DN SOOPers Conclude LCK 2026 Season With Sweep Over Kiwoom DRX
Key Takeaways
- •DN SOOPers swept Kiwoom DRX on August 22 to finish the LCK 2026 regular season with a 5-3 record.
- •The DRX organization previously won the 2022 World Championship in one of the sport's biggest underdog runs.
- •DN SOOPers' 2026 season was marked by significant inconsistency, with records in certain tracked stages falling as low as 5-20.
- •The franchise previously competed as Afreeca Freecs and then Kwangdong Freecs before rebranding under backing from DN Solutions and the SOOP streaming platform.
- •LCK regular-season standings determine postseason seeding, giving the final-week results playoff implications.
DN SOOPers ended their LCK 2026 campaign the way every team hopes to: with a decisive sweep. On August 22, the Korean League of Legends squad defeated Kiwoom DRX in convincing fashion, locking in a 5-3 final record for the season. The opponent carries its own pedigree: the DRX organization famously won the 2022 World Championship in one of the biggest underdog runs in the sport's history.
A clean finish to a turbulent season
That level of dominance was not the norm for DN SOOPers in 2026. Their season was marked by significant inconsistency, with records in certain tracked stages falling as low as 5-20. The finish carried practical stakes as well: LCK regular-season standings determine postseason seeding, so results in the closing week can shape a team's playoff picture.
A franchise with many names
DN SOOPers is the latest identity of an organization that has cycled through multiple rebrands. The team was previously known as Afreeca Freecs, a name that became familiar to international audiences through years of LCK competition after the organization joined Korea's top flight in 2016. When sponsorship deals shifted, the organization rebranded to Kwangdong Freecs. Now, backed by DN Solutions, the machine-tool maker within Korea's DN Group, and the streaming platform SOOP, they compete as DN SOOPers. The current name is something of a full circle: SOOP is the platform formerly known as AfreecaTV, the streaming service the organization was originally built around.
The LCK's crowded middle class
The packed schedule of mid-to-late August 2026 meant that teams arrived at these final matches worn down, grinding through fatigue and mental exhaustion by the time the closing games rolled around. The grind is sharpened by the league's stature: the LCK has long ranked among the world's strongest regions, with its teams winning multiple World Championships, which keeps separation in the middle of the table thin. How DN SOOPers carry this closing form into their next competitive year is a question the offseason will now pose.
