KeSPA Cup is coming on the 6th of November 2015 and will run to the 14th of November 2015.

What is KeSPA Cup? KeSPA cup started in 2014 in Starcraft II (daed gaem) as a way of KeSPA showcasing the best talent in Starcraft II. The top 2 players from GSL, WCS Europe, WCS America and SC2 Proleague were invited to compete. The final 8 spots were decided in a big online qualifier. Now KeSPA have finally launched KeSPA Cup in League of Legends (I'm not sure why it didn't happen last year but I guess the great Korean exodus caused a lot of instability in the scene).

KeSPA (Korean eSports Association) is the governing body for Korean eSports, basically if you're playing video games for money then KeSPA have governing power. Currently there are 9 teams with KeSPA membership:

Side note: SBENU is the title sponsor for Prime's League of Legends team and Startale's Starcraft II team. Due to the (most recent) match fixing scandal involving SC2 Prime players (BboongBboong and YoDa) and their head coach Gerrard, Prime's SC2 team has all but ceased to exist. This makes it highly likely that Startale will take ownership of Prime's League of Legends team due to the SBENU sponsorship that links the two teams. Hence pushing KeSPA down to 9 members.

Not only does KeSPA regulate and control Korean eSports but it does show preferential treatment to the teams that are members of KeSPA. Not only does KeSPA hold tryouts for KeSPA teams and help them secure sponsorships using it's government connections (Jin Air Greenwings was previously known as Team 8 until KeSPA secured the Jin Air sponsorship), KeSPA membership is also mandatory to compete in Starcraft II Proleague.

Often you'll hear me to refer to players as 'KeSPA elite', this is because historically KeSPA teams have been a cut above even other Korean teams and players across Brood War, SC2 and LoL, let alone foreign (not Korean) teams. KeSPA has a mark of quality in the players it produces due to the strictness of the training regimes, experience and plethora of coaching staff and in house (off camera) KeSPA tournaments that give KeSPA teams an advantage.

Historically if you go through results of both LoL and SC2 tournaments you'll notice that once KeSPA fully integrates itself into the game then it's dominated by KeSPA players and teams. While there are a few outliers that buck this trend (Life, Rain, KOO Tigers), those players are either former KeSPA or later become KeSPA players (due to their team either becoming KeSPA members or they themselves transferring to a KeSPA team).

Why is KeSPA cup exciting?

Korean teams are the best in the world, it's an indisputable fact after this World Championship. With Korean teams going a combined 22 - 3 vs. foreign teams (that's an 87% winrate) and the first ever all Korean final, one could argue that the gap has never been larger. Especially when you consider that there are approximately 100 Korean players playing on foreign teams. Imagine if I took 100 of the professional and high solo queue players out of the European scene, how would Europe look afterwards? It's almost impossible to conceivably imagine they'd be able to repeat its performance and get two teams to the semi finals. Korea improved on its performance last year (Korean teams went 24 - 8, a 77% winrate) after it had sufficient time to heal and regrow. Yes, Korea stumbled at MSI and IEM Worlds (last year KTB won IEM Worlds and SKT K won Allstars) but considering how much was ripped out of the Korean scene this is to be expected.

KeSPA cup is an amazing oppurtunity to get invested (or for fairweather LPL fans, reinvested) into the greatest scene in the World. It'll feature (some of) the best players, the best teams and really paint a picture for the Korean scene as a whole. Because it features both professional and amateur teams it's also a good chance to see the next generation of Korean talent. Also, due to the fact that some of these teams haven't played for 2 - 3 months, it's an exciting chance to see some reinvigorated and shuffled rosters for the big name teams in Korea.

So who are the teams competing? How strong are they? What are their rosters going to look like? Let's find out (please note that all these confirmed rosters are likely to change as Korean teams have ridicliously deep rosters).

Jin Air Greenwings

Confirmed roster:

Top: TrAce, SoHwan

Jungle: Chaser, Winged

Mid: Kuzan

ADC: Pilot, CptJack

Support: Chei, Sweet

Jin Air are the 4th best team in Korea (and possibly the world), the Team Liquid of Korea if you will. Coming into the LoL scene in late 2013 with the acquisition of EatSleepGame (Reapered's team) and HoonsGoodDay (Hoon's team), 2014 saw Jin Air completely revamp both their rosters and develop some of the most promising talent in Korea. Last year this team made a respectable effort to make it to Worlds as they came 2nd in the gauntlet after beating NaJin e-mFire and CJ Entus. They weren't able to complete the full run as they fell 3 - 1 to KT in the final.

