MSI Regional Rematch: China vs. Korea

Royal Never Give Up and SKTelecom T1 are both franchises with storied histories in League of Legends, each having reached the Finals of the World Championship twice in the last three years, competing with each other in 2013 and separately in 2014 and 2015.

However, that is where the similarities stop.

SKT has two World Championship titles under its belt, while the Royal organization was losing Finalists in both of its appearances. In their only meeting back in 2013, SKT completely demolished Royal Club 3-0, displaying an overwhelming dominance in all the matches.

As we enter the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational, both Korea's and China's teams join the competition in scintillating form. Royal Never Give Up will be looking to defend China's Mid-Season Invitational title on home soil, while SKT will be looking to avenge the ghosts of MSI 2015 -- and win the only major title ever to elude the prestigious organization.

On the Royal Road

Royal Never Give Up started the Spring Season with a bang, announcing several big-name signings: EDG's iconic AD carry NaMei and the famed Samsung White duo, Looper and Mata. And they did not disappoint, as RNG rampaged through the group stages of the LPL Spring Split, finishing with a 13-3 record ahead of traditional Chinese powerhouses like Invictus Gaming and Edward Gaming.

Their journey to MSI, however, is a bit more nuanced than that record indicates. RNG started off their season on wobbly footing, having dropped matches against EDG and iG early in the season. Compounding on their issues was a disappointing performance at the IEM Global Championship at Katowice, where they lost a young Fnatic roster in three games. Despite that, RNG took the losses in stride as they returned to China and won six out of their last seven regular season games, finishing at the top of Group B.

Heading into the LPL playoffs, RNG had to endure a grueling 3-2 series against a resurgent World Elite and were definitely not favoured against Edward Gaming in the finals, who were in a form reminiscent of their 2015 Spring Split run. Against all odds, Mata and co. stepped up in the Finals and managed to shut down Clearlove and Deft, winning the series with a 3-1 score. After a lackluster performance at their last international event, RNG will need to step up in the coming weeks as they head towards the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational, looking for a much improved international showing.

Winners don’t stop winning

It is no surprise that SKTelecom T1 are yet again Korea's premier team. Winning two of the last three World Championships (not to mention a host of other No. 1 finishes), they are without question the most accomplished League of Legends franchise in history. And of course, at the consistent center of this success is the great League of Legends player to have ever competed, Faker.

This split, was undoubtedly a rocky one for SKTelecom T1, and that can largely be attributable to two major changes made to its roster. With last season's top laner Marin making a big money move to LGD Gaming, SKT brought in former Najin standout Duke to anchor its top lane. Additionally, legendary jungler Bengi was slowly phased out of the team throughout the split, allowing rookie jungler Blank to fill his shoes.

And while Duke looks most in his element on tanky top laners, it's been Blank that has most notably excelled, thanks in large part to the carry-oriented jungle meta. Showing a great mind for the game, Blank outperformed Peanut in the LCK Finals, which is no mean feat as Peanut was considered the best jungler in the world prior to that match-up.

Displaying a textbook performance over the ROX Tigers in the LCK finals, SKT is definitely favourites for this match and the entire tournament as a whole, and they will be looking to win their first ever Mid-Season Invitational title.

Battle for Blood

RNG has been a steadily improving force in the LPL this split, playing consistently well in the regular split and showing up huge in the playoffs, winning the first-ever LPL title for the Royal organization. Led by legendary support, Mata, the boys in black will be looking to re-establish China as a force to be reckoned with.

Anchoring RNG from the top lane is former Samsung White player, Looper. 2016 has been a season of revival for Looper, as his performances for RNG put his career back on track after a torrid year in Masters 3. In this match-up, he'll be laning against Duke, who will be making his international debut after a successful first split with SKT. In the past, Looper has always been known as a solid player who can be left to scale and impact the game on his own. On RNG, more emphasis and gold has been funneled to the top lane, setting Looper up to carry games. He has succeeded so far in China, but will be facing a stern test against Duke, who has already proven himself against Korea's finest, including Smeb and Ssumday. Duke himself is considered to be one of the best individually sound players in the world, and it will be an interesting matchup to watch these two Koreans duke it out.

