The Breakdown - Samsung Galaxy Blue vs SKT T1 K

Although SK Telecom has secured their place in the finals in LoL Masters, SKT T1 K has looked more mortal than ever before. Already knocked out of OGN Champions Spring, other Korean teams have taken this opportunity to exploit weaknesses in the T1 K lineup that were not previously apparent. Samsung Galaxy Blue is no exception to this. In last week's opening match between Samsung Galaxy and SK Telecom, Blue demonstrated impressive deception during Champion Select and played T1 K straight into their hands.

Assembling the team

Bans & Picks

• Blue bans: Nidalee, Thresh, Twisted Fate
• T1 K bans: LeBlanc, Leona, Lee Sin
• Blue picks: Jax, Dr. Mundo Nami, Kog'Maw Soraka
• T1 K picks: Ryze Kha'Zix, Lulu Caitlyn, Orianna

With Blue and T1 K aiming bans at specific champions rather than targeting a single player, Blue's first pick of Jax initially appeared to be for Acorn in the top lane. As a strong late game carry, Jax has a notoriously weak early game and T1 K anticipated that by counter-picking Ryze. Also a formidable late game carry, Ryze has the upper hand if it comes down to a 1v1 during laning phase. With his ranged auto attacks and spells, he can harass from a safe distance. However, T1 K's assumption turned out to be incorrect as Blue's second round picks showed Dr. Mundo. T1 K's expected advantage in the top lane evaporated as Mundo could safely farm at a distance away from Ryze by using Infected Cleavers to last hit. T1 K's second round pick of Lulu would have ideally gone in the mid lane but Blue surprised T1 K again with a last pick Soraka. With Blue armed with two late game carries of Jax and Kog'Maw and two utility champions with Nami and Soraka, T1 K decided to fight attrition with attrition and placed Lulu in the hands of PoohManDu while they locked in Orianna for Faker. In a clash of sustain versus protection, it seems that Korean teams have recently taken a page out of the NA LCS by running Soraka mid. Blue extended their healing abilities on Soraka and Nami by selecting summoner Heal on Dade, Deft, and Heart. T1 K would be hard pressed to dish out tons of damage to negate six sources of healing from Blue's lineup. To combat Blue's heal composition, T1 K expected drawn out engagements and opted for shields from Orianna and Lulu. While Blue's comp looks entirely defensive on paper, T1 K's shields can additionally combo offensively with Command: Dissonance and Glitterlance. So if Blue has the first jump in a fight, T1 K has means of a counter-engage from their own utility champions. While Blue's goal stepping onto the Rift is fairly straight forward: to out-sustain and ultimately outlast anything T1 K can throw at them; in order for T1 K to come out triumphant, they'll need to find openings to blast through Blue's lineup with their immediate burst before Blue's heals render T1 K's damage futile.

A point well-made

In a match between heals and shields, Blue and T1 K expected this game to go the long mile and instead of passively playing it out to the late game, both teams showed plenty of early game aggression. The first few kills of the match were not in lane but in Blue's blue side jungle as players from top and bot lanes collided in the middle of the Rift. However, with both teams featuring abilities best used when multiple allies are around, there was plenty of 5v5 action to highlight in this slugfest. While Blue had the better initial position to secure Dragon, T1 K committed to a fight immediately after. With only four players facing Blue's four champions, Faker Command: Protects Bengi, the T1 K's only front line champion. The Orianna ball remained on Bengi until Faker found a window to poke down an isolated Dade. As Dade retreated, Spirit covered him and this gave Faker a new target to harass down with Ignite and Command: Dissonance as soon as it came off cooldown. With Impact Teleporting in behind the enemy team, Blue panicked and reactively bunched together. This finally gave Faker the look he needed for a clutch Command: Shockwave that caught four Blue players and dealt the final dose of damage to take down Spirit. Although Blue's sustain was already apparent in the mid game, T1 K's ultimates were the obvious answer. With explosive damage off Shockwave, there was plenty of damage T1 K could deal before Blue could properly react. T1 K's success in team-fights revolved around Faker's ability to land clutch Shockwaves to not only crowd control Blue but to also set the grounds for Impact and Piglet to clean up if necessary. Without a proper Shockwave, T1 K wouldn't have the means to counteract Blue's multitude of stacking heals. The only other form of AoE crowd control comes from PoohManDu's Wild Growth, which provides utility but negligible damage compare to Shockwave. As T1 K's lone front line at the start of the fight, Bengi was caught by Heart's Aqua Prison and Tidal Wave. Shields from both Faker and PoohManDu kept Bengi alive and bided T1 K some time for Impact to enter the fight. The extra pressure from the T1 K pincering Blue allowed Faker a momentary window to make a small gain despite losing Dragon over to Blue. While Heart used his summoner Heal on Spirit during the fight, the surprise of Impact coming in from behind startled Blue to the point where Dade and Deft were unable to use their own Heals in time to save their jungler.

