The Breakdown - SKT T1 K vs KT Arrows

Going into the spring season, KaKAO made some big claims when he announced his team would be SKT's downfall. Matched in a group against the reigning OGN & World champions and their rising sister team, most fans thought his statements were just hallow words. But in the end, it was KaKAO who had the last laugh as the KT Arrows did the unfathomable. Not only did KT A defeat T1 K in two straight games, the Arrows made T1 K look utterly mortal. At no point in either match did T1 K looked to be able to wrest control of the game and at the end of the day, the Arrows may have denied the champions any opportunity of defending their title in the bracket stage.

Assembling the team

Bans & Picks

• T1 K bans: Caitlyn, Lee Sin, Draven
• KT A bans: Vayne, Kha'Zix, Lulu
• T1 K picks: Evelynn, Morgana Renekton, Corki Karthus
• KT A picks: LeBlanc Thresh, Nocturne Twitch, Shen

With concern over Arrow's impact during the late game, T1 K removed KT A's ADC comfort picks of Caitlyn and Draven. KT A responded in similar suit by banning Piglet's signature ADC champion, Vayne. T1 K's first pick of Evelynn secured Bengi's most popular champion lately while KT A's first round picks of LeBlanc and Thresh gave them the flexibility of making picks this match and focus down individual targets. T1 K's response to KT A's single target pressure was Morgana for PoohManDu; depending on ManDu's reaction time, a clutch Black Shield could prevent a considerable amount of KT A's magic damage and allow for a counterplay off KT A's pick. The latter half of picks became rather interesting for both sides. Despite Lucian and Sivir being open, Arrow and Piglet went the unusual route of going for Twitch and Corki, respectively. Twitch has made a big splash in OGN already at the hands of NaJin Sword's PraY. A well positioned Spray & Pray with Ambush can be a huge game changer. Finally, KT A locked in Shen as their last pick, their typical counter-pick against Renekton. This matchup is undoubtedly one Ssumday had much practice with, including in a previous Group A match when Ssumday laned against Prime Optimus' Hanlabong. Also, by picking Shen with an earlier Nocturne pick for KaKAO, KT A had a lot of map pressure going into the game in the form of two global ultimates.

The Impact of Global Pressure

For the past month, the KT organization has utilized Shen in tandem with Kha'Zix with deadly efficiency. KT Arrows used the pairing during their second match against Prime Optimus while KT Bullets pulled out the strategy against Gambit Gaming at the IEM World Championships. The Eye of Twilight was an immensely popular champion back in Season 2, often banned and picked for his immovability from lane, ability to split push, and most obviously for his knack to save allies from dire situations. In Season 3, Shen fell out of favor and only made an occasional appearance. This season, in a meta of tanky bruisers in the top lane, KT Arrows has revived Shen once more for Ssumday. While not a comparable lane bully to the likes of Renekton, Shyvana, and Dr. Mundo, Shen does share a common theme with the three as a mana-less top lane champion. Paired with his Ki Strike passive and Vorpal Blade, Ssumday had no problems last hitting under his turret as Impact pushed the lane hard. In fact, the lane matchup was so predictable that KT Arrows baited Impact's aggression for their fourth kill of the game after the top outer turret fell. Even though Ssumday never matched Impact's CS at any point in the game, there was no doubt which top lane had the greater influence for their team. Ssumday has Rookie's back The Shen pick by KT Arrows gave the team plenty of breathing room for mistakes and even aggression where there would normally not be a window for. With Ssumday's first Stand United allocated for Rookie, KT A kept Faker's Karthus at bay and allowed Rookie to survive and gain a solid advantage in lane Keeping Faker down KT Arrow's comfort with Shen was not limited to just laning phase. As a team, KT A's focus of limiting Faker's development was a crux point if they wanted to defeat T1 K. Expecting Bengi close to reinforce Faker, Ssumday's control of top lane gave him the chance to attack Faker from behind his turret to guarantee the kill on T1 K's mid lane, and then properly time his abilities with Ignite to take down Bengi for the clean 2-0 follow up. Throughout early and midgame, Ssumday made his Shen a determining factor in how KT A took control of both top and mid lanes.

Darkness

While in previous matches, KT Arrows had paired both Kha'Zix and Lee Sin with Ssumday's Shen, KaKAO brought out something entirely new. Opting for Nocturne, yet another champion that hasn't seen play this season, KT A continued their throwback to Season 2 by locking in a second champion with a global ultimate. The difference is apparent With his timely rotation to bot lane in the early game, KaKAO got a free kill on PoohManDu. This resulted in KaKAO's completing his Spirit of the Elder Lizard before Bengi; and the situation for T1 K continued to worsen after Bengi got picked off by Rookie for free and KT A converted their control of the map into an uncontested Dragon. Step by step, KaKAO picked up advantages over Bengi across all three lanes until midgame where KaKAO was an entire Maw of Malmortius up on Bengi. With a KDA of 3-1-4 compared to Bengi's 0-3-2, Evelynn's early game impact was completely negated and it was time for Nocturne to roam in the dark. Not even Flash can save PoohManDu With the ball squarely in KT A's court, KaKAO could use Paranoia as an execution rather than a method of initiation. Whenever another player on KT A set up a pick against a T1 K champion, KaKAO's responsibility was to ensure the kill. With T1 K a man down, there was no contest for map objectives. And when there were no map objectives to challenge, KaKAO would consistently eliminate a target as T1 K was forced to cede total map control. This played directly into KT A's hand because Ssumday's Shen had plenty of time for unchecked split pushing while the rest of his team danced around Baron or applied pressure in other lanes. As the game progressed into late game, KT A never released their choke hold over T1 K. Not even their jungle could be called their own, as KT A invaded and sought out more pick opportunities against players alone farming jungle camps. After two aces against T1 K, KT A locked in their first match with a victory.

Wrapping up the match

Key moments for each team KT Arrows The undead fears no Black Shield Making even seasoned pros look like novices, Hachani's Death Sentence and Dark Passage plays would have made even MadLife proud. However what was most impressive about Hachani this match was how he outplayed the Black Shield on Piglet and set up Arrow with a kill on Piglet. The return of the Plague Rat With so many ADC champions banned by both teams, Arrow had no problems bringing out Twitch. While there was a dearth of flashy Spray & Pray plays, Arrow's positioning with Ambush was spot on. SKT T1 K Potholes in the Hundred Acre Lane From laning phase to end game, T1 K's bot lane looked unbelievably out of sync. But that is expected for PoohManDu who played his first match with T1 K since his hiatus. However, Hachani's Thresh walked all over Piglet and ManDu then later, ManDu was caught out of position multiple times that resulted in T1 K losing map pressure. Faker not in control While it's not to say that Faker excels only to assassins, Faker was made into a nonfactor this game and his pick of Karthus certainly didn't help his cause. After picking Karthus into LeBlanc, Faker was limited to reactionary plays and wasn't able to get the kills he needed early in order to snowball an advantage for his team. Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he never expected SKT T1 K to be dethroned in this manner. With OGN Spring quarterfinals blown wide open, which team do you think will lay claim to this season and why? You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.