#1: KyoCha, BlueB2tle, Hide, Modern, DDuDDu

#2: CrazyMoving, Gondar, bdg, Haebin, JaeHyun

I was a big fan of HGC Korea, so I was delighted to hear that GClef was organizing a new tournament in Korea, and that many former HGC Korea pros would be participating. Unlike Division S however, in which players chose their teammates, the teams in the upcoming Korea Revival tournament were formed through a snake draft. Now that the draft is over, I'm here to weigh in on how well I think each team captain did in the draft, and who has the best chances of moving forward to victory.This is obviously somewhat subjective, and I will admit that I could turn out to be totally wrong in my predictions. With the exception of Trogg is Best, all of these teams are new, and although we have a rough idea of the skill level of many of the players, we really have no idea what each team's synergy will look like. Additionally, there will undoubtedly be role swaps, since not all teams drafted players who main each role.KyoCha somehow stole this draft. Every single member of this team has been part of a top 4 KR HGC team in the past year, which is something no other team in the competition can claim. KyoCha had the final pick of the first round of the draft. While the rest of the captains prioritized drafting tank players or star players, KyoCha clearly had his eye on a support player. Although his pick of BlueB2tle was completely unsurprising, he blew my mind with the potential galaxy brain draft pick of getting Hide immediately after, denying both of the best support players to the rest of the teams in the competition. To top it off, he somehow picks up both Modern and DDuDDu, the former ranged duo of Blossom, who somehow fell as low as the 3rd and 4th round of the draft. This team can run with as many as four out of five of its members on their main roles, with solo lane and healer being played by some of the best players in their respective roles.Someone on this team has to flex. KyoCha is the biggest flex god in HotS, but main tank is the one role that he did not play in his professional career, and it's the role this team needs to fill. Obviously, it has to be either Hide or BlueB2tle since they probably won't both play support. However, BlueB2tle has never a played a role other than support in his professional career, and Hide hasn't played a role other than support since his 2015 MVP Black days. The success of this team could hinge on the ability of either one of these players to flex into the main tank role. An alternative possibility would be that KyoCha flexes to main tank, Modern switches to the solo lane, and then either BlueB2tle or Hide plays DPS.

Why They Might Win: After KyoCha's team, I think CrazyMoving's team is by far the most well rounded team in the pack. Some may scoff at me putting this team at #2 because it does not have players as accomplished or proven as Nachojin, Reset, Rich or KyoCha, but I also believe that this team doesn't have as many gaps as the teams that many of those players are on (excepting Kyocha's). CrazyMoving has 5 lifetime wins against MVP Black and was regarded as one of the best ranged DPS players in Korea in 2016. Gondar's tank play was praised when he was on Blossom, and he is often credited as being a major reason that team went from bottom tier to mid tier. bdg had a respectable year-long HGC run on team GG and Mighty. Haebin was the tank player of the promising SuperNova. Finally, although he fell out of the limelight along with CrazyMoving when their success dwindled, JaeHyun is a competent support player, and was probably even considered a great support player back in his TNL days.



Why They Might Not: It is nevertheless true that this team lacks a star player on the level of Rich, Reset, Nachojin or KyoCha, unless CrazyMoving can recapture the magic of his TNL or early MVP Miracle days. While both him and JaeHyun experienced success on TNL, their glory days are long behind them, and both of them retired before HGC ended, so they are presumably both out of practice. There's also the question of whether Gondar or Haebin will be playing tank. The early Gondar pick seemed like the intention was for him to be the tank player, and he is most likely the stronger of the two at the role. However, we know that he flexed off the tank role in his final HGC league phase, so he may be out of practice, and I personally don't know how well Haebin can flex into a different role.



