It has been a bitter blow for the LCK and South Korea so far.
The League of Legends World Championship is currently taking place around South Korea with Busan and Seoul playing host to the yearly tournament. And with the LCK having four slots to Worlds 2023, much of the home town crowd expected to see at least two teams in the semifinals. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case as the LCK have suffered during the tournament, which is happening in South Korea for the first time since 2018.
Back then, it was an LPL team that won it and history is looking to repeat itself as the semifinals of Worlds 2023 features three teams from China and one sole representative in 
T1. While the LCK had two other teams that made it through to the Knockout Stage, both 
Gen.G and 
KT Rolster failed to get past the quarter-finals. As for 
Dplus KIA, they lost out on a place in the top eight after a heartbreaking loss to fellow compatriots. Which begs the question…
What’s going on with the LCK?
Gen.G has been the region’s undisputed champion this season after they won both the LCK Spring and Summer Split titles. They were also the first Korean team and the second overall to qualify for the Knockout Stage of Worlds 2023. And Gen.G came close to securing a semifinal spot as they were just one game away from completing its reverse-comeback but were stopped by 
Bilibili Gaming. This makes it two quarter-final exits as well as two semifinal finishes in the past four years.
Despite being Korea's best team this season, Gen.G never found themselves in contention for a top-three spot after they fell just shy of it at the Mid-Season Invitational. This was also due to BLG, who went on to get second. Gen.G's dominance in the LCK cannot be overlooked but it's in the international tournaments is where they flounder. This could be chalked down to inexperience on the bottom lane duo of 
Peyz and Hwan-joong “Delight” Yoo who attended their first Worlds this year. While Gen.G does possess a championship-winning team that we have already witnessed in the LCK since summer last season, it's the next step that is still a huge hurdle for them.
As for KT Rolster, their run at Worlds is the organisation's third quarter-final exit in all three of their appearances with the last coming in 2018. And after missing out on the biggest tournament of the year for four straight years, KT's journey was by all accounts, decent given everything it has gone through in recent years. And the fact that they lost to 
JD Gaming, arguably the best team at the moment and even managed to take a game off of them. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be for KT whose roster comprised plenty of talented and experienced players, bar Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram who made his debut this year.
This was also KT's best performance since 2018 where it won its first and only LCK title to date. But two back-to-back third-place finishes during the spring and summer splits this season plus a top-eight finish at Worlds isn't so bad when you look at it from a different perspective.
Dplus also have had a disappointing season that saw them just barely qualify for Worlds. Even with a stacked line-up that also featured a defending world champion in HyeokGyu “Deft” Kim, Dplus failed to make it past the Swiss Stage after its final round loss against KT. The team also had two of its Worlds 2020 championship-winning players on the roster with Heo “ShowMaker” Su and Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu but it still wasn't enough.
They have had a turbulent past couple of years with their last dominant streak dating back from the middle of 2020 to the end of 2021. With five straight Worlds appearances under its belt, this was also the first time that Dplus failed to make it to the Knockout Stage. Whether it's to make a personnel change once again or is it something behind-the-scenes, Dplus' reign started as quickly as it ended.
What's next?
With only T1 left standing against a constant barrage of LPL teams, most of the support from the live audience from here on out will more or less be for the three-time world champions. But when it comes to the support, one must question the level of pressure and expectations it must carry to represent your team and region on your home soil and still not make it far enough. The likes of Gen.G and KT fell at the hands of the Chinese teams whilst Dplus didn't do themselves any favours with a poor Swiss Stage showing.
The last time Worlds took place in Korea, it was an LPL team that won. And back then, there were only two LCK teams in the Knockout Stage while the LPL had three, the LEC had two, and the LCS had one. This year just shows the dominance that China has over professional League of Legends as all four of its team qualified to the final stage. While many in South Korea will be hoping that history doesn't repeat itself again, it is down to only T1 to stop them.
T1 finished second last year in an all-LCK grand final and this year wasn't their best showing either as Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee missed plenty of the summer split due to an injury. And despite dropping a game against Gen.G during the Swiss Stage, T1 have looked strong since then especially during its 3-0 victory over 
LNG Esports. But with JDG now in their way, T1 will have to play two more best-of-fives if they have any hopes of lifting the Summoner's Cup on home turf.
