SKT: The supreme regents of Korea

Riot·Sep 10, 2015·2 votes·48,153 views

Well, well, well… if it isn't SKTelecom T1, back at Worlds and favored to win it all.

SKT is a team that requires little by way of introduction, thanks in no small part to their outstanding Season 3 World Championship run as well as the man, the myth, the legend anchoring their mid lane, Faker.

The 2015 Season brought reaching changes to the Korean scene, not the least of which being a shift away from the two-team organizational setup and a significant brain drain of the region's best talent. But despite the upheaval, SKT has emerged stronger than ever. Coming off a 17-1 Summer Split, in which they pulled off 14 straight set wins and easily walked off with the region's Championship title, SKT is poised to make history by claiming the Summoner's Cup a second time.

Can anyone stop this team?

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The Play

SKT's success isn't exactly a mystery -- their vision control enables their entire gameplan. They play each match systematically, amassing a gold lead and slowly ramping up to victory. It's a feeling of slow suffocation. Inevitable doom.

And what's more, they don't even need Faker to make the plays. Take, for example, SKT's Game 2 match against KT Rolster in the 2015 LCK Summer Finals. After KT burns everything to drop Faker for First Blood, the rest of SKT responds. Top laner MaRin Teleports in from base to land a critical four-man Unstoppable Force onto KT, and shortly thereafter, the cavalry arrives to polish off the rest of KT.

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The one true God

While in Spring the mid lane champion meta shoved substitute mid laner Easyhoon into the spotlight, Summer has been the return of the king. In the end, all roads lead back to Faker.

While Faker doesn't singlehandedly carry SKT as he sometimes needed to in the past, opposing teams' gameplans usually involve shutting him down, or playing around his aggressive tendencies. For SKT, that means often responding to the inevitable three or four-man gank squads that come his way a few minutes into each match.

The big difference between SKT of old and SKT now is that Faker's supporting cast is up to the challenge, even when he's shut down. MaRin has stepped up and become a gold efficient top laner who makes plays across the map, AD carry Bang has at times looked world class, and jungler Bengi and support Wolf have improved by orders of magnitude.

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Talk of the Rift

The domination that SKTelecom T1 showed during the Summer Season was very apparent when opposing teams, at different times, would refer to the team as "a mountain that [their teams] would have to scale."

"Nagne took the easy Viktor, but Faker...he chose Diana, a champion that can make tough plays," says CJ Entus Frost's former jungler CloudTemplar.

"I feel that [SKT] are the mountain that our team will have to scale."

- Hojin, KOO Tigers Jungler

"They are the strongest team in Korea and therefore, a mountain to climb. If we cannot win against SKT T1 then winning the World Championship is not going to happen, and we will practice very hard to win next time," says Piccaboo, former SKT support.

KT Rolster's Arrow Noh, in an interview conducted after KT's Playoffs victory against the KOO Tigers, alluded to SKT having a great reputation -- referring to the team's insane Summer Season record. KT's top laner, Ssumday, narrowly edged out Faker for the regular Summer Season MVP. He quipped in a previous interview (about defending his lead in the MVP run) that "since Faker is quite good [he got] a little nervous."

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Interested in learning more about the other teams competing at Worlds? Check out the whole lineup, now.

36 Comments

nucklesSep 11, 20155 votes

skt t1 > fnatic

Yordle XayahSep 10, 20154 votes

[deleted]

ZachTeaHawaiiSep 11, 201522 votes

http://i.imgur.com/ZKGf7z1.png

MantarysSep 11, 20153 votes

You, sir, are a genius.

DeathToHereticsSep 11, 20154 votes

Damn, get rekt nerd.

MetarchiSep 11, 20154 votes

Winner is the king, loser is forgotten forever. stop being jealous for a long time kid :)

Yordle XayahSep 11, 20154 votes

[deleted]

Supernova91Sep 13, 20157 votes

Oh look, it's an idiot that posted something stupid and then claimed he was trolling when everyone called him an idiot. Is anyone stupid enough to believe that you're actually trolling instead of just simply being an utter buffoon?

TL SoraSep 14, 20153 votes

Let it be mentioned that Zed has a favorable match up against Azir . All that showed is that the match up wasn't that hard.

StickMasterKaiSep 12, 20151 votes

Excuse me FNC fanboy, then against out of the games they played at the END, who won? SKT

Yordle XayahSep 12, 20153 votes

[deleted]

pyroHedgeSep 14, 20156 votes

Question: how many times did Febiven die to Faker in lane? Or how many times did Huni fail a dive?

Your problem is that you remember fondly only the instances where Fnatic out performed and then conveniently forget the rest of the series. That or you falsely assign brilliance by looking at only the information that supports your preconceived notion. And then you talk back to everyone else as though you're the one who's sane and they're the ones forgetting things.

