In their Week 2 match against Afreeca Freecs, DWG KIA benched starting bot laner Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun for substitute jungler Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong. The DWG KIA roster then role swapped multiple positions. Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu made his mid lane debut in this series and Heo “ShowMaker” Su role swapped to the bottom lane. The team proceeded to 2-0 Afreeca in two over 35-minute games.
In their new roles, Canyon and ShowMaker continued their consistent forms. Canyon had a Kill/Death/Assist score line of 8/2/15 across both games. ShowMaker was not far behind with a score line of 13/3/12.
Why DWG KIA subbed out Ghost and role swap players
DWG KIA are coming off of a disappointing Mid-Season Invitational run. While they made the finals, they looked worse compared to their 2020 World Championship run and dropped a few games. With their return to League of Legends Champions Korea, their form took another hit. They almost lost their series against T1 and were swept by KT Rolster in Week 1.
DWG KIA had the worst early game statistics in the league as well, ranking last in early game gold difference at 10 minutes. Much of that deficit came from the bottom side of the map. Ghost averaged down 766 gold at 10 minutes in his first five games in the LCK summer split according to Oracleselixer.
Without adding any context:
DK ShowMaker (Solo queue name: DK SHowMaker)'s game history in solo queue #LCK pic.twitter.com/nAwnJn2Apq
— Ashley Kang (@AshleyKang) June 15, 2021
So, DWG KIA made the change to bolster their bottom lane with a ShowMaker that has been practicing the role in solo queue. After their wins against Afreeca, ShowMaker said the team swapped roles after their loss to KT Rolster and kept winning.
In a post-match press conference with ShowMaker right now
ShowMaker says @DWGKIA decided on the role swap after the team lost against KT Rolster #LCK
"We gave it a go, then kept winning …"
— Ashley Kang (@AshleyKang) June 17, 2021
The games themselves were entertaining, as it looked more like DWG KIA were toying with Afreeca than trying to win at points. Their team communication looked better in fights, and ShowMaker performed better in lane than Ghost. In his two games as a bot laner, ShowMaker averaged higher gold per minute and damage per minute than Ghost. There’s no word on whether the moves will remain in place for their next matchup against DRX on Saturday.
