Nuguri games hint at Klepto meta for 2019 World Championship
DAMWON Gaming top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha Kwon is preparing for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship that will begin on October 2 with group stage matches.
This is the ninth World Championship tournament and DAMWON Gaming’s first trip to the biggest League of Legends tournament of the season.
DAMWON qualified for the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) in the 2019 LCK Spring Promotion Tournament and finished fifth in the spring split with an 11-7 record. They were two games better in the Summer season, finishing second with a 13-5 record.
They competed in the LCK Summer playoffs and were swept by SK Telecom T1 in the LCK summer championship. From there, they went on to win their spot at the World Championship in the regional finals, when they ultimately defeated King-Zone DragonX in a tight 3-2 series.
With the group stage beginning this week, all eyes are on the solo queue histories of the competing players for some insight into what sort of meta might emerge when play officially begins.
As of this writing, Nuguri has gone 24-2 in European solo queue and used the Kleptomancy rune in all but one of those games. He has a 3.4 kill-to-death ratio in those games.
The rune is a noteworthy choice in that it enables champions to farm additional gold and mixed resources over the course of the laning stage and into later portions of the game, giving them the potential to outpace their opponents as they scale. This comes at the cost of more direct combat benefits given by other, more common solo lane rune choices.
Kleptomancy was added in patch 7.22. In patch 8.2, the drop rate of items in the first 15 minutes was reduced. The power of Kleptomancy has been debated since it was first introduced. In fact, in November of 2018 it was reported that League of Legend’s players had started a petition on Change.org to remove the rune from the game.
It was obviously not effective, and it looks like Kleptomancy might play a big role in the upcoming World Championship tournament if Nuguri and DAMWON Gaming have their way.
Nina Forneloza
About Nina Forneloza
Nina Forneloza is a huge fan of gaming, but her favorite genres of games above all other are gacha games, first-person shooting games, and role-playing games. When she isn’t looking for a lucky pull in the latest gacha, you’re likely to find her in a competitive Valorant lobby or playing the latest big single-player RPG. Either way, you can be assured that she’ll be into it and ready to write about the experience.
View full profile
Read Also
Esports Betting
League of Legends Classic will be back in 2026, here’s what we know
Wasif Ahmed
Riot has announced that League Classic will come out in Season 3 of 2026, as a game mode. League Classic is “old League of Legends”, the ability to play the game on a specific patch from over a decade ago. How much information do we have? What is League Classic, when will League Classic release, and what patch will it be for? Ever wanted to rediscover the old version of ...
League of Legends
Karmine Corp vs Team Liquid: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026
Hannan Mundia
While both Karmine Corp and Team Liquid lost one series each, both teams will have another chance to continue in the 2026 MSI play-in stage to potentially qualify for the bracket stage. Both participating teams got swept by T1 in this MSI stage, bringing them to the third round. Team Liquid’s performance against Deep Cross Gaming was impressive, but does that really mean that it has what it takes to ...
Esports Betting
T1 exposes Karmine Corp with 3-0 win at League of Legends MSI 2026
Wasif Ahmed
T1 just beat Karmine Corp 3-0 in the play-in stage of the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. More importantly, T1 turned KC’s strengths into weaknesses. The bot lane and teamfight prowess that shone in the LEC were no match this time. The match started with Karmine Corp picking a disrespectful draft, blind picking three immobile squishies. Right off the bat, a botched invade put their jungle and bot lane at a disadvantage. ...
League of Legends
KeSPA Cup returns in July 2026 exclusively on Disney+
Hannan Mundia
The KeSPA Cup is slated to return sooner than most expected, though its date and exclusive Disney+ partnership raises some questions. The KeSPA Cup is an annual tournament organized directly by the Korea e-Sports Association. While it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as Riot-organized leagues and events, LCK powerhouses still participate in it. 2025’s KeSPA Cup is still fairly fresh since it took place in December. This year’s tournament ...
Esports Betting
Best betting odds and picks for T1 vs Karmine Corp at MSI 2026
Hannan Mundia
This year’s MSI is still ongoing, and the next match in the play-in stage is slated to pit T1 against the LEC’s Karmine Corp. Both participating teams absolutely destroyed their respective opponents in this stage’s first round. With two 3-0 scores, both Karmine Corp and T1 have established themselves as powerhouses. However, the level of opposition was clearly different, and that fact may show its face in this match. Tournament: ...
Esports Betting
T1 vs Team Liquid: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026
Hannan Mundia
The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2026 will kick off with T1 facing off against Team Liquid, but will the match really be as one-sided as the betting odds make it out to be? While some didn’t think that the reigning world champions, T1 would make it to this year’s MSI, the team proved many wrong once again. It barely made it to the play-in stage, where Team Liquid ...
Esports Betting
Karmine Corp vs Deep Cross Gaming: Best betting odds and picks for MSI 2026
Wasif Ahmed
Karmine Corp goes up against Deep Cross Gaming on the first day of MSI 2026. Obviously, KC is the favorite by a long shot. Does DCG actually stand a chance, though? Can they repeat the achievements of CTBC Flying Oyster who took down KC at First Stand 2025? Tournament: Mid-Season Invitational 2026 Stage: Play-in Game: League of Legends Format: Best-of-five Betting tips: As the second seed from a lower region, ...
