A New Beginning ‘DePlus Kia’ Still an Important Jungle-Mid

D-Plus Kia 2023 Roster
(TOP) Chang-dong “Kanna” Kim
(JUG) Gun-bu ‘Canyon’ Kim
(MID) Heo-Su ‘Showmaker’ Kim
(BOT) Hyeok-kyu ‘Deft’ Kim
(SUP) Kim “Kellin” Hyung-gyu

The current DePlus Kia, formerly Damwon Kia, didn’t just change its roster. It has a new name, a new emblem, and a new start. We added the word “plus” to the “D,” which means to carry on the will of DAMWON, to symbolize a new beginning. The emblem was also changed to a black and white, horizontal, monitor-like shape.

The roster of the new Plus Kia is shown above. The team’s mascots and franchise stars, Kim “Canyon” Gun-boo and Heo “Showmaker” Soo-soo, are back. Kim “Kellin” Hyung-kyu, who teamed up with Seo “Duckdam” Dae-gil, will play bottom with the unbreakable Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu. Joining them on top is Kim “Kanna” Chang-dong.

Looking at the roster, the jungle and mid are still likely to be the core of DePlus Kia. ‘Canyon-Showmaker’ is a globally recognized jungle-mid, not just in the LCK. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the title of carries shift in favor of ‘Canyon’, who is the backbone of the team at every moment, rather than ‘Showmaker’, whose role changes drastically depending on the meta. It’s almost a formula that if the ‘Canyon’ falters, the team falters.

DePlus Kia has always struggled with its top line. The team remembers the departure of Jang “Raccoon” Ha-kiwon to the LPL, and even after his return, the starting lineup was vacated several times for various reasons. Noh “Bardol” Tae-yoon, who was supposed to fill the void, also failed to make a big impact. After that, the team parted ways with its two top players.

Kim “Kanna” Chang-dong took their place. ‘Kanna‘ has a reputation for brute force. Of course, this is when he had a lot of team support. His strength is his power, but his weakness is his prerequisites, and with the current roster, it’s hard to see him getting much support. This is because they have ‘Showmaker’ in the mid lane and Kim ‘Deft’ Hyuk-kyu in the bottom lane.

Deft isn’t the kind of bottom laner that teams expect a lot from. However, it remains to be seen if the team will focus on ‘Kanna’. In the recent meta, it’s common for tops to be isolated and do their own thing, while the jungle-mid takes the initiative and pours it into the bottom side. Assuming Plus Kia follows this trend, it’s unclear how Kanna will fare, and as we saw last year, Deft can be a bit shaky when left to his own devices.

So in the end, it’s going to come full circle and it’s going to be all about Jungle-Mid again. ‘Canyon’ and ‘Showmaker’ have always been strong, especially ‘Canyon’. 고스톱 At the LCK Media Day, many teams mentioned DePlus Kia as a strong team. So many teams are going to try to lane ‘Canyon’ again this time. How they break through that, and how the jungle-mid can take control of the game, will be a key point for DePlus Kia. Just like it has been in the past.