InSec’s Return Home
Riot·10/17/2014, 1:07:23 AM·0 votes·14,079 views
Longtime KT Bullets member Choi “inSec” In-seok stunned the League of Legends world when he left his team to play for China’s Star Horn Royal Club following a disappointing run in OGN Champions Spring 2014. inSec has experienced a career renaissance with SHRC, and has been a major reason for the team’s march to the 2014 World Championship finals. Those finals represent a homecoming for inSec, as he gets to play in front of his home fans for the biggest prize of them all.
That mechanical mastery led him to being considered the premier jungler in the world through the beginning of the 2013 season, but the KT Bullets had other ideas about how to take advantage of his skillset: a role swap. The Bullets moved him into the top lane to create room for Lee “KaKAO” Byung-kwon in the jungle.
The Bullets ascended to No. 2 in Korea while inSec was in the top lane, but they could never get a championship thanks to SK Telecom T1 K's dominance. Following a third place finish in Champions Winter 2013-2014 for the Bullets, the KT Rolster organization decided to move KaKAO over to the KT Arrows, and pushed inSec back into the jungle.
The results were an unfortunate fall from grace. The magic that made the KT Bullets so devastating was gone. The team fell during the quarterfinals of Champions Spring to NaJin White Shield, and inSec decided to leave on May 2, 2014. Following a month of rampant speculation, inSec joined China’s Star Horn Royal Club on June 1, 2014.
The cliche “typical Chinese aggression” fits Star Horn Royal Club perfectly, and is built off of the idea that most Chinese teams love to fight and pressure as often as possible even if it is to their detriment. inSec’s love of early ganking, and deep dives sets up that style.
In order to facilitate all of that action, inSec relies on mobile junglers. Throughout LPL Summer, he leaned heavily on Lee Sin and Rengar with 28 games combined on those champions whereas his third most played champion, Kha’Zix, only saw the Rift six times. That does not mean that he has a small champion poo,l as demonstrated by his games on Fiddlesticks and Pantheon during the 2014 World Championship.
One of the other players that has been wrecking the tournament at a level near PawN and Looper has been Uzi. He has maintained the highest CS per minute of any player throughout the Knockout Stage, as well as a 400+ GPM. Star Horn Royal Club could decide as a team to have their solo laners play safe, and concede that the White solo laners are simply better, which would free inSec up to try and spark Uzi into the carry he has shown himself to be. No matter how SHRC decides to allocate their resources, it will fall heavily on inSec to buttress the team throughout the game.
The 2014 season was one of massive change for SHRC’s inSec. He’s gone from Korea, to China, and now back to Korea to close out the season. That journey ends when Star Horn Royal Club takes on Samsung Galaxy White in the finals of the 2014 World Championship in Sangam Stadium on October 19, 2014. The action begins at midnight PST, and 9 am CEST.
inSec Goes Abroad
InSec has long been recognized as one of the premier mechanical players in the game. He made his mark on Western audiences during the 2013 All-Stars in Shanghai with his “inSec” maneuver.
That mechanical mastery led him to being considered the premier jungler in the world through the beginning of the 2013 season, but the KT Bullets had other ideas about how to take advantage of his skillset: a role swap. The Bullets moved him into the top lane to create room for Lee “KaKAO” Byung-kwon in the jungle.
The Bullets ascended to No. 2 in Korea while inSec was in the top lane, but they could never get a championship thanks to SK Telecom T1 K's dominance. Following a third place finish in Champions Winter 2013-2014 for the Bullets, the KT Rolster organization decided to move KaKAO over to the KT Arrows, and pushed inSec back into the jungle.
The results were an unfortunate fall from grace. The magic that made the KT Bullets so devastating was gone. The team fell during the quarterfinals of Champions Spring to NaJin White Shield, and inSec decided to leave on May 2, 2014. Following a month of rampant speculation, inSec joined China’s Star Horn Royal Club on June 1, 2014.
inSec in China
Ironically, Star Horn Royal Club was undergoing a rebuild of their own following a disappointing few months following the Season Three World Championship. After their appearance in the Season Three finals, four players left for various reasons and the team's performance suffered. They placed no higher than fourth in any tournament that they participated in between October 5, 2013 and June 1, 2014 -- when inSec and support Yoon “Zero” Kyung-sup joined the team. Adding two Korean players to the roster helped SHRC. The team surged to third in the LPL Summer Regular Season as well as the Summer Playoffs. They rode that wave of momentum into the 2014 World Championship finals after securing the No. 2 seed from China. inSec has been a major part of that, and he plays into the team’s naturally aggressive style.
The cliche “typical Chinese aggression” fits Star Horn Royal Club perfectly, and is built off of the idea that most Chinese teams love to fight and pressure as often as possible even if it is to their detriment. inSec’s love of early ganking, and deep dives sets up that style.
In order to facilitate all of that action, inSec relies on mobile junglers. Throughout LPL Summer, he leaned heavily on Lee Sin and Rengar with 28 games combined on those champions whereas his third most played champion, Kha’Zix, only saw the Rift six times. That does not mean that he has a small champion poo,l as demonstrated by his games on Fiddlesticks and Pantheon during the 2014 World Championship.
inSec back home
The 2014 World Championship has given inSec a chance to play in front of his home crowd again, and his exceptional mechanics have been on full display throughout the tournament. One play from Star Horn Royal Club’s opening game rout of Team SoloMid underscores how aggressive he can be. In this play, inSec comes top and, before TSM’s Dyrus can react to the warning symbol that Rengar is nearby, Flashes onto him to secure first blood for SHRC. The aggression is what makes the play. It happens too fast for Lustboy and Amazing to respond, even though they are close. An understated part of inSec’s game is his ability to pressure the map in surprising ways, and that creates interesting results. That idea was on display in game four of the OMG/SHRC semifinal series. OMG finds a kill on Cola’s Dr. Mundo in the SHRC jungle, and they push the middle lane. inSec goes behind them and kills the minion wave that is pushing forward. While OMG does get the inhibitor, the lack of minions means they cannot get any more and have taken serious damage from tanking the turret which forces them to disengage.inSec in the Finals
All of the things that make inSec a world class talent will need to be brought to bear against Samsung White, but he will need all of them to help SHRC’s solo laners. Samsung White’s solo lanes, Heo “PawN” Won-seok and Jang “Looper” Hyeong-seok, have obliterated everybody put against them. They both have KDAs over 11 and are two of only four players that have a gold per minute in excess of 400 for the 2014 World Championship.
One of the other players that has been wrecking the tournament at a level near PawN and Looper has been Uzi. He has maintained the highest CS per minute of any player throughout the Knockout Stage, as well as a 400+ GPM. Star Horn Royal Club could decide as a team to have their solo laners play safe, and concede that the White solo laners are simply better, which would free inSec up to try and spark Uzi into the carry he has shown himself to be. No matter how SHRC decides to allocate their resources, it will fall heavily on inSec to buttress the team throughout the game.
The 2014 season was one of massive change for SHRC’s inSec. He’s gone from Korea, to China, and now back to Korea to close out the season. That journey ends when Star Horn Royal Club takes on Samsung Galaxy White in the finals of the 2014 World Championship in Sangam Stadium on October 19, 2014. The action begins at midnight PST, and 9 am CEST.