Also Jin Air have really cool uniforms.

While Jin Air were undoubtedly the weakest of the top 4 Korean teams they did have strong results they were also the only team to not use their toplaner as primary carry but more as a utility engage tool. What's distinctive about Jin Air is their jungler Chaser, probably the best jungler in Korea. Really the last carry jungler left in Korea, Chaser was still picking Nidalee and 100 to 0ing fools in the final week.

What's interesting about this roster is that GBM is nowhere to be seen. Western fans might remember GBM as the bow tie wearing CJ Entus Frost midlaner who was good with Orianna but poor on everything else (who was ultimately benched for Coco). In 2015 GBM had a huge breakout year as he became objectively the 3rd best starting midlaner in Korea (behind Coco and Faker). A strong play maker and laner, GBM was the primary carry for Jin Air. With rumours circulating that GBM has joined a NA LCS team for 2016, it's unsure how Kuzan will step up to the plate and how Jin Air will manage without their primary carry.

We saw Kuzan a fair amount in 2015 and while he is a complete rookie who will likely grow and florish, he did impress me for a rookie midlaner. Holding his own in lane, I liked Kuzan's decisive aggressive play and relevant champion pool. Kuzan had the better lows but GBM's highs were, obviously, most impressive. 

What's also interesting is that SohWan has been listed on the main team instead of being relegated to the second team. I know very little about SohWan but given all the champion pool and adaptality issues TrAce had in late 2015, it makes sense for Jin Air to explore other options. TrAce is 26 after all.

The other player to watch in this team is Pilot. If Ohq is the reincarnation of Imp then Pilot is reincarnation of Deft. While not the flashiest or most lane dominant player, Pilot's positioning and skillshot allows him to rip through health bars. Jin Air typically uses Chei over Sweet as Chei is the more complete support player but I actually give Sweet the edge in mechanics on the champions he plays (Sweet's Bard is a sight to behold).

CJ Entus

Confirmed Roster:

Top: Shy

Jungle: Ambition

Mid: Coco

ADC: Space

Support: Madlife

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate CJ Entus. Well CJ Entus started the off season by kicking some of their substitute players (Helper, Trick and Max). They still have Bdd and Ghost but neither of them are listed as 1st team players so I don't expect we'll see a lot of them.

What do CJ Entus have? Veteren presence and a S tier midlaner. Ambition and Madlife have been professional players since the dawn of the Korean server with Shy, Coco and Space appearing mid to late season 2. Also if you enjoy watching Bjergsen try and 1v9 in the NA LCS, you're going to love watching Coco try and do the same in LCK. Coco is an outstanding midlaner and probably the second best midlaner in the world. Due to the massively overstated strength of LPL, Coco spent 2015 underrated and under the radar. People were saying 'there are 4 good midlaners and they are PawN, GODV, Rookie and Faker' when actually Coco was better than anyone not called Faker. Coco is an outstanding player and when you look at the terrible players he has surrounding him, the talent on the other teams and how CJ Entus still manage to look competitive at times you realise this is true elo hell.

NaJin e-mFire

Confirmed Roster

Top: Duke

Jungle: Watch, Peanut

Mid: Ggoong, Tank

ADC: Ohq

Support: Pure, Cain

NaJin's 2015 was the definition of wasted talent. Duke, Peanut, TANK and Ohq were some of the most exciting and talented players in 2015 and yet the team didn't win a single bo5. For example, the team used Watch and Ggoong for the entire LCK Summer Season until they were 0 - 2 down against Jin Air in the Korean Regionals and then they swapped in Peanut and TANK.

NaJin have a strong roster, if it wasn't for SBENU's new signing Flaw then Peanut would be heads and shoulders the most exciting jungle talent in Korea and TANK is consistently in the top 5 on Korean solo queue. With many saying that Duke is the best toplaner in the World (they have reason to even though I believe Smeb is better) and Ohq the best ADC in Korea (this one is true), NaJin should be challenging SK Telecom T1 at every stage. Instead they constantly dissapoint and frustrate their fans.