#3: HongCono, Nachojin, Nasang, Kapibara, Hero

Why They Might Win: Despite HongCono's sometimes crazy reputation, I think he made the most intelligent drafting choices out of any captain for his first two picks. After Reset, Nachojin was the biggest star player in the draft pool, and undoubtedly the best solo laner in the draft pool. Aside from Nochat's curious Aimer first pick, the only reason I'm not surprised that Nachojin fell to the 5th overall pick is that other captains understandably prioritized getting a high-tier tank player. Where Nachojin fell, I think that was the strongest possible pick that HongCono could have made. For his second pick, HongCono also made the smart pick of getting NaSang, the 3rd best support player in the draft pool, shortly after KyoCha's crazy draft play of taking the best two. This trinity of players is strong enough that they should be able to hold the rest of their team together.

Why They Might Not: While Kapibara and Hero may not need to do the heavy lifting since they have three extremely experienced players supporting them, they are still undoubtedly the weak links of the team. Although he wasn't indicated in the draft as having no HGC experience, I am unfamiliar with Kapibara, and cannot find any information on him. Hero was a member of Team Ace and DDUNG, and is apparently the younger brother of Jeongha. Additionally, HongCono himself is often an X-Factor. He has been a member of top tier teams during their peaks, but he has also at times been a low point of the teams he was on. He will most likely play tank for this roster, and it will be important that he either not go too ham, or that the communication with NaSang is there to keep him alive.



#4: Rich, Hooligan, Polaris, OhDuck, Ezz

#5: duckdeok, Reset, Kirisaku, Kcb, GaiMYong

Because they have Rich. Yes, I said it. Although I'm hardly one to be prone to the fanboyism of treating Rich like an untouchable god, not all team captains in this competition are equal, and this team is one that has an advantage in that regard. He was the star player of the most successful HotS team of all time, so this is a team that needs to be taken seriously, regardless of who else is on the team. Rich's first round pick of Hooligan gives the team a positive outlook as well. Judy and Gondar were already taken by the time it was Rich's turn to pick, so he picked the best remaining tank player in the pool. Although often scrutinized because he was playing in Noblesse's shadow, Hooligan was a great tank player, and one of only two former Ballistix members in this competition.Because I'm not sure if Rich is taking this competition that seriously. While drafting Hooligan was a strong and sensible pick, the rest of Rich's draft picks seem to beg the question, "How hard can Rich and Hooligan carry?" For his 4th round pick, he chose OhDuck,a DPS player from the unsuccessful team RRR. Although this was fairly late in the draft, Rich could have picked either Modern or DDuDDu, both of whom seem like better choices on paper to me for that role. He also could have picked up JaeHyun, a support player who, although having his most successful days well behind him, still seems like a better choice than OhDuck to me. Rich closed out his draft with Ezz, the other DPS player from team RRR, but at that point his choices were very limited.By far the biggest question mark on this team however, if not of the entire draft, is that Rich picked Polaris with his 2nd round pick, which was the 9th pick overall. Polaris is one of two players in the competition who is labeled as having no HGC experience whatsoever; the other player known to have no HGC experience, GaiMyong, was picked dead last in the entire draft. There were at least half a dozen potential picks that look better on paper, if not more, so this particular pick really stands out. Either Rich knows something that the rest of us don't, or he's not that invested in the results of this event.

Why They Might Win: There was a part of me that considered ranking this team above Rich's team. Duckdeok is a legend who was part of the original Tempest roster that ended MVP Black's 43-series winstreak, and then went on to win a world championship. Since he had the very first pick in the draft, he was able to draft Reset, a move that surprised absolutely no one. The star power and talent of this DPS duo is arguably the best in the entire competition. Although first pick meant a thinning talent pool by the time duckdeok's second draft pick came around, I think he secured a solid solo laner in Kirisaku with his second pick.

Why They Might Not: As much as first pick seems like an advantage because it meant duckdeok was guaranteed to get Reset, it turned out to be a double edged sword. By the time his second pick came around, most of the good support and tank players were gone. After securing Kirisaku, duckdeok picked Kcb immediately after, a sensible pick considering his options, but also reflective of the disadvantages of having such a late second pick. Kcb was both a tank player and a support player, so he will likely cover either one of those roles, but he did not have a particularly successful HGC run, being a member of Team Ace and then joining GLuck afterward. Duckdeok had the very final pick in the draft, and the remaining player, GaiMYong, is one of the few players in the draft with no HGC experience whatsoever.



