Dplus Kia Finds Another Gear to Level LCK Battle

TL;DR: Facing elimination after Game 1, Dplus Kia found another gear to equalize against KT Rolster in LCK 2026: Career’s Shen protected a comeback from roughly +1,522 gold@15 down, while four dragons and two barons turned a 17-7 win into a series-saving statement.

Key Takeaways

• Dplus Kia overturned roughly +1,522 gold@15 in KT Rolster’s favor, proving their Game 2 resilience could reset the series.
• Career’s Shen finished 0/1/13 with a 13.00 KDA, supplying the protection that let Dplus Kia win every major objective.
• ShowMaker’s Viktor went 7/0/5 with a 12.00 KDA, validating the pre-draft priority in a 17-7 kill victory.

The Deficit

KT Rolster entered with momentum after winning Game 1, and their early map pressure built the roughly +1,522 gold@15 advantage. Cuzz on Naafiri was +523 at 15 minutes, while FenRir’s Corki held +340, the kind of start designed to punish a scaling composition before it could settle.

That was exactly why the draft model’s 52% lean toward KT Rolster seemed reasonable. Annie, Bard, Naafiri and Yorick offered engage, roam and split-push routes; Dplus Kia needed to survive long enough for their poke and scaling to matter.

The Swing

Instead, Dplus Kia found the fights that the draft forecast had underestimated. Lucid’s Xin Zhao ended 1/1/9, repeatedly denying the clean engage KT required, while Shen’s global cover made every attempted pick dangerous.

The pre-draft analysis had specifically flagged Viktor, and he delivered as predicted. The unbeaten mid laner converted his 7/0/5 line into decisive control around objectives, even though Viktor had not been the clean B1 confirmation expected before the series. KT’s failure to ban him mattered, but execution mattered more: Annie could not crack the defensive shell before the scaling arrived.

Closing the Door

Once Dplus Kia seized control, the comeback became a suffocation. Smash’s Jhin posted 6/3/7, adding finishing power to the poke pressure, while Siwoo on Jayce contributed 3/2/5 to keep KT from freely setting up terrain.

Dplus Kia closed after 32:20 with 70.7k gold to 57.0k, 11 towers to 3, 4 dragons to 0, and 2 barons to 0. Those numbers explain why the late-game was not merely close: every objective belonged to the team that had turned an early deficit into total map control.

Polymarket Market

The Game 2 market called the winner a 50% pre-game coin flip, which captured the uncertainty better than the live draft model’s 52% preference for KT Rolster. The draft edge never materialized because Dplus Kia’s Xin Zhao-Shen defense shut down the engage windows that Annie and Naafiri needed, then Viktor’s scaling punished every stalled fight. The series market had favored Dplus Kia at 60% before Game 1, but this game’s draft-close series price swung to KT Rolster 70% versus Dplus Kia 30%. After the comeback, it moved to KT Rolster 42% and Dplus Kia 57%, a 27.0pp reversal that makes the next game feel newly open.

Match Stats

FAQ

*Odds via Polymarket, 2026-08-09 09:37 UTC.*