If Duke was challenging for the best toplaner in Korea in 2015 then Ggoong was challenging for the worst midlaner in Korea. Taking a ridiclious amount of gold (sometimes as high as 28%) in a top carry meta, Ggoong showcased his abysmal teamfighting over and over again. While Ggoong is good in lane his champion pool in a control Mage meta left an awful lot to be desired. While I don't think Watch is a bad player I also don't think he's a good player either, especially considering he comes at the expense of objectively the most exciting jungler in Korea.

NaJin coaches have a lot to prove as 2015 was undoubtedly their worst ever year. No team at Worlds, no KR Regionals win and no Champions final or victory.

Samsung Galaxy

Confirmed Roster:

Top: CuVee

Jungle: Eve

Mid: Crown, Ace, Bliss

ADC: Fury

Support: Wraith, Luna

Haunted by the success of Samsung Galaxy White and Blue in 2014, Samsung Galaxy's 2015 was not as bad as it could have been, Dogged by midlaner issues, Samsung eventually settled on Crown who brought a lot of stability to the team. Still an AD centric team, Fury and Wraith were one of the most formiddable botlanes in Korea. Known for innovative and fun to watch compositions, Samsung took upsets wherever they could but never managed to make it a full series.

Eve and CuVee are the weak points of this roster, and Samsung will probably be looking to replace them as the year goes on. Crown was the midlaner this team desperately needed at the start (Ace and Bliss were pretty bad) and has continued to grow and improve at an impressive rate. Fury is the star of this team, a strong ADC that does his predecessors Imp and Deft proud. Wraith is the player he was on his brief stint on SK Telecom T1: A mechanically strong laner who needs to improve his roaming and vision control. Samsung are really the only truly botlane focused team in Korea, something that makes them unique and allows them to take wins over stronger teams.

LongZhu Incredible Miracle

Confirmed Roster:

Top: Lil4c, Expession

Jungle: Tusin

Mid: Frozen

ADC: Roar, S0NSTAR

Support: IgNar

There are three things that're certain about IM. 

1. - They will always find a way to dissapoint you.

2. - They will always be in Champions.

3. - Lil4c will always play for them.

If you think NaJin are bad for dissapointment, you probably haven't tried being an LZIM fan. IM always feel like they're a team that's on the cusp of acheiving something. Even now, IM's roster isn't bad. Expession is an oldschool legend of Korean toplane and Lil4c is the Korean answer to Chauster (nick named the Professor). Tusin is a mechanically impressive jungler who performs extremly well in soloQ and Frozen has been an up and coming midlane talent for 2 years (think of how Pobelter was before Worlds). Roar and S0NSTAR are both competent ADCs and IgNar was previously thought of as the most desirable support talent on soloQ. This, like a lot of LZIM rosters, is a good roster. It just never manages to work out how you think it should.

What's equally frustrating about LZIM is that, due to their contract with Chinese streaming site Longzhu, they have a fair amount of money (especially considering the team was facing bankruptcy until the sponsorship). It's not like they're Xenics and held together with bits of string and a roll of sticky tape, they have a legit budget. 

But last time we saw this team it didn't work. You name it and they were guilty of it. I really hope this team manages to find success but even I've lost hope. LZIM are generally referred to as the gate keepers of Korea, if you're better than them then you're good enough to make playoffs. If you're worse then you're probably not making Champions next season.

Not that Apple, former Quantic and long time on again off again LZIM toplaner, is seemingly out of the roster. I guess when you've got Expession (one of the best laners, shame about his teamfighting) you don't need a sub obtimal toplaner. Or maybe he's acheived his dream and made it onto a Western team, who knows.

Rebels Anarchy

Confirmed roster:

Top: ikksu

Jungle: Lira

Mid: Mickey, Bbobbo

ADC: Sangyoon

Support: Snowflower

Anarchy are unique for a Korean team in that they're not trying to win tournaments, they're trying to show good games and mostly about generating interest for their individual streaming. With former KT Arrows and OGN Champion Hachani (some consider the worst player to ever win OGN) as their head coach, Anarchy's wacky tactics have earned them fans across the World.

Their primary carry is Mickey, a player who originally started on World Elite Academy and most certainly did not find success in China. Lira roams the jungle, a player as aggressive and crazy as he is predictable. If Lira can go in he will, he has no concept of playing safe. The rest of the roster? Simply back ground characters for Mickey. This guy had some truly incredible carry performances against some big teams in 2015. His Zed is still terrifying and legit and his laning is exceptional. Never underestimate Mickey's ability to carry.

Connect with the author at @Gosickboy_.