The Redemption of Faker and SK Telecom

The felling of the Giant

Our story begins on the fourth of November 2017 on a cloudy Winter’s day in Beijing. For most inhabitants of Beijing this day is no different from any other, but for 12 young Korean men this could be the most important day of their lives. It is on this day that we see the culmination of weeks of fierce competition finally reach its peak, the season 7 League of Legends world finals. In one corner we have the reigning world champion and obvious tournament favorite SK Telecom and in the opposing corner we have Samsung Galaxy, the previous worlds runner up. Each team contains some of the most talented players to ever grace summoners rift, with legendary names such as Faker, Ambition, Crown, Ruler, and Bang. With this being a rematch of the previous years world final most fans assumed it would end the same way, with SK Telecom walking away victorious and with a fourth world championship to their name. However Samsung Galaxy came to Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium with something to prove and were definitely not leaving empty handed. With an incredible read on the meta and playing perfectly around shutting down SK Telecom’s star player Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok Samsung managed to take the series in a swift 3–0 victory. With a little under 2 hours of actual game-play occurring this series displayed the sheer dismantling of SK Telecom in a match that they were viewed as being the clear favorites. Most fans couldn’t believe it, what was once seen as the most dominant team in the world had been felled, the giant had fallen and from here all bets were off.

The slumping of the gods

With worlds over SK Telecom had to set their sights on the next year of competition that lay before them. It was obvious that changes would have to be made in order for them to regain the level of domination that they previously had in the world of professional League of Legends, but how would they do this?

SK Telecom’s next event would be the 2017 Kespa Cup, taking place a month after worlds had finished, this tournament was a chance for current LCK teams to test their rosters for the following season against CK and KeG teams. For most teams this tournament was looked at as being nothing but a testing ground, a sparring session for the top dogs to test the waters and see what the following season would have in store for them. But for SK Telecom this event meant the start of something new, a chance to forge a new dynasty and reclaim their throne at the top of Korean League of legends competition. Unfortunately for SK Telecom they weren’t the only team that were set out with something to prove, two other Korean teams had seen Samsung dominate at the 2017 World Finals and they intended to bring an end to this domination. These teams were KT Rolster and Longzhu Gaming, Longzhu had shown a weak performance at worlds dropping their only series 0–3 to Samsung and heading back to Korea earlier than planned. KT Rolster on the other hand failed to qualify for worlds and were out for blood with an all or nothing attitude behind them.

The Kespa cup saw some grueling series that resulted in the top 4 being Samsung, SK Telecom, Longzhu Gaming, and KT Rolster. The four titans of Korean League of Legends all fighting for that top spot amid the most competitive league in the world. Only one team could head home the victor meaning three teams would see immediate failure in their climb for the throne. KT Rolster finished the tournament in first place following a 3–2 victory over Longzhu gaming, but where was SK Telecom? Dropping to Longzhu in what can only be called an embarrassing 0–2 loss. This was SK Telecom’s second chance, lose this and worlds could no longer be looked at as simply being an unlucky day for the team. With this failure in the Kespa Cup it was clear that SK Telecom was no longer the final boss of competitive League of Legends, it was over, Zeus had fallen.

A Legend in dismay

The next chapter in our story is LCK Spring 2018, a chapter that can only be described as being the first in a serious of low points in the novel that is SK Telecom’s history. This split showed not only weakness for the once great organisation but also desperation as we saw frantic changes throughout the roster including picking up a brand new Top laner, Jungler, Support, and role swapping their long time support player Wolf to jungle. It was clear that SK Telecom could no longer rely on the prowess of Faker to secure them consistent victorious, throughout the spring split Faker was outclassed by young talent such as Longzhu’s BDD, KT Rolster’s Ucal, and longtime LCK veteran Afreeca Freec’s Kuro. SK Telecom finished the spring split in fourth place with a record of 23 wins and 23 losses, a far cry from their undefeated OGN season of Winter 2014 or their 2015 Summer record of 35–6.

Fans saw the performances SK Telecom were putting on this split and realized, maybe this was it, maybe the once unbeatable organisation had finally let their grasp weaken over the top spot in Korea. Everybody began to doubt the fallen emperor that was SK Telecom and rightly so, with spring play-offs coming to an end SK Telecom finished the split in a disappointing fourth place following a 1–3 loss to KT Rolster, the third place LCK team. SK Telecom had fallen from grace and what a fall it was, failing to qualify for that years MSI, a tournament they had emerged victorious from the past 2 years. SK Telecom just had to sit at home and wait for the Summer split to start, but what did that even mean? More failure, not seeing any improvement, and perhaps not even making it to the season 8 world championship. SK Telecom was truly in dire straights.

New Kid on the Block

LCK Summer 2018 began and with it came a name most fans were unfamiliar with, Griffin a recently qualified team from Challengers Korea full of young blood and fresh faces ready to take the LCK by storm. Griffin gave LCK something it hadn’t seen in a long time, something it hadn’t seen since the original incarnation of SK Telecom T2. A team full of fresh faced young players that had something to prove and that wasn’t going to pull any punches. With star power in almost every role it was clear Griffin was going to quickly take their place in the LCK Aristocracy. Griffin finished their first LCK split in second place with a record of 28–13, something that hadn’t been done since Faker’s original lineup took the Korean scene by storm back in 2013. It was clear that young Korean talent were hungry for success and Griffin was only the beginning.