Finally, the biggest X-factor on this team may prove to be duckdeok himself: while he has a great resume as a former Tempest player, he retired from professional play over a year and a half ago, and we have no idea what kind of shape he is in as a player. For this last reason, I don't feel confident placing his team above Rich's.



#6: Nochat, Aimer, Sniper, Hodujeong, H82

Why They Might Win: Nochat was a fan favorite in HGC, and while he is not the most skilled player, I do believe he had leadership qualities that made him a valuable asset to SuperNova. His strongest pick in the draft appears to be Sniper, who experienced a return to glory on Miracle during HGC's final phase, and who is the most accomplished player on this team. H82 is actually one of the most recognizable solo laners in the entire player pool, probably after KyoCha, Nachojin, and Rich, though his professional career was met with inconsistent success, which may be why he was not prioritized highly

#7: Alex, Judy, Liu, Ojae, Asgard

#8: Trogg, Wishing, Pandagom, Angelwing, Jackpot

Nochat is one of the weaker captains skillwise, so his team automatically starts out with a disadvantage. Aimer also seems like a really curious choice for Nochat's first pick. I'm going to somewhat give Nochat the benefit of the doubt on this, because it seems like the Korean scene believes in Aimer. If my memory serves me correctly, he was going to be on Tempest for the cancelled 2019 HGC Korea season, and now Nochat picked him fourth overall in the draft. They seem to believe that he's good. The fact remains however, that Aimer is ultimately unproven, having only been a member of Feliz. Nochat also gave up the chance to pick up a tank or a support with his first pick, as well as passing up many known good players with strong resumes in all roles. Meanwhile, Hodujeong, although not labeled as a non-HGC player in the draft, is a player I am unfamiliar with, and I can't find any information about him.With his first pick, and the third pick overall, Alex secured Judy, who is arguably the best tank player in the entire player pool. Even if Gondar plays tank, he may be out of practice on the role since he spent the last HGC league phase playing DPS. Hooligan has a better resume than Judy, but Judy really seemed to be improving and peaking over Hooligan in the final HGC league phase. Additionally, the tank meta seems to favor Judy better than Hooligan, since Judy is easily a better Diablo player. The success of Alex's team will depend heavily on Judy getting his strongest heroes and making the kind of plays that he was making for Miracle at the end of last year.The positives of this team mostly stop after Judy. Along with Nochat, Alex is one of the weaker captains skillwise, so his team automatically starts out with a big disadvantage in that regard. While he made a very smart first pick by getting Judy before anyone else could, I feel that Alex probably made the worst drafting choices thereafter of any captain in the tournament. His second pick, a support player in Liu, is a baffling choice, considering that Alex is a support player himself. By doing this, he gave up the chance to acquire either a good DPS player or a solo laner. There were still a few solid DPS players left too, since bdg, Modern and DDuDDu were all still available.With Ojae and Asgard as his final two picks, Alex still hasn't drafted a single player who has ever played ranged DPS in their entire career. He has two support players, and three warrior/melee flex players. At least two players have to flex into roles that they never played in their professional careers. Three of these players, Liu, Ojae, and Asgard, have only ever been members of low tier teams.

Why They Might Win: Trogg Is Best has an advantage that literally no other team in this competition has. They are the only team that was formed prior to this tournament, so they have presumably been playing with each other for months. On paper, they should have the best synergy of any team in the entire competition due to their experience of competing with each other in the open division and the crucible. By comparison, the rest of the teams have about two weeks to iron out any kinks or communication issues before the tournament starts.



Why They Might Not: Despite the advantages of being a pre-formed team with months of experience playing with each other, this is a double-edged sword. Their non-participation in the player draft means they have 0 ex-HGC players and 0 players from top 4 HGC KR teams. Most of the rest of the teams in the tournament have at least 3, if not 4, ex-HGC players, and at least 1 player (if not 2 or 3) from a top 4 HGC KR team. I think they may have what it takes to beat Alex's team, but beyond that, I don't think they will be able to overcome the talent and experience gap with their team synergy.