Champions Summer 2015 preview: Rebuilding and renewal
SBENU Champions Spring 2015 marks a watershed moment in Korean League of Legends history not for its incredible competition, nor for its particularly memorable final, but for the region’s organizational strength as a whole. In the wake of sister teams dismantling and lucrative Chinese contracts, the eight teams of Champions Spring found new ways to organize their rosters with varying success.
On the eve of SBENU Champions Summer 2015, Korea looks increasingly steadier in spite of the talent loss and infrastructure change. Most teams have shored up their benches by filling out nearly all of their ten available roster slots. Thanks to a new rule for the Challenger system, the bench squads of SKTelecom T1, NaJin e-mFire, KT Rolster, Samsung Galaxy, Longzhu-Incredible Miracle, Jin Air Green Wings, and CJ Entus will play in a secondary league, honing their skills if they are not substituting for the main roster.
Now expanded to ten teams following the relegation qualifier, the teams of Champions Korea set out to prove their region’s strength once more.
SKTelecom T1
[[{"fid":"15841","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"height":"315","width":"700","class":"media-element file-article-image"}}]]
Throughout the course of SBENU Champions Spring 2015, coach Kim “KkOma” Jeong-gyun and the SKTelecom T1 organization proved that a rotating roster could catch opponents off-guard. Their commitment to maximizing the full potential of substitutes captivated the attention of adversaries and audiences alike, especially when their best individual player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok took a backseat to his substitute Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-Hoon in the mid lane. SKTelecom T1 also used this method to ease in their new jungler Im “T0M” Jae-hyeon, relying on the steady presence of veteran jungle Bae “bengi” Seong-ung as backup towards the end of the regular season and in their grueling Playoffs matches.
Unfortunately, SKTelecom T1 fell flat in the Mid-Season Invitational Finals against the unit of five from Edward Gaming and the superior drafting from coach Ji “Aaron” Xing.
Now returning to Korea, SKTelecom T1 has two choices: return to creating a singular starting lineup, or continue exploring the potential of player substitutions. While the latter was successful domestically -- SKTelecom T1 remains the best in their region going into Champions Summer -- the organization likely has international aspirations in mind.
CJ Entus
[[{"fid":"15843","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"height":"315","width":"700","class":"media-element file-article-image"}}]]
In the gauntlet of the Champions Spring 2015 Playoffs, no other team challenged SKTelecom like CJ Entus, including finalists GE Tigers. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to evaluate CJ Entus on their Playoff performance alone. CJ was a bizarre group to pin down, vacillating between looking like the best team in Korea, and one of the worst. Dictating the pace of CJ’s early game has been former mid laner Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong, who role swapped into the jungle position this year.
In Preseason, Ambition was outshone by fellow role-swap jungler, KT Rolster’s former AD carry Go “Score” Dong-bin. Ambition’s pathing was less creative, and he took fewer risks than his KT counterpart, often playing too passively. Once Champions Spring began, the two junglers’ roles were reversed, and Ambition led his team to a respectable 10-7 start. At the end of Champions Spring’s first half, CJ looked shaky, additionally falling in the Group Stages at IEM Katowice.
Towards the end of the season, CJ was once again on the rise, primarily due to the renewed vigor of their star support, Hong “Madlife” Min-gi on hard engage champions like Thresh and Nautilus. CJ certainly has the talent to thrive in Champions Summer -- especially if patches fall in their favor -- but they’ll have to overcome their inconsistent nature.
NaJin e-mFire and the KOO Tigers
[[{"fid":"15844","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"height":"315","width":"700","class":"media-element file-article-image"}}]]
Two teams in need of some serious roster re-evaluation are NaJin e-mFire and the former GE Tigers (now rebranded as KOO). The former used too many players needlessly, while the latter failed to address specific weaknesses of players on the starting five. Both problems point to a lack of awareness from their respective organizations about how to best utilize their players.
