Korea’s long-standing dynasty over the LoL scene came crashing down in 2018, and now their future is more uncertain than ever.

Not only did they fail to win a single international event in 2018, including being out-placed by China, EU, and NA at the World Championship, but going into 2019 they suffered a mass exodus of players. This, combined with the menacing threat of China’s best teams, makes Korea’s return to the throne far from guaranteed.

IG wins the 2018 World Championship

Deja Vu?

Over 1/3 of the players that were in LCK Summer 2018 will not be returning in LCK Spring 2019, including legendary veterans like Kim “PraY” Jong-in, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, and Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong.

This is the largest departure of players from the Korean scene since the end of 2014, where over half of the players competing in OGN Summer did not return to LCK in the following season.

While this most recent exodus isn’t as scary as in 2014, where all 10 players from the two best teams left the region, it is more organic. Korean LoL going into 2015 saw a massive, Riot-mandated format rehaul that changed OGN Champions from a 16-team tournament to an 8-team league, renamed LCK, which necessitated the removal of a large amount of players.

Another key difference is that the 2014 exodus came off the back of a year of Korean dominance, unlike 2018’s off-season exodus, which was motivated not just by the inflating another region could do to one’s bank account, but also by the realization that maybe one doesn’t have to play in Korea to do well internationally anymore.

Despite losing at IEM and MSI in early 2015, Korea was able to return to dominance by the time of worlds, having an all Korean final. Can Korea do the same this year? Maybe, but there’s some additional barriers that stand in their way.

2015 World Championship Bracket

A New Hope(s)

Many are pinning their hope on two teams full of young players, LCK Summer finalists Griffin, and the newly promoted Damwon Gaming, a team extolled by various top teams and players at the time of worlds, based on their scrim performances. While these teams are undoubtedly very strong, one failed to make worlds in 2018 by losing both best-of-fives that could've gotten them there, and the other hasn’t even played in LCK, let alone on a big stage.

Team Griffin

But it’s not only GRF and DWG that will need to rely on young talent — it’s also Korea’s most established organizations.

SKT, beyond being 5 players that have never played together before, will also need their young talent to perform if they want to be a complete enough team to contest the IG’s and RNG’s of the world.

Star ADC Park “Teddy” Jin-seong is finally out of Jin Air elo hell and has his best opportunity yet, and young junglers Kim “Clid” Tae-min and Kang “Haru” Min-seung will need to establish strong synergy with their aggressive lanes. KT will look to integrate their new bot duo Byun “Gango” Se-hoon and No “Snowflower” Hoi-jong, KZ’s inexperienced and lackluster top side of Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee and Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan will likely be problematic, and Afreeca’s entire team, save their jungler Lee “Spirit” Da-yoon, is full of young players with little to no experience.

Fast changes to a fast meta

One final new year’s resolution for Korean teams is to embrace the radical meta shift which played a crucial part in their downfall, and to do it sooner rather than later.

Part and parcel of Korea’s dominance over the years was their mastery of the controlled, slow-paced macro style. It’s a style that emphasizes vision denial and intelligent map movements designed to starve the enemy out of gold, forcing them to make hasty decisions. In 2018, Riot radically changed the game in a directed effort to promote more early game aggression and snowballing. While Korea stubbornly held onto their previous way of playing, other regions tended to embrace this new meta, much to their advantage.

If Korea wants their dynasty back, they must adapt their style and beat the Chinese teams at their own game of mechanical firepower vs mechanical firepower, something they are more than capable of as the biggest exporters of top talent in the world.

An Uncertain Future

Ultimately, one can’t help but err on the side of pessimism when it comes to Korea’s chances of overcoming China in 2019. One also can’t help but sense the desperation in so many people’s ostensible security in a reclamation story, especially when so much confidence is funneled into teams like GRF or DWG, neither of which have set foot on the international stage.

That being said, Korea has not only consistently proven themselves the best at whichever esports game they commit to, but they’ve also rebuilt from the ground up in LoL before (in 2015), so maybe my doubts are ignorant to the bigger picture, and their return to dominance is imminent. They certainly have the talent to do it.

At the end of the day, if Korea is to take back the throne, it will come down to whether or not their new stars can shine brightly enough.