Almost a complete opposite to Griffin SK Telecom went into the Summer split looking dismal, having made next to no significant changes to their line-up, removing their top laner Untara and only picking up two LCK rookies in Pirean for mid lane and Leo for AD Carry. Fans knew that SK Telecom were on their last legs, struggling to pick up any significant talent and subbing Faker out for several of their matches. It was clear that SK Telecom would struggle to make playoffs let alone qualify for that years World Championship. A seventh place finish in the regular split showed fans a side of SK Telecom they had never seen before, an SK Telecom that had failed to qualify for play-offs and would have to fight their way through the last chance gauntlet tournament if they wanted a chance to play at Worlds. The Gauntlet tournament went as many fans thought it would, SK Telecom dropped out in the first round following an exhausting five game series against eventual victor Gen.G.

This was a new low for the organisation, it was one thing to not be in pole position but to not even qualify for the biggest event of the year was something else, something the organisation never imagined. This was it, SK Telecom could officially be called a failure.

When the Cat’s away

The 2018 League of Legends world championship was underway and missing from it was a name many fans expected to see, SK Telecom. For the past three years SK Telecom had been a shoo-in for the grand finals and for most fans were expected to win worlds every time they attended. This once prestigious organisation had lost their magic and were left to sit at home and watch as their Korean brethren tried to cling on to the title of world champions. With SK Telecom’s fall from the top it was clear that Korea had lost a valuable tool in their arsenal. The 2018 world championship saw something that hadn’t been seen in a long time, there was no Korean team in the final, there wasn’t even a Korean team in the top 4. It was clear something was wrong, for the first time in 5 years Korea had failed. The world final saw European team Fnatic go head to head with Chinese team Invictus Gaming being lead by two Korean talents known as TheShy and Rookie, two players that had seen little to no success in Korea but had been flourishing in the Chinese LPL. Invictus Gaming defeated Fnatic in dominating fashion with a swift 3–0 victory and with this victory the summoner’s cup left Korea and journeyed over to China. Perhaps this event marked something even bigger than the failure of SK Telecom, it marked the failure of Korea as a whole.

The redemption begins

Following what can only be described as a year full of shortcomings SK Telecom decided to strike back with a vengeance. During the off-season SK Telecom made some of the biggest pick-ups of all time, revitalizing their roster with some of the most prestigious players in the history of League of Legends. This roster included the pick up of ex-kingzone top laner Khan, ex-JD Gaming jungler Clid, ex-Jin Air ADC Teddy, and arguably the best Support player of all time Mata. This new roster made waves throughout the League of Legends universe and fans realized that SK Telecom weren’t playing around anymore. They were sick of waiting for the throne and now they were going to take it by force.

LCK Spring 2019 started off shaky for SK Telecom as they lost matches to Griffin, Sandbox Gaming, and Damwon Gaming. All 3 of these teams consisted of young players that were relatively new to the Korean professional scene and it was clear that SK Telecom would have to fight tooth and nail to conquer this hungry competition. With rigorous practice and perfecting of their play-style SK Telecom took a solid second place in the 2019 Spring split falling behind Griffin, a team that most analysts and experts were calling the best in the world. This second place finish secured SK Telecom a spot in the third round of the LCK playoffs where they would meet Kingzone, a team lead by Korean veterans Pawn and Deft. While their first game looked a little sloppy SK Telecom quickly found their groove and took the series 3–0 moving on to face their next opponent, Griffin.

Within the weeks leading up to the match there was a lot of talk among the community as to who would win. Constant back and forth between analysts and experts arguing which team had the upper hand, Griffin had the hungry young blood that was out to prove themselves to their peers while SK Telecom had seemingly assembled the perfect roster built from the best parts of 5 different teams. The stage was set, the challenger SK Telecom against the seemingly unbeatable Griffin. The series was one of the most hyped I’ve personally seen in a long time, akin to Morpheus fighting Neo it was clear that nobody was going to miss this battle of epic proportions. What happened you ask? Well SK Telecom annihilated Griffin in a quick 3–0 match leaving most fans wondering why this Griffin team was even hyped in the first place. But this was not Griffin’s lack of ability being shown but rather SK Telecom’s display of sheer perfection of play-style and precision, executing their team compositions to near perfection. It was clear that SK Telecom was back at the top and ready to take their newfound success to an international level.

As i write this there are 3 days left until the 2019 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational begins. Attending this tournament are the top teams from all across the globe, in this mix are 4 teams that fans from all around the world believe can be the best, four teams that have shown domestic dominance the likes that have never been seen before. These teams include Europe’s G2 Esports, North America’s Team Liquid, China’s Invictus Gaming, and Korea’s SK Telecom. MSI will be one of the greatest tournaments of all time and with it will come the chance for one of the greatest tales of redemption of all time. This tale of redemption began 18 months ago with the toppling of one of the greatest and most dominant dynasties in League of Legends history. Will the once great king take his rightful seat on the throne or will the young heir walk over his cold, dead body and begin a brand new age of domination?

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