Is Snake the Real Deal?

While pre-season roster rumors dominated League of Legends esports in China, Snake Esports fell off of the radar after their name was eliminated from the competition to sign Korean stars Lee “KaKAO” Byung-kwon and Song “RooKie” Eui-jin. As a wave of prominent Korean talent flooded into the region, Snake quietly picked up two relatively unknown players: former BigFile Miracle jungler Kim “Beast” Joo-hyun, and Avalanche support player Kwok “Ella” Hoon-kwak. Expectations for Snake, in comparing their roster on paper to other teams, were low going into 2015 LPL Spring. As a team with many facets that needed polishing, it was impossible to discern whether Beast and Ella would improve the team as a whole, especially against the competition of other teams’ acquisitions like the aforementioned KaKAO or former Samsung Galaxy White jungler, Choi “DanDy” In-kyu.

The One Trick Warhorse of the LSPL

Snake earned their bid into the 2015 Spring LPL by placing second in the 2014 Summer LSPL. Their strategy across the LSPL season relied on their young top-laner, Li “Flandre” Xuan-jun to carry the game while the rest of the team would play around him. Known for a few odd picks in the top lane -- including Fizz -- Flandre drew target bans in champion select throughout the LSPL. With nearly all of the focus from in-game opponents on their top laner, Snake leveraged this attention into other objectives, or simply sat back and allow Flandre to carry them to success. Their mid-laner, Lu “BAKA” Fan (formerly named Copy) was steady, and occasionally carried games. In spite of an oft-shaky laning phase, their AD carry Yang “kRYST4L” Fan (then known as F4n2fan) was put on late-game scaling champions like Kog’Maw and Tristana. It then fell on Coa “CoLiN” Hai’s shoulders as his support to care for him both in and out of lane. If CoLiN and jungler Liu “Reborn” Yuan were able to get kRYST4L to the late-game, the AD carry’s damage output gave Snake a safety net based on champion pool alone.

You Can Try Again

While Snake’s playstyle was strong enough in the LSPL to net a second place finish, and an automatic placement into the LPL, they looked shaky in off-season tournaments. Reborn in particular, seemed lost when Lee Sin was taken away from him. Without Reborn applying pressure where needed, namely the bottom duo of kRYST4L and CoLiN, Snake struggled. On December 7 2014, Beast replaced Reborn as Snake’s starting jungler, while Ella paired up with kRYST4L in the bot lane. With no prior accolades nor major tournament success, their addition went relatively unnoticed when compared to far larger acquisitions in China. Following the first week of LPL round robin play, Snake unexpectedly stood atop the leaderboard, in good company of teams like EDward Gaming and OMG. Their LPL debut consisted of two 2-0 wins over Gamtee, another former LSPL team that qualified through the expansion tournament, and a struggling World Elite squad. Week 2 provided tougher competition from EDG and Team King; however, Snake managed to upset EDG 2-0 and drew with King 1-1. Now in Week 4, Snake sits just below EDG in the overall LPL standings as the current No. 2 team in China. As for how this upstart former LSPL team could be doing so well against assumed superior competition, the answer is simple: they’re doing the exact same thing that they did in the LSPL, but executing it more efficiently. Flandre indubitably remains the star of Snake, and he’s playing even sharper now thanks to Beast’s jungle pathing and vision control. While Flandre continues to draw enemy focus in the top lane, the other members of Snake are free to contest for objectives In the bottom lane, kRYST4L has gone from zero to hero, becoming one of Snake’s playmakers and tightening his positioning in between map rotations from his LSPL days. KRYST4L has also improved his champion pool, adding both Draven and Kalista. These two champions show kRYST4L’s growth, from mere late-game insurance to star. However, the real star of the bot lane is Ella. While CoLiN was in no way a bad support, Ella has taken kRYST4L under his wing and transformed him into a superstar. Ella’s vision plays a large part in kRYST4L’s increased map awareness, and his peel allows kRYST4L to carry. Understated, but equally important, is the role of Beast. He excels on supportive junglers like Nunu and Jarvan IV, offering extra peel and protection for kRYST4L. With the combined vision control of Beast and Ella, Snake is stronger as a whole, and appear surprisingly coordinated, especially for a team with two new players from another country.

Snakes on a Gravy Train?

There is still a lot of LPL to go. Snake has a grueling season ahead of them, comprised of 44 matches total, of which they’ve played 18 games. This gives other teams, who may have been struggling in the beginning of the LPL Spring, time to adjust and figure Snake out. Their largest weakness is in the respective champion pools of their individual players. BAKA has yet to show the same success on another champion that he’s had on Xerath. Beast appears to be wholly reliant on his support-style jungle champions, and kRYST4L’s proficiency appears limited to Draven or Kalista. Snake has worked hard towards perfecting their playstyle. As a young team, they have room to grow, but have easily identifiable weakness in their strategy and champion pools. However, it’s worth noting how far they have managed to develop as a team. This has earned them the second place spot in the LPL standings, again in good company with EDG in first and OMG in third. They also are the only team, thus far, to take games off of the number one team, EDG. This could point to growth and further success in Snake’s future, but only if they continue to broaden their strategies and widen their champion pools.

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