After the semifinals match between RNG and SKT at the 2017 World Championship, the fans were torn in two, arguing about a single champion. The champion in question is Faker's Galio. Throughout the entire series, regardless of whether being on blue or red side, SKT first-picked Galio on all five sets.



Most fans in China blamed the poor drafting done by RNG - the lack of banning Galio away from Faker - is the reason why they lost to SKT. On the other hand, fans in Korea believed that "although Faker played exceptionally on Galio, it would've been better to have given Faker a more carry-oriented champion."



It's uncommon to see two completely contrasting opinions regarding picks and bans to have been popularized by fans from the two regions. And so we ask the question: who's right? Why did Faker opt into Galio five times?



Regarding this matter, a Korean LPL coach commented, "I was also very curious why Faker was put on Galio all five times. Usually, when a team loses twice in a BO5 series, the coach and players suggest the team to try and play a different comp. It'll be hard to assess the situation and figure out why SKT drafted like that without hearing from a member of SKT."



We couldn't personally ask SKT for an answer, as they're currently preparing for their most important match this year. And so, we rewatched the games and started looking for the answers ourselves.



Galio received a visual and skill rework through patch 7.6 on March of 2017. His most unique yet important feature is that he is a midlane tank, who comes equipped with: 3 forms of CC, fantastic minion clear, and massive roaming capabilities with his ultimate.



Out of the three, however, his strongest feature is his roaming capability. The ally targeted by the Galio ultimate receives a 'damage reduction buff', and the enemies caught within its large area of effect are lifted airborne. The ultimate is excellent for turning around fights and limiting the enemies' ganking and roaming potential, and therefore, raises the "safety" of two neighboring lanes, top and bottom.



If that's the case, was Galio given to Faker to increase the safety of the other laners? To get a better understanding, we took the data regarding the securing of the 'first tower' from the current ongoing tournament.









During this year's Worlds, SKT played a total of 16 games. Out of the 16, SKT secured a total of 9 first tower. However, out of the 9, 6 of them were taken when Faker was on Galio.



※ The Relationship Between Faker's Galio and First Turret



When Faker is on Galio, SKT's rate of securing the first tower is: 100% (6 out of 6 games)

When Faker is not on Galio, SKT's rate of securing the first tower is: 30% (3 out of 10 games)



The reason why SKT favored Galio became more and more clear as we watched and analyzed the games in which SKT gave up the first tower. On all 7 games in which SKT dropped the first tower, it was the botlane that gave it up. In other words, SKT's botlane was shaky, and Faker was used as a safety measure to cover for them.



※ When SKT Gave Up First Tower



100% of them were from the botlane.



On their games against EDG during Groups, SKT proved to the world that their teamfighting skills are still top-notch, regardless of the outcome of the laning phase. And during the semifinals, Faker's Galio was used as a form of bridge to smoothly pass through their shaky, earlier parts of a game. Therefore, it was definitely necessary for RNG to take Galio away from SKT had they wanted to take the lead in the botlane.





On the post-match interview of kkOma after the semifinals, his answer to a question regarding the botlane was: "I'll try to prepare more for the early-game and not show such a weakness again in the later games." His answer was similar to that of the one he gave during the post-match interview taken after SKT's series against MSF. kkOma openly admitted to the fact that his team is currently struggling in the earlier parts of their games.



SSG's head coach, Edgar, responded to a question regarding SKT's possible weakness with: "Lots of fans are pointing fingers at SKT's botlane, but I fear their performances are now back up to par. The only weakness-like problem that SKT has is that they rely too much on Faker."



The comments made by the coaches reveal that both sides have the general idea of SKT's current struggles. Therefore, how will SKT prepare for the nearly inevitable Galio ban during the Finals? How efficiently will SSG reduce the effectiveness of Faker? Both sides will require a lot of preparation.