GE rose to prominence thanks to five players with previous competitive experience on other teams. Seen as washed up or mediocre prior to the start of the season, the GE Tigers proved everyone wrong in an impressive 11-0 run through Champions Spring, before dropping a game to eventual LCK Champions SKT. After clinching 1st Place in the regular season, securing their spot in the Finals, GE used the last weeks of Champions Spring to work on their weaknesses. Namely, their abysmal early game. As the Finals played out, GE still looked woefully unaware of how to wield their talent in the recent meta.
In their attempt to address their early game, GE failed to recognize their strengths in mid to late game teamfights, and further handicapped themselves against SKTelecom T1 by picking Irelia for star top laner Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho in their first two matches. Picked primarily for the laning matchup against Gnar, GE put a large amount of focus in the top lane, giving SKTelecom T1advantages elsewhere on the map. Irelia offered little in their teamfights, mid laner Lee “KurO” Seo-haeng was overwhelmed by SKT’s Easyhoon in every game, and SKT Im “T0M” Jae-hyeon’s Sejuani and Nunu outpaced GE’s Lee “Lee” Ho-Jin in the jungle.
GE is still a strong unit of five; however, if they keep moving away from what made them strong, they’ll continue to fall in Champions Summer. They recently signed their first substitute, former IM jungler Kim “Wisdom” Tae-wan, who presumably will sub in for Lee when necessary.
NaJin e-mFire has the opposite problem; they've got too many players on their roster. While SKTelecom set the best example of how to develop specific lines of players using substitutes, NaJin set the worst. Swapping players at random, NaJin was often too fond of their older players -- jungler Cho “watch” Jae-geol, AD carry Lee “Zefa” Jae-min, and mid laner Yu “Ggoong” Byeong-jun -- sacrificing the development and potential Champions experience of their new talent.
As a result, NaJin was inconsistent on the Rift and lacked a playstyle beyond “win lane, win game.” In the second half of Champions Spring, they lost five of their seven matchups, including an embarrassing final set against last-place Samsung Galaxy. Once touted as one of the organizations, along with SKTelecom, that had retained the majority of their best players, NaJin slunk into the offseason, avoiding relegation but nowhere near Playoff contention.
NaJin hardly lacks talent, but they seem incapable of assessing said talent or allowing it to grow efficiently. If the organization enters Champions Summer committed to developing synergy on their best lineup, they will be a top-tier team.
KT Rolster and the Jin Air Green Wings
[[{"fid":"15845","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"height":"315","width":"700","class":"media-element file-article-image"}}]]
Another two teams with similar yet opposite problems, the Jin Air Green Wings and KT Rolster both had stellar halves during Champions Spring 2015.
The Jin Air Green Wings rose to prominence in the early part of the season. Led by jungler Lee “Chaser” Sang-hyun and mid laner Lee “GBM” Chang-seok, Jin Air had an unstoppable early game and an impenetrable late game. Their mid game was less than ideal, but the team made up for it with Chaser’s early aggression and GBM’s deadly accuracy on Xerath late. Jin Air was also one of the few teams -- in addition to SKTelecom T1 -- to use substitutes effectively. They often swapped supports Cho “Chei” Sun-ho and Lee “XD” Eun-Teak along with AD carries Kang “Cpt Jack” Hyung-woo and Na “Pilot” Woo-hyung depending on team composition and supplemental playstyle to GBM’s mid.
Showing an understanding of their team and what their players could do, Jin Air’s primary weakness was inexplicably dropping games to lesser opponents -- Incredible Miracle and KT Rolster -- while executing flawless come from behind victories against CJ Entus and nearly beating regular season kings, the GE Tigers.
Facing the Tigers again in the second half of the season, Jin Air nearly pulled off an upset in their first game, and offered other Champions teams the best blueprint of how to aggressively keep the GE Tigers down early. However, Jin Air’s strength began to wane in Weeks 8 and 9, losing to both NaJin e-mFire and Incredible Miracle. By the time patch 5.5 and the Cinderhulk jungle item went live in Week 10, Jin Air looked lost and was never able to recover their prior strength, falling to CJ Entus in the first round of Playoffs.
