coach who led them to create team history left Xingtian, and the old coach returned little by little, and at the same time introduced the former Nanjing Hero Jiujing's Jiuku, as well as Beijing WB's substitute mid-laner wanderer.
The new Suzhou KSG only changed the support players in the first round of the regular season compared to last year, and Jiuku became the main support without any suspense. However, in the first round of the game, the new Suzhou KSG run-in was not in place, and the performance was not good, which became a stepping stone for the dark horse Xiamen VG to enter Group S.
Suzhou KSG, which worked hard in Group A in the second round, instead obtained a smoother reconstruction environment: the newcomer gradually replaced Aze's position against Lu Qingyu, and since then, the main lineup of Suzhou KSG has completed a three-person "refresh" compared with last year, and the tacit understanding of this new team has gradually improved. In the second round of the card match, when the coach BP was not dominant, the Suzhou KSG players played well, opened the gap with their opponents with a deeper hero pool and personal skills, and completed their revenge and advanced to Group S.
Suzhou KSG advanced to Group S
Foshan DRG, which relied on the thunderous five-person group to maintain the semi-finals for a long time in 2021-23, is also on the right track before the card position after the reorganization this season.
After this season's confrontation against Lu Baibeast and the transfer of Yougo, Foshan DRG introduced the Asian Games champion Yougo Adou to reinforce, and the opponent Lu Xiaodu who was cultivated by himself took over from Baibeast to become the starter, and picked a newcomer to play Jungle Wanwan in the draft, these three players and the development of Lu Menglan, the run-in of the middle of Qingfeng has gradually improved, under the training of the head coach, they continued the "fine tradition" of the old five-person group in the card position match and returned to Group S, and did not decline because of the reorganization.
Compared with Suzhou KSG, the reorganized Foshan DRG may have a higher ceiling, Ze, Ah Dou, Menglan and Qingfeng have entered the finals many times, and they have more experience in playing against strong teams.
Foshan DRG completed its restructuring
Laughing at the "auspicious three treasures" hat, Qingrong came back to save the team
The most surprising team this season is none other than Xiamen VG.
Since the implementation of the SAB group competition system in the KPL, Xiamen VG is the team that has been in Group B for the longest time, and since joining the league, they have not had obvious players or coaches in the transfer period, which is visible to the naked eye "limited funds".
Last year, Xiamen VG's former mid-laner Xiao Zeng announced his retirement and joined the training team to transform into an assistant coach, and he returned to become a player in this year's spring game, in his own words, "I feel that I can still play".
Although there has been a precedent for Xi'an WE's jungler Xiaoxin to swing between coaches and players, the team's performance has not improved significantly, and the smile of the player who returned from teaching seems to have penetrated the secrets of the game, not only played well, but also led the other four teammates to complete the transformation, and entered Group S after the first round, although it was difficult to parry the strong opponents surrounded by Group S in the second round, but also accumulated valuable experience.
The experience of Xiamen VG vividly illustrates that as long as there is a desire to win, whether the team lineup is luxurious or not is not the only condition that determines the results. Although the card game lost and fell to Group A, Xiamen VG still has a chance to enter the playoffs for a long time, and how far the super dark horse that was eye-catching at the beginning of the season can go will be seen by all the middle and lower teams.
Xiamen VG is the biggest dark horse of the season
The comeback of Wuhan eStarPro midlaner Qingrong and the experience of pulling the team back from the edge of the cliff also gave the audience new expectations for this veteran powerhouse that has ruled the KPL league for the longest time.
After the return of Qingrong, the Wuhan eStarPro team has undergone a qualitative change in its on-the-spot performance, and the Ueno linkage and the Nakano linkage are the key to the team's victory. The performance of Ziyang, the only FMVP in the league, was also quite eye-catching in this card position competition, and he "operated" the Bull Demon many times, and Liu Chan and other hard auxiliary heroes found the flaws of the opponent for the team, and broke the deadlock with a stable team. After Qingrong's return, Wuhan eStarPro won the most championships in the five-person group of four people, and the shooter who transferred back from Hangzhou LGD.NBW also showed a strong self-motivation, to prove that he is not the shortcoming that is dragging his feet.
武汉eStarPro冠军阵容四人重聚
Once the card matches are over, the regular season is about to enter the final round, with the teams in Group S battling out the upper bracket spots, while the teams in Group A will have to avoid being the last two teams in the playoffs. It will be revealed after April 11 that the team that has shown signs of rebuilding and whether the players who will save the team will continue their good momentum.
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