Piccaboo and KT Rolster shoot for the top
KT Rolster has been all over the LCK standings this Summer Split. A strong start, thanks partly due to victories against the lower half of the league's teams, all but evaporated into thin air when KT was handed loss after loss from the top teams of the league. With the team falling into a 6th place spot by the end of Round 1, things seemed to be going awry.
The second half of the Split is quite a different story. Despite losing 0-2 to NaJin e-mFire just a few days prior in Week 6, KT was immediately able to return the favor by winning the Week 7 rematch with a clean 2-0. They had previously been on a four set win streak, taking down middle of the pack teams like CJ Entus and the Jin Air Green Wings, and were even able to stop SKTelecom T1's massive 17 game win streak in their recent Best of 3s; however, SKT turned out to be an insurmountable wall that KT just could not scale.
Despite losing to SKT, dropping games to CJ Entus in Week 8, and Sbenu SonicBoom in Week 9 where they lost to Runeglaive Ezreal, KT has been powering through their matches with improved team synergy. What's changed since the end of Round 1 and the beginning of Round 2?
Piccaboo, I see you
Jong-bum "Piccaboo" Lee debuted as a newly minted member of KT Rolster with the start of Round 2. Fresh off his stint at SKT (KT's rival in the Telecom Wars), Piccaboo successfully returned to the Rift in that aforementioned set against NaJin e-mFire and has been starting every match since, becoming a catalyst to the upgraded version of KT.
A level 1 roam from his Thresh during the Week 9 Day 4 match against Jin Air was crucial in snowballing KT to victory. Opposing mid laner Seong-hyuk "Kuzan" Lee was caught out when Piccaboo surprised him from the jungle, netting First Blood for Sang-moon "Nagne" Kim. As the game progressed, Piccaboo secured KT's lead by landing crucial hook after hook -- a throwback to the successful plays he made back in Week 7. Playmaking from Piccaboo on champions like Thresh means that KT gets early game leads -- and those early game leads translate into wins for KT, as they're able to wrest control of the game.
Thresh and Janna have been Piccaboo's most played champions so far this Split, but they aren't the only champions in his arsenal. "I'm always thinking about champion picks. I already have quite a few champions that I practice normally," he says. "It's just that in the current meta and flow of pick/ban phase, Janna and Thresh come out as the best picks for me to play."
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He's also very aware of the role champion pools have on chances of winning. "It's impossible to win with a champion pool consisting of only one or two champions," he admits. "Through our many practice sessions I'm in the process of mastering many other potential picks."
Falling away from the Sivir comp
Piccaboo isn't the only one on KT Rolster who's mastering new champions, though. Sivir was once the hot ticket pick for Dong-hyun "Arrow" Noh, but her reign on the Rift has recently been subdued in favor of more poke-oriented champions like Corki and Kog'Maw. Arrow and team played seven games of Kog'Maw, with six wins and one loss -- and like his 10.81 KDA on Sivir, Arrow has an equally impressive 16.00 KDA on this oft-picked replacement.
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Meta changes, new strategies, and synergy with his new support have led Arrow to shift over to this poke-heavy, hypercarry champion. He's been able to be a better damage source on his team, especially apparent in Game 1 against SKT and Game 1 against Jin Air. But as Piccaboo already alluded to, choosing one champion repeatedly has its drawbacks.
Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy? Those drawbacks surfaced in the games against SKT in Week 10, where KT won Game 1 but lost Games 2 and 3. It showed what happens when KT Rolster falls behind and Kog'Maw is banned away. Strategies that worked for KT in previous matches eventually stop being successful. But despite the loss, KT's shown that they're more than capable of adjusting. By shifting team resources toward the carry potentials in top laner Chan-ho "Ssumday" Kim and Nagne they're able to mitigate Arrow's diminished role, as demonstrated against CJ Entus in Week 8 and Samsung in Week 10.
Mid Split Upgrade
As KT continue to adapt to new champions, Piccaboo's learned to work with Score and Arrow to improve the team's overall macro level play. Piccaboo has nothing but praise for jungler Score, whose veteran status helps the duo set up vision or make plays around the map. "Score has a lot of playing experience, so he's exceptional in his ability to read the map and the game," he says. "We also communicate a lot when setting up ganks or placing deep wards, and it's been helpful for both of us to constantly talk to each other."
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As for Arrow, he and Piccaboo were previous bot lane partners in crime on Xenics Storm. It's something that's been a boon both in gameplay and team life. "Our previous experience together has been really helping a lot," Piccaboo affirms. "Arrow especially puts in a lot of effort to synergize with me, and it really helped getting our playstyles synced in such a short time period." As they move forward, the KT support player is very confident in their future together. "I'm predicting that we will become an even stronger bot lane."
Locked and Loaded
While KT Rolster may be on an upswing, they're still focused on improving in order to make it to the 2015 World Championship. Yet, as Piccaboo admits, there's still a ways to go before they can make it to Europe.
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"In our games, if we don't get the plays we want, everyone starts to talk less and other thoughts start to pop up. I think if we remedy those problems and try our very best, we have a shot at securing a top spot in the standings," Piccaboo says. "We'll try to fix the mistakes we've had so far and perform well in the remaining LCK matches."
Steady has been KT's climb, but the gauntlet isn't over yet. With only a few more brawls left for this squad of sharpshooters, every game counts. No matter who it'll be, KT Rolster is going to Make It Rain.
Catch KT Rolster's next showdown -- all available on Lolesports.
Images courtesy of Inven.co.kr!