The mid lane will be a battle between the old and the new. Faker, the revered master of the mid lane, will be looking to add the only other major title to elude his career. The defining component of SKT's success, Faker brings aggression to the team during the laning phase, pressuring his enemy laner and pulling jungle attention to his lane. It doesn’t matter how many times Faker gets ganked during the laning phase, as you can be sure that he will be relevant at the later stages of the game, regardless of his laning outcome.

On the other hand, xiaohu is newer to the professional scene, with less than two years of competitive experience. He acts as a solid, consistent damage source who usually goes even in lane, sacrificing jungle attention in order to let his team gain advantages elsewhere. Left on his own, xiaohu will survive the laning phase and transform into a teamfight menace in the latter parts of the match. Watch out for his Teleport plays as well: xiaohu will forgo more offensive summoner spells in order to help the side lanes and to shore up RNG’s macro game with a global presence.

Meanwhile, the jungle matchup will present two hot-blooded young players, both of which must endure the heavy responsibility of a carry role in the current meta. Both players have developed immensely throughout the split, dispatching their perceived superior counterparts, EDG’s Clearlove and ROX’s Peanut, in the respective regional finals. Mlxg has established himself as a farm-intensive jungler with a heavy emphasis on invading and denying the enemy jungler. He has also learnt to utilize vision effectively, with his immaculate ward placements in EDG’s jungle during the finals being one of the key pieces which has led RNG to victory.

Blank, meanwhile, had a slightly rocky start in SKT. Replacing bengi from the starting lineup, he struggled in the initial parts of the season, failing to have an impact and generally looking… blank in the jungle. However, after attending and winning the IEM Katowice World Championship, Blank came back to Korea a new man, and was in scintillating form as SKT stormed through the remaining matches in the LCK. In the Grand Finals, Blank has proved himself to be a cerebral player. Using creative jungle pathing together with good team coordination, he shut down Peanut, who was widely regarded the hottest jungler in the world in terms of form and hype, snuffing out all claims that Blank is just a mediocre player getting carried by the superb laners in SKT.

Lastly, the bot lane will probably be the most interesting out of all the matchups. SKT’s bot lane is one of the most fearsome pairs in the world, and have been through thick and thin ever since their time on SKT’s secondary team. Bang is one of the most mechanically gifted AD carries in the world, and he abuses it, playing lane-dominant champions such as Lucian and Kalista to help accrue an early lead for his team. If required, he is also willing to play more scaling picks such as Tristana and of course, his Ezreal, which is probably the best in the world. The other half of the SKT bot lane is Wolf, who is a highly skilled support player with a wide champion pool and a love for roaming. His timely roams will create space for SKT to dive and invade the enemy, catching them off guard en route to victory.

On RNG’s side, their bot lane is led by Mata, who is no slouch of his own. With a World Championship title to his name, Mata has a leadership role in RNG and is the main shotcaller as well. Excellent at playing out lane-swaps, Mata plays aggressively in 2v1 scenarios, usually putting down wards in opportune locations to enable his team to create chances to dive their enemies. His standard laning isn't half bad either, as Mata and wuxx are one of the most feared bot lanes in China. Meanwhile, wuxx is famed for his oppressive laning phase, where he looks to shove his opponents out of lane, creating chances for Mata to roam elsewhere on the map. However, he will definitely have his work cut out for him as he faces off against one of the strongest bot lanes in the world, and probably the best AD Carry right now, Bang.

This match is looking to be a real exciting one and possibly a preview of the Grand Finals. Will Royal Never Give Up win and give the Chinese crowd something to cheer for? Or will SKT T1 stamp their authority and look to sweep this tournament?