So again, since you remember so fondly that failed dive by Faker up top, do you remember the time Faker barrier baited Huni near turret? Or what about the dive by Reignover and Steelback that resulted in a first blood for MaRin? Or when Faker killed Febiven in lane? How about that Azir vs. Zed game where Faker successfully pushed mid hard enough that Febiven was never able to roam? It looks nice to say you kill someone twice in lane, but if they successfully hold you down while you don't do the same to them, who really won?

Speaking of which, Febiven played four assassins over five games and only got two solo kills in lane against Faker. Is that normally how you praise a player? "He's so awesome. He played assassins four of five games and assassinated his lane opponent two whole times!" Interestingly enough, Fnatic lost three of the four assassin games. Maybe because "twice" isn't actually very good?

Now I don't want to sound like I'm picking on Febiven. That second Zed kill against Faker's Azir was incredible. Febiven successfully hid in the bush to get the ambush, then interrupted Faker's knock up, dodged the Azir ult, and waited out the barrier, in order to get the kill. Flawless.

But that's what it takes to solo kill Faker: a favorable lane matchup and flawless execution. That's why such occurances are so widely remembered. And perhaps it's worth mentioning that Febiven never again managed flawless execution. Faker finished that game with only two deaths.

KillSwitch6Sep 29, 20151 votes

I agree with this guy 100%. Playing assassins and being able to 1 on 1 is what you have to do. If you don't do that, then you are useless, can't split push, can't teamfight with no damage. That's why they still lost the game, noobs.

StickMasterKaiSep 14, 20151 votes

It does seems your a hardcore fanatic fanboy, SKT and EDG and CLG are my favorite teams so far.

Yordle XayahSep 15, 20151 votes

[deleted]

StickMasterKaiSep 27, 20151 votes

Im thinking either SKT or LGD is going to win, all they have to do is take out imp, imp carryed the game with his kogmaw against EDG, but idk I would be suprised that EDG wins.

Yordle XayahSep 28, 20151 votes

[deleted]

StickMasterKaiOct 4, 20151 votes

Just coming back here to say C9 just wooped FNC but.

AntionSep 14, 20151 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFKVXsEOTOc

QQshaSep 12, 20153 votes

Yeah... If you send the entirety of the two teams that shat on you to China, then of course you will dominate the league if you were the third best in Korea,

ZachTeaHawaiiSep 10, 20152 votes

LETS FUCKING GO

Yordle XayahSep 14, 20152 votes

[deleted]

Lord JerichoSep 14, 20154 votes

Regardless of where either of them goes, they're sure to be the stronger team on paper in their respective brackets. Though I worry about EDG ever so slightly. Losing back to back playoff bo5's (0-3 to LGD and 1-3 to IG) was... Unsettling to say the least lol. Meanwhile, SKT finished their playoffs in fantastic fashion when there were predictions that the finals would go to at least game 4. I honestly doubt either of them is going to show anything just because of their respective strengths.

That said, the real question is who will the meta favor more by the time they face off? Unlike the tank meta and the unfortunate decline of assassins that came with MSI, Faker is honestly more free to play whatever he wants atm. I mean, he brought out his Riven that he hasn't played professionally since what, season 3? He still played her beautifully as if he hasn't lost any mechanical skill on her (granted KT honestly counterpicked themselves with that last pick Cassio).

However, with massive emphasis on top lane carries, and Maokai's recent nerf, I'm curious as to how Koro v Marin will go; especially with the addition of the Juggernauts. Who will play this patch better?

CJ Entus DragonSep 28, 20151 votes

I'm actually suspecting that EDG lost playoffs on purpose just so LGD gets first place in summers, which shifts the pressure away from EDG coming into worlds.

Lord JerichoSep 28, 20151 votes

I see the logic, but at the same time, it seems uncharacteristic of them to willingly lose. Especially with their players wanting to prove themselves so hard. If anything, the consecutive losses puts a lot more pressure on them because they're expected to win against SKT again; and those bo5 losses in the Playoffs would surely have anyone worried.

Idk, I'm a huge SKT fan, and anything that'll help my boys win is welcomed. At the same time, I'd respect an EDG win if they're playing at their best as well. So if they purposefully lost just to hide their strength, then they better show up hard for Worlds. I want to see some hardcore matches now that mid lane meta isn't as narrow as it was with Cinderhulk.

Yordle XayahSep 28, 20151 votes

[deleted]

Lord JerichoSep 28, 20151 votes

Fiora will definitely be a contested pick. Darius and Skarner as well probably. Gangplank mid..... Maybe.... I haven't seen too much of it and since Worlds will be played on patch 5.18, those nerfs are gonna hit him pretty strongly. No doubt that this is gonna be the best Worlds yet. The mid and top lane lineups are soooooo freaking stacked. Hard to say whose going to grab the win, though I'm rooting for SKT because it seems like they are poised to grab the title more easily than EDG and LGD (inserting Hype Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-H3aqD7fbw)