A Bit of a Fixer-Upper: KT Rolster

In the starry-eyed world of preseason play, every roster can be that special roster. The one that will suddenly transform a team from worst to first. Hopes soar and hype builds as teams shuffle players around in their latest efforts to win. In SBENU Champions Spring 2015, the once-dominant KT Rolster was no exception. Placing third overall with no set losses in the preseason, KT looked like one of the stronger teams headed into Champions Spring 2015, alongside SK Telecom T1 and NaJin e-mFire. The hope that this iteration of KT Rolster would continue the organization’s relative success in Champions was quickly dashed in the first two weeks of round robin play. KT sunk to the bottom of the leaderboard, just above the last-place Samsung Galaxy, after falling 0-2 to both NaJin e-mFire and SK Telecom T1. They have yet to recover. Only the dismal 0-9 performance of Samsung Galaxy ranks lower than KT in the Champions Spring standings. Pinpointing what ails the team is tricky. The components of KT Rolster appear to be strong individually, but unable to assemble into anything cohesive. This is a far cry from previous KT Rolster teams, who thrived on the idea that the sum of their players was far greater than the individuals themselves.

Looking to Score in the jungle

The power vacuum left behind from the exodus of players to Chinese shores hit the Korean jungle position especially hard. For KT Rolster, it meant the loss of their dynamic playmaking jungler Lee “KaKAO” Byung-kwon from the now-defunct KT Rolster Arrows. As an organization, the heartbeat of a successful KT Rolster team has always been in the jungle, with the aforementioned KaKAO and previously Choi “inSec” In-seok. KT’s situation appeared dire, as the roster shuffle left them with a lackluster jungle option in Yoon “Prime” Du-sik, but two strong AD carries: Go “Score” Dong-bin and No “Arrow” Dong-hyeon. Rather than opt for Prime, KT decided on the alternative route of transitioning Score into the jungle. The AD carry main stated that he had always wanted to try jungle, but had been unable to due to the strong junglers that the team previously possessed. With the position open for tryout, Score looked impressive in the preseason, dictating the tempo of KT’s games far better than Prime. Score’s preseason dominance was aided by strong performances from his laners, particularly top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho. The Champions Spring regular season has told a far different tale. More often than not, Score finds himself in mid game emergencies, with the majority of his lanes losing. This places him into immediate recovery mode, reducing his overall effectiveness in creating pressure on the map.

Ssumday, we’ll be together

KT Rolster’s problems neither begin, nor end, with their laning. While Score’s attention is often diverted to stem the bleeding from losing lanes, KT’s true struggle is in playing together as a unit. Previous iterations of KT Rolster -- namely the Summer 2013 KT Bullets and the Summer 2014 KT Arrows -- trusted in the team as a whole, rather than individual standout pieces. In rotating Score to the jungle, KT relied on the playmaking abilities of Arrow and support player Ha “Hachani” Seung-chan in the bot lane. Partnered with the steady presence of Ssumday in top, and former NaJin Black Sword mid lane standout Kim “Nagne” Sang-moon, KT looked to have all the pieces in place. Unfortunately, these pieces have yet to properly fit together. KT Rolster’s mid game has looked fairly strong, with Score sometimes able to control the tempo for his team, but KT’s plans fall apart when their lanes lose. Arrow, in particular, has had a difficult time in the bottom lane. The AD carry often finds himself caught out of position, contributing kills to his lane opponent, and has CSed poorly. This sets him behind, delaying key power spikes that the team relies on for their mid game strategy. When KT is required to group in the mid game, regardless of how strong their game plan is, they are unable to execute it due to inadequate damage.

A bit of a Fixer-upper

With the second half of Champions Spring ahead, KT aims to salvage something from their disappointing season. They do so with new support player, Jung “Fixer” Jae-woo replacing Hachani, who stepped down from his position. While Fixer appears to be a less volatile option than Hachani -- who was often caught out of position -- KT Rolster’s problems are far from fixed. In their most recent set against NaJin, KT still struggled to find the win conditions of their team composition, dropping both games to NaJin’s stronger lanes. The team looked slightly better in their set against SK Telecom T1, but again suffered early game woes from Arrow’s farming struggles. Overall, KT Rolster shows glimpses of coordination before slipping back into mediocrity. Until they learn to play as a unit, as opposed to five individuals, they will forever remain at the bottom of the Champions Spring 2015 standings. While KT is not mathematically out of playoff contention yet, they will need a near-miraculous run in the second half to make it. A run that will rely on cohesion covering up each other’s flaws and forming a unit stronger than their parts, like their successful predecessors.

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