Picks & Bans: SKTelecom T1 mixes things up at MSI

SKTelecom T1 is complicated. All split, they've been swapping around their roster, playing substitutes at will in the mid lane, support, and jungle. As such, it's been incredibly difficult for teams to solidify a strong Picks and Bans phase against the 2013 World Champions. Now at the Mid-Season Invitational, they'll only have the option to bring a single substitute. Unfortunately for opposing teams, it will be their backup mid laner Jihoon "Easyhoon" Lee, a player that has proven himself more than capable of holding down the center of the map while his legendary teammate Sanghyuk "Faker" Lee rides the bench. With two distinct play styles, SKT1 has more than a few tricks up their sleeves for anyone trying to bring them down at MSI.

Duo mid

There's a reason LeBlanc is banned against him in nearly every game. If the world's best player is taking to the Rift, there can be no excuse for giving him his most successful champion. Currently holding a ridiculous 12-0 all-time competitive record on The Deceiver, his mastery on her is arguably the most powerful of any champion/player pairing in the world. Take a look at Game 5 of the LCK Spring Split Semifinals, where Faker was allowed to blind pick her. He then proceeded to go 15/1/10, blowing up anyone that came anywhere near him. Faker wouldn't be considered one of -- if not the -- greatest of all time if his champion pool could be taken down with just a few bans. He's known as a genius assassin player (have you seen his Zed?), but can take just about any champion onto the Rift and find wins with them. In fact, of the 29 champions taken into the mid lane this split in the LCK, he's played 12 of them. He may have become famous on high-mechanics champions like LeBlanc, Zed, and Orianna, but he can play just about any style, from farm-heavy to extensive roaming. One thing's for sure: No matter what you try to ban away from him, he'll find a way to impact the game. Easyhoon, on the other hand, is a bit more niche. Primarily found on safe, farm-focused casters, he's the choice for SKT when they're looking for a poke/siege team composition. Earlier in the LCK Spring Split, you could usually find him on the supportive Lulu and the long-range Xerath, but lately he's grown into a world-class Cassiopeia player. So much for that hyper safe, careful player. As Easyhoon evolves into a world-class mid laner, SKTelecom T1 becomes increasingly difficult to deal with in Champion Select. Their team strategies tend to revolve around whatever their mid laner is playing, and with two distinct players holding down the fort, they can pull any composition at any time. How do you ban out that which cannot be predicted? Beats us.

Another pair

Support Jaewan "Wolf" Lee and AD carry Jungsik "Bang" Bae are certainly not the most renowned players on SKT, but they do one thing really well: They get the job done. With Bang on Sivir and Wolf on a disengage champion like Thresh, Alistar, or Janna, they bring a massive amount of utility to SKT. For a team so skilled at picking the exact fights they want, the bot lane duo is instrumental in getting them into brawls that they can win, and out of those they can't. Sivir may be a worthy ban when looking at Bang, but most teams in Korea have identified someone far more dangerous in his hands: Kalista. In four regular season games on her, he racked up a huge KDA of 29, immediately drawing bans from anyone going up against SKT. His laning with her is nearly impeccable, often resulting in massive leads if opposing junglers don't aim their focus down to the south of the Rift. He only managed to get his hands on her once in the Playoffs (and in a blind pick Game 5, no less), and crushed CJ Entus with her, going 8/3/21. Bang's lane bully tendencies are only helped along when Wolf picks a slightly more aggressive champion. The support may mostly play disengage champions, but he's been known to pull Annie out from time to time. His Dark Child is a huge lane threat, spitting out long-range auto-attacks and stuns to help Bang lay down some serious damage. The power of their bullying duo -- and their game-defining repercussions -- will never be more evident than it was in Game 4 of the LCK Spring Split Playoffs against CJ Entus. After coming out ahead in the laning phase, SKT transitioned into a makeshift "Protect the Carry" composition, dragging out the game to more than 70 minutes and allowing Bang to essentially win the game on his own. In one of the greatest performances by an AD carry in recent memory, he used his Lucian to dash in and out of fights, slaying anyone in his path while keeping his 11/3/5 record intact. It certainly didn't hurt that Wolf's Tibbers drops were very on point throughout the game. Bang may not play Lucian often, but that performance may just convince teams to keep that particular champion in check.

Veteran in the jungle

We may have mostly seen Jae-Hyun "Tom" Lim in SKT's jungle during the final weeks of the 2015 LCK Spring Split, but Faker's long time teammate Sungwoong "Bengi" Bae will be manning the role for MSI. A fixture in the Korean scene for years, he's long been known as one of the best supportive junglers around. Due to his largely secondary role on SKT, Bengi is often left to his own devices in Champion Select. He rarely sees many of his preferred champions banned, so he's played primarily Jarvan IV during the regular season, but recently has been focusing much more on Rek'Sai. The early game pressure that comes by way of the Void Burrower has allowed him to get whichever mid laner happens to be in the game to get rolling. Don't think he exists purely to camp mid lane, though. He's been known to head to both side lanes, applying pressure where needed. Bengi is incredibly skilled at being exactly where he needs to be at all times, supporting whoever needs it at the exact moment they need it most. Teams may not have deemed it necessary to levy bans against Bengi as of late, but his relatively small competitive pool leaves him open to the possibility. We've only seen a handful of games from him this split where he hasn't played his beloved Jarvan IV or Rek'Sai, and they typically haven't gone all that well. If a team is looking for just one player to put on their back foot completely, Bengi might be the guy to look at.

Laying his roots down

On a squad full of team players, top laner Kyunghwan "MaRin" Jang is the most team-focused of the bunch. A player who excels at adapting to new metas, it's his job on SKT to make sure everyone is staying safe and able to deal the max amount of damage they can. Lately, he's been found on massive tanks, as that's what the meta calls for. A proficient Maokai player, he's managed to rack up huge undefeated streaks on the tree by peeling for his squishies and looking for just the right engages. He's pulled SKT out of more than a few sticky situations with opportune Twisted Advances, often solidifying victories during their run through the LCK Playoffs and punching their ticket to MSI. In terms of tanks, MaRin's Gnar is nothing to take lightly, either. He's shown incredible proficiency in finding the right time to combine Homeguard boots, Teleport, and Gnar transformations to fly into the enemy back line and toss them all into the waiting, deadly arms of his teammates. And that's to say nothing about his strength during the laning phase with the little guy, often picking up big early leads by way of excellent trading and enabling ganks. MaRin is amazing on tanks, but his most volatile champion might just be his Rumble. He hasn't whipped out the Mechanized Menace much in the past few weeks, but teams always have to be aware that he can pull out his favorite pocket pick at any time. And as one of the best Rumbles in the world, he'll always be a threat to turn games on their head. What do you do against SKT's top laner? In the current meta, Maokai might be the best champion to take away. But if teams go in that direction, they'll have to choose top lane matchups that can keep down the pressure that Rumble and Gnar bring to the table. That's not going to be easy. Will teams be able to handle Faker/Easyhoon and company? Find out on Lolesports when the Mid-Season Invitational starts up on May 7.

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