Sacrificial Jax

After a stalemate standoff at Baron, Blue knew they needed to start a team-fight to take advantage of their gold lead. Spirit erroneously jumped onto Faker without his team in position and was forced to Flash away. Blue desperately needed to secure momentum with T1 K poised to strike down mid lane, so Acorn charged forth for his team. Armed with a Sunfire Cape, Spirit Visage, and Banshee's Veil, Acorn had more than enough defensive stats to soak up T1 K's damage while giving the rest of Blue the space they needed to get into position. With Burning Agony on, Impact's Rune Prison and PoohManDu's Glitterlance did little to hinder Acorn's march. Blue was in a comfortable position as the aggressor in this team-fight and with all of their healing spells ready. Unable to do any significant damage to Acorn, T1 K immediately turned focus to Spirit when he jumped in with Leap Strike. Heart used his Heal summoner to aid Spirit while Dade cast Wish at the same time. But with only a Spectre's Cowl as the only defensive item for Spirit, he was the first to fall on Blue side. Although Dade's Wish wasn't enough to save Spirit, it healed Acorn a considerable amount of health he had lost while skirmishing Impact. When Bengi made a move on Spirit, an opening appeared in T1 K's front line and Acorn turned his focus onto Faker and then Piglet. T1 K lost a large portion of their damage output as their AP and AD carries were forced to kite Acorn with very little success. The fight resulted in two kills apiece for Acorn and Deft, leaving T1 K at an even larger gold deficit than before the fight started. This team-fight exhibited the unforgiving nature of a shield comp with Orianna. At the previous Dragon fight, a good Command: Shockwave provided T1 K with damage they needed to walk away after winning the team-fight. Faker only landed his Shockwave on a lone Dade because Deft had Flashed away; this is where T1 K lost all control and Acorn ran amok. As a fully defensive, tanky top lane, Acorn's main priority in team-fights was to disrupt. He did this by bulldozing his way through T1 K's front line, while soaking up the majority of T1 K's damage and by getting into range of T1 K's carries to minimize their damage output.

Against all odds

As the game progressed, the healing abilities from Blue extended team-fights longer and longer. Blue could commit to team-fights that looked unfavorable initially but as T1 K gave chase and eventually lost steam, Blue took over. Despite a 1-3-1 positional split, Spirit didn't hesitate to jump on Impact, the sole defender of mid lane while the rest of T1 K was located bot. As the team defending against the siege, T1 K was quicker to react and turned on Spirit while Dade and Heart did everything in their power to keep Spirit alive. While spells and summoners were used to maintain Spirit's health, Heart landed a well-timed Tidal Wave to hinder T1 K's assault while Dade entered the front line to reduce aggro on Spirit. Blue managed to successfully juggle the damage they took across multiple players, keeping everyone alive while Acorn Teleported to the middle of T1 K. Although Spirit was eventually taken down by Faker, Acorn avenged him by finishing off Impact and cleaned up PoohManDu. Throughout the match, Spirit consistently gave up his life for the greater good of his team. While it was Acorn who typically was first into the fray, there was limited crowd control from just Dr. Mundo. Spirit equipped with Counterstrike and the slowing active of Blade of the Ruined King, gave Blue additional ways to hold down a target and focus the player down. Unable to make ground during the midgame, T1 K was stuck in a predicament where Blue could pick fights and out-attrition T1 K. Even in a 3v5 that lasted ten seconds, T1 K didn't have the necessary crowd control to lock a Blue player down to score a kill. In a team-fight that began with Impact getting caught, T1 K's only root was used as a peel, not as a pick. Finally with a lack of focus and spreading damage across Heart and Dade, T1 K expended all their spells and became extremely vulnerable once Acorn Teleported in and single-handed cleaned up for Blue.

The silence before Baron

In the final exchange of the match at Baron, Dade's split second decision making with Soraka gave Blue Exalted buff on five players and allowed them to sweep though T1 K with ease before ending the game. With vision of T1 K as Blue started on Baron, Dade spotted Bengi ready to Leap over in attempt to Smite steal. Blue didn't hesitate and continued to lay waste to Baron. In the final seconds before Baron fell, Dade not only poked T1 K above them with Starcall but he also Infused Bengi, giving Blue uncontested Smite control of Baron. The perfect positioning by Dade to silence Bengi, preventing the T1 K jungler from Leaping over, guaranteed Blue the final Baron of the game. With the buff safely secure, Dade continued to make correct plays that ensured Blue could close out the match. Dade's had two roles henceforth: help Blue focus down a single target before moving to the rest of T1 K. Then while his team dispatches the isolated player, get in range to block T1 K from retreating back to their base in order to defend. With his first Starcall, Dade casted it immediately as soon as he was in range of Impact. It didn't matter that his AoE hit only one T1 K player. The idea was to provide additional slow on Impact using the Rylai's Crystal Scepter passive so Blue could successfully remove the Guardian Angel from Impact. Once T1 K's top lane was marked for dead, Dade maneuvered himself into the front line where his following Starcalls could hit as many T1 K players as possible, slowing the rest of T1 K from a retreat. Putting himself in immediate danger, Dade almost died but was saved by the trifecta of a maximally efficient Astral Blessing, Wish, and Heart's Ebb and Flow. With Bengi and Faker slain following Impact's death, T1 K's base was free for the taking.

Wrapping up the match

Key moments for each team Samsung Galaxy Blue Creative drafting By openly first picking Jax, a champion with notable counterpicks, Blue mind-gamed T1 K thinking they had an advantage in drafting. Finishing their composition off with Soraka, Blue forced T1 K into playing a game without a strong means of crowd control or champion removal. Maximizing the use of their heals Not always using heals on the first heavily injured champion, Blue was extremely selective on when and who they used their heals on and it assured them multiple team-fight victories. SKT T1 K Suboptimal use of ultimates The brunt of T1 K's damage came from their ultimates but they failed at various points in the game to use them to maximum effect. If Blue was able to dodge the majority of incoming damage, T1 K had no hope of winning extended engagements. Lack of focus fire Even in team-fights where they had greater numbers, T1 K consistently distributed damage across multiple Blue players and that proved to be their undoing. By not killing any champion, T1 K haplessly watched as Blue stepped back to reorganize, heal up, and then mount a counterattack of their own. Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he never wants to see a Soraka in his solo queue games. What new champions this season are you unhappy to see on the loading screen? You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.