Easyhoon: Breaking through God's shadow
Riot·5/27/2015, 2:45:43 AM·3 votes·18,549 views
With a new Split comes new stars and new stories. Here is one of the players you should look out for in Summer 2015!
Team: SKTelecom T1
Region: Korea
Position: Mid
Against all odds, Ji-hoon "Easyhoon" Lee has been the biggest beneficiary of the combined Korean rosters. For a long time, fans knew that SKTelecom T1 was home to the best mid laner in Korea: Sang-hyeok "Faker" Lee. However it is only through the abolishment of Korean sister teams that we've discovered they also have the second best one.
Why has SKT time-shared the two players, and what does the future hold for SKT's newest star?
For the entire time Easyhoon was on SKT, he only managed to advance out of the OGN Group Stage once. Not only that, SKT S and K were frequently paired in the same group, leading to an even more evident contrast between the two mid laners. But when the roster merger happened at the end of 2014, Easyhoon finally got his chance.
Easyhoon's mastery of the mid lane and his farming style played into the Korean meta for much of LCK Spring 2015. His dominance in the Korean meta confirms a lot of what we've seen this season in every region. With the assassin meta on the decline and the rise of late game mages like Xerath, Cassiopeia, and Azir, it favors Easyhoon's more conservative playstyle.
This fact was most evident in the Finals of Champions Spring when Easyhoon led SKT to a 3-0 sweep of the GE Tigers behind dominant Cassiopeia and Azir play. After winning his lane convincingly each game and snowballing his advantage to his teammates, it seemed that Easyhoon had begun to shake the perception of being a passive, farm-happy player, and was starting to emerge as a true star.
While Easyhoon played well throughout the Group Stage, he was unable to have much of an impact in the Knockout Stage. "From MSI, I noticed that the game style is very different among Korea and other regions and that there is a lot to learn from them," Easyhoon said.
He needs to show more of the aggressive play in lane that we saw in the LCK Final, and widen his champion pool to be more dynamic. But SKT's coaching staff has put faith in his ability to perform. Easyhoon knows the pressure is on for him. "Individually, everybody on the team [will] have to put their best efforts and as team we would have to communicate well [to win Worlds this season]."
You can watch Easyhoon's improvement every week in the LCK regular season, here on lolesports.com.
Click here to find out about some of the other players to watch in 2015 Summer.
In God's Shadow
For a long time in his career, Easyhoon has played second fiddle to Faker. While Faker won regional and World Championships as part of SKT T1 K, Easyhoon struggled to stay relevant on SKT T1 S -- their sister team. "While my mindset as a professional player and my practice hours haven't changed much compared to my time in SKT S… the results are very different," Easyhoon said.
For the entire time Easyhoon was on SKT, he only managed to advance out of the OGN Group Stage once. Not only that, SKT S and K were frequently paired in the same group, leading to an even more evident contrast between the two mid laners. But when the roster merger happened at the end of 2014, Easyhoon finally got his chance.
A new timeshare in Korea
Throughout the 2015 Spring Split, western fans stayed up to see SKT's matches, only to be let down the moment that starting rosters were revealed and Easyhoon was the Game 1 starter. After all, who doesn't want to see #ThingsFakerDoes? But over time, fan's began to be overtaken by awe.
Easyhoon's mastery of the mid lane and his farming style played into the Korean meta for much of LCK Spring 2015. His dominance in the Korean meta confirms a lot of what we've seen this season in every region. With the assassin meta on the decline and the rise of late game mages like Xerath, Cassiopeia, and Azir, it favors Easyhoon's more conservative playstyle.
This fact was most evident in the Finals of Champions Spring when Easyhoon led SKT to a 3-0 sweep of the GE Tigers behind dominant Cassiopeia and Azir play. After winning his lane convincingly each game and snowballing his advantage to his teammates, it seemed that Easyhoon had begun to shake the perception of being a passive, farm-happy player, and was starting to emerge as a true star.
Put to the test
Still, it is clear that Easyhoon still has areas to grow. His first sense of pressure would come at the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational, when out of the three available substitutes (the others being Jae-hyeon "T0M" Im and Jong-beom "Piccaboo" Lee) he was chosen to accompany the team.
While Easyhoon played well throughout the Group Stage, he was unable to have much of an impact in the Knockout Stage. "From MSI, I noticed that the game style is very different among Korea and other regions and that there is a lot to learn from them," Easyhoon said.
He needs to show more of the aggressive play in lane that we saw in the LCK Final, and widen his champion pool to be more dynamic. But SKT's coaching staff has put faith in his ability to perform. Easyhoon knows the pressure is on for him. "Individually, everybody on the team [will] have to put their best efforts and as team we would have to communicate well [to win Worlds this season]."
You can watch Easyhoon's improvement every week in the LCK regular season, here on lolesports.com.
Click here to find out about some of the other players to watch in 2015 Summer.
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