There’s another dark horse at Worlds 2021 in Detonation FocusMe. The LJL Representative will be returning to Worlds, after missing out on last year’s edition. Let’s see why they have the potential of upsetting the favorites and what are the expectations coming into the tournament.
DFM departing for Reykjavik, Iceland
After finishing second at the end of the 2020 Summer Playoffs, DFM started 2021 in the best way possible: first in the spring split and dominating the Playoffs. This allowed them to get to Iceland for the Mid-Season Invitational and a chance to test their level against international competition. Despite not getting out of groups, DFM held their ground well, winning two games out of six.
Going back to Japan, DFM was also one of the teams cursed by the international stage. Just like Royal Never Give Up and DAMWON Kia, the team lost their first few games, potentially compromising their overall split. Despite the worst start possible, DFM went on an 11-win streak to end up in first place, tied with Rascal Jester, then winning the tiebreaker later.
In the Playoffs, though, their loss in Round 2 against RJ put them in the losers’ bracket. Nonetheless, the team was able to bounce back and dominated the competition, earning themselves the ticket to Worlds.
The main strength of this iteration of DFM is without a doubt their mid-laner Lee “Aria” Ga-eul. His ability to be both a carry player as well as a utility one is what makes him the most valuable person on the team. Thanks to the aggressive jungler Mun “Steal” Geon-yeong, Aria is able to create openings for his teammate to exploit.
Once they get good enough resources, they start spreading them towards the other players on the map. After showcasing strong-side performances in the top lane, Shunsuke “Evi” Murase went back to being a weakside player. Often playing safe picks like Gnar, he held his own while the mid-jungle duo went to help bot.
DFM’s ADC took up the role of the main damage threat in the team during the summer. Nearly 29% of the total damage output came from Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura alone. The veteran marksman continues to be a relevant presence in the team, which he joined in 2013.
Like we previously mentioned, DFM plays similarly to how Misfits play their game. They often look to play around mid and transfer their advantage across the side lanes. It is very effective and it also matches the meta quite well, especially if their support is also able to match the roaming timings.
The LJL team dodged a big bullet since they didn’t end up with the favorites LNG and HLE. With that being said, their group won’t be a walk in the park: there are four potential teams that can make it out of groups. DFM is one of these four, and with how the meta is still very skirmish-focused, the team will definitely have an advantage at Worlds 2021.
We don’t feature them in our Worlds 2021 Power Rankings, but this does not mean they are not a hot contender to get into Groups. They might not make it out of the group in the first place, but DFM have serious chances to snatch that second place and advance to the Groups Stage. The LJL always surprises you somehow at the international stage, and I’m sure it will happen again this year. Make sure to watch out for DFM and get ready for the play-ins stage, starting on Oct. 5th.
Check back with our LoL Worlds Predictions once the Play-Ins kick off to see how we scale DFM next to their opponents.
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