Jin Air’s Champions Spring opposite, KT Rolster, struggled early in the season but finished strong. While the aforementioned Score looked good in Preseason, he was unable to bring stability to KT Rolster once the team began Champions Spring proper. Often faced with multiple losing lanes -- especially the bottom lane duo of AD carry No “Arrow” Dong-hyeon and support Ha “Hachani” Seung-chan -- Score had limited gank opportunities and KT lost map pressure advantages. Their mid game shot-calling was also suspect, and mid laner Kim “Nagne” Sang-moon lacked teamfight synergy.
This changed towards the end of Champions Spring. KT Rolster looked excellent, particularly post-Cinderhulk, with improved lanes and communication after Jung “Fixer” Jae-woo took over as the starting support. The team began to use more creative strategies, ending the season on a high note in a 2-0 sweep over early season kings, Jin Air.
Incredible Miracle and Samsung Galaxy
[[{"fid":"15846","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"height":"315","width":"700","class":"media-element file-article-image"}}]]
The two teams to fall into relegation only to swiftly fight their way back into Champions are Incredible Miracle and Samsung Galaxy.
IM are perennial Champions punching bags, occupying a nebulous place between professional and amateur. They rarely lack talent, but fail to raise or coordinate that talent into a unit that can hold their own against Korea’s best. Based on past history, it’s difficult to believe that this IM team will be different. However, in their run through the qualifiers, they looked like a legitimate contender and their support Lee “Ignar” Dong-Guen was a breakout star. Much of their success will rely on the effectiveness of former support player Bak “TuSin” Jong-ik, who joins CJ Ambition and KT Score in role swapping to the jungle.
Like teams of IM past, Samsung Galaxy has a roster full of talent that has yet to gel. Additionally, they did not impress in their requalification against arguably lesser opponents. In their offseason, Samsung signed a few substitutes, including veteran AD carry Kim “Raven” Ae-jun and up and coming challenger support player Jang "Luna" Kyung-ho, but the starting spots will likely stay with Lee “Fury” Jin-yong and former SKTelecom T1 support Kwon “Wraith” Ji-min. The problems with Samsung Galaxy are not with talent, but with synergy and team decision-making on the Rift. If they can fix these issues, Samsung Galaxy will be a force to be reckoned with.
SBENU and Anarchy
[[{"fid":"15847","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","attributes":{"height":"315","width":"700","class":"media-element file-article-image"}}]]
It’s difficult to believe that either newcomer to Champions will make it out of the bottom two or three spots. Anarchy and Prime (now rebranded as SBENU) were outclassed by IM and Samsung Galaxy respectively in the qualifier and were dark horses to make it into Champions Summer. In both teams’ cases, the other team in their bracket -- Winners and Xenics -- were the favored team.
Anarchy is the true amateur of the group. They ran through the qualifiers without their breakout Challenger jungler Park “Bubbling” Jun Hyeong, opting for former KT Rolster Arrows jungler Nam “Lira” Tae-yoo. They additionally acquired mid laner Son “Mickey” Young-min, who's returning to Korea following his stint with the World Elite organization in China.
While Prime as an organization is a known entity in Korean esports, they have yet to field a strong contender for a Champions title. Prime’s largest claim to fame in professional League of Legends is a 2-0 group stage sweep ofSKTelecom T1 S in Hot6ix Champions Spring 2014. They didn’t particularly impress in the recent Korean Challenger scene either, dominated by MKZ and Winners, although their entry into Champions Summer 2015 earned them a sponsorship with Korean clothing company SBENU.
With new sponsors, players, and two additional competitors, the teams of Champions Summer 2015 all aim to make a statement of strength, both domestically and internationally. Champions Summer kicks off on May 20 with Anarchy vs. NaJin e-mFire and Samsung vs SBENU Prime on right here on Lolesports.
