The Telecom Slaughter

Not even SKT1 fans wanted to see the blowout that occurred during the 2017 LCK Spring Split Finals this past weekend. SKT1 beat kt Rolster in a 3-0 sweep, with the last two games in the series being pitifully one-sided.

Game 1: SKT Victory at 36 minutes

Kt Rolster: Jayce, Elise, Syndra, Ashe, Malzahar

SKT: Shen, Lee Sin, Fizz, Varus, Lulu

Giving Han “Peanut” Wang-ho Lee Sin, a champion he was 9-0 on, was kt Rolster’s first mistake this series. But despite Peanut’s Lee Sin play, kt Rolster was able to take an early lead through clean rotations, opting for towers over kills. Kt Rolster was up in gold by 20 minutes, with Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho having five kills to his name. Kt Rolster lost their lead when Heo “Pawn” Won-seok got caught out around Baron pit. The next few skirmishes followed the same way, with Pawn going down before anyone else, oftentimes with his cooldowns still up. This eventually led to a 28 minute Baron, followed by another eight minutes of consistent tower taking.

Game 2: SKT Victory at 31 minutes

Kt Rolster: Fiora, Graves, LeBlanc, Ashe, Malzahar

SKT: Camille, Lee Sin, Karma, Twitch, Lulu

Again, Peanut picked Lee Sin, but this time he was able to snowball two early kills leading to a more one-sided victory than the first game. With SKT’s mega-Twitch comp, they only needed one lane to win. However, by 20 minutes SKT had decisively won every lane with exception of bot, which was ahead of kt’s bot lane, but not by much. The shielding from Karma and Lulu led to an ae at 27 minutes giving SKT an uncontested Baron that they efficiently transferred into a victory three minutes later.

Game 3: SKT Victory at 30 minutes

Kt Rolster: Jayce, Rengar, LeBlanc, Ashe, Karma

SKT: Gragas, Graves, Lulu, Twitch, Nami

Kt Rolster finally banned Lee Sin from Peanut, but it was too little too late. An SKT tower dive gone wrong left each team at two kills, but seconds later Faker was able to solo kill Pawn as Lulu into Pawn’s LeBlanc. This embarrassment was furthered as Pawn was given his fifth death at the 20 minute mark. You can ban Lee Sin, but Peanut will still take over games; Peanut’s Graves finished game three 11/1/9, earning MVP for the playoffs.

Just Faker Things

Being announced in the bonjwa throne, an armchair that has seated only three other outstanding esports players in Korea, Faker took the stage with as much force as he took the series. The bonjwa throne was originally intended for professional Starcraft players, who were dominate and unrivaled in their era as the title bonjwa suggests. Faker had taken the throne only once since this opening ceremony, during a 2015 World Champions preview video.

Watching Faker play is always a learning experience. Even playing against some of the League’s best players, he looks leaps and bounds better than them. Even the most subtle of maneuvers speaks to his skill level. At one point in game one, Faker’s Fizz was ganked by Elise, creating a two versus one that he managed to escape using a Control Ward he was keeping in his inventory. Faker throws the Control Ward into the brush along mid lane with the intent to disable enemy wards allowing him to juke enemy skillshots without the opponent having vision of him. While this foresight illustrates Faker’s ability to think about different future scenarios in the game, the enemy did not have wards in the brush he juked into. Not knowing this, Faker chose wisely in placing this Control Ward, as it could have been the difference between a kt Rolster first blood or just another failed gank.

Faker shows his mastery on Fizz by using his ultimate to initiate team fights every time it is up. While this led to a lot of whiffed sharks, the constant pressure allotted by Faker’s cooldown reduction heavy build, led to the skirmish after skirmish that eventually paved the way to SKT’s 28 minute Baron in game one. On top of this constant pressure, Faker input buffered his ultimate ability by casting it during the gap closing element of his Urchin Strike, making it the ability harder to predict and subsequently juke.

Faker showed his flexibility in the next two games, playing supportive mages, Karma and Lulu, and allowing his teammates to carry. Despite taking a support into lane against Pawn’s LeBlanc, Faker was able to get a solo kill as Lulu, taking full advantage of kt Rolster’s tilt in game three. Even at the highest caliber of play, Faker can appear to be on a completely different level than his opponents.

SKT to MSI

With SKT’s victory over kt Rolster, the team has earned their ticket to the Mid-Season Invitational. As the team stated after their quick defeat of kt, they are looking to train their hardest in an effort to take the international stage by force. We at The Game Haus look forward to seeing the competition at MSI happening in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from April 28 – May 21. For more Faker on the bonjwa throne check the video below, and for more League of Legends, check back on The Game Haus soon.

Image: Courtesy of Yong Woo ‘Kenzi’

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