Chexx Profile Joined May 2011 Korea (South) 5348 Posts Last Edited: 2014-01-24 23:29:32 January 24 2014 23:24 GMT #1



Here is our final preview for OGN Winter 2013-2014. I hope you enjoyed this Season together with us and will join us once more when the T-LoL League starts. I would like to thank Manisier who wrote great articles. It was a pleasure working with him.



Don't forget to tune in when OGN history will be made Saturday, Jan 25 7:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)



Signing off,

Chexx



Welcome,Here is our final preview for OGN Winter 2013-2014. I hope you enjoyed this Season together with us and will join us once more when the T-LoL League starts. I would like to thank Manisier who wrote great articles. It was a pleasure working with him.Don't forget to tune in when OGN history will be made Saturday, Jan 25 7:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)



Table of Contents

Final Preview







SKT T1 K vs Samsung Ozone

By: Manisier & Chexx King Slayers or World domination

History in the Making



Here’s a fact you may not have known about Korean League of Legends - no team in history has ever won OnGameNet’s Champions tournament more than once. Though CJ Entus Blaze and Frost have both made the grand final twice (and won once), not a single team has ever managed to win the illustrious title twice. Call it the winner’s curse if you will, but if nothing else, this shows just how cutthroat the competitive environment is in Korea - that a team in championship form can fail to keep up with the competition. As such, the winner of this grand final will make League of Legends history by being the first ever team to win Champions for a second time (and in SK Telecom T1 K’s case, the first ever team to win two titles in a row).



Yet, the prestigious title of being Korea’s first two-time champion is not the only factor driving the incredible hype behind this grand final showdown. As the Korean winter draws to a close, two incredible storylines are coming to a head as the most dominant League of Legends team in history faces the team that may well be its Achilles' Heel. In Champions Winter, SKT T1 K tore through the competition, breaking the curse of the World Champion for the first time in history. Samsung Ozone, reeling from a horrendous World Championship performance, overcame adversity and stuck to their guns with new top laner Looper to claw their way to the grand final stage once more.



The grand final of an OnGameNet Champions tournament has historically been an amazing sight to behold. The legacy started with the now-retired Reapered (then known as FantasyStar) cutting down his sister team MiG Frost, shocking audiences as the MiG 'B team' Blaze locked out their older brothers on a fine spring evening.



Counter Logic Gaming brought two teams to face Korea in the subsequent summer, but the flagship North American squad met an untimely end at the hands of Azubu Frost in the bracket stage. However, the European side swung back in revenge, taking two games off Frost in the grand final and looking to be the victors. Yet, something broke down in the CLG camp as Frost would take three games in a row to achieve the victory they had wanted last season.



The year rolled over and the temperatures dropped in Seoul, and Azubu Frost was in their element as they coldly dismantled their opponents to make it to another grand final, this time against MakNooN's NaJin Sword. From here on, Shy would have to reassess his play, as MakNooN abused the Frost top laner's weaker laning phase to claim three explosive wins.



Blaze found themselves in their second grand final in spring, this time under the CJ Entus name as they entered the final on an unbelievable twelve game winning streak. Their opponents, the dark horse MVP Ozone, were immediately written off as a team that could not compete against the rampaging Blaze. Yet, Ozone were able to prepare for Blaze's patented slow pushing as Homme played what may have been the best match of his life against the juggernaut of the top lane, Flame. No one predicted a 3:0 victory for Ozone, but audiences were shocked once more in the springtime.



As summer came, the stakes were raised as SKT T1 K and the KT Bullets fought in a match that would not only decide the victors of Champions Summer, but also keep the hope of making it to the Season 3 World Championship alive. In an incredible war of telecommunication organisations, blows were traded as the match came down to the fifth game, pitting Faker's Zed against Ryu's Zed. With what may have been the greatest individual play of all time in the final game of the greatest match of all time, Faker came out on top to carry his team to a victory that would be the first of many huge wins.



The second year of OnGameNet's Champions is about to conclude. History will be made as Samsung Ozone face the best team in the world for the title. As Chexx and I guide you through the breathtaking match that is to come, keep in mind just what an important best-of-five is going to be played tonight.



The Road to Victory

Looking back, an important point for both teams was S3 Worlds, but the result for the two teams couldn’t have been more different.



SKT T1 K came in as the reigning OnGameNet Champions and struggled on their first day in the group stage, but they overcome their cockiness and adjusted to their first international competition. They tore through their group and won the whole tournament in a dominant 3:0 against Royal Club in the end. With their win they became the best team in the world and made their players known to every League of Legends fan. Since the start of Worlds 2013, SKT T1 K has only lost two series: one was a best of one against OMG in the group stage of Worlds and the other one was a Bo3 against Samsung Blue in the WCG Qualifiers shortly after they returned from America. SKT T1 K is currently undefeated in Champions - they have not dropped a single game in the lead-up to this final, and they have also managed to beat other top teams like KT Bullets, Samsung Blue, and CJ Entus Blaze without much trouble. Being able to dominate the strongest league in the world so easily just shows how much the players and coaches grew as a team. Their biggest strength is their play calling ability - they never make mistakes when they need to rotate lanes or secure objectives. Even though KT B was known for their perfect objective control, they stood no chance against their sworn enemy. SKT T1 K has, against 9 Korean teams, an 100% win rate (though admittedly a few were just a one time matchups). They also show great consistency against high caliber teams like KT Bullets (75% winrate / 9W3L) and the CJ teams (100% winrate / 9W0L). Now they have the chance to become the first title defender of OGN Champions, first two times Champion, and the first undefeated Champion in OGN history.



SKT T1 K has a 84% winrate since the start of the Summer Season, but there is one small team in Korea who hasn’t give up its resistance against the Kings of Korea. Only one team has a positive win rate against SKT T1, and that team Samsung Ozone. Ozone was beaten pretty badly at the Worlds stage and got a lot of criticism, in particular Dade who was affected the most by the new midlaner meta and became the scapegoat for the poor team performance; however, they didn’t have any big changes in their lineup besides moving Homme to a coaching position, which was already foreshadowed at Worlds. Ozone used the break between Worlds and Champions Winter to regain their composure and focus for the upcoming challenges. Samsung Ozone got an easy group with their strongest competitor Najin White Shield. With a strong start against the newcomers Alienware and Team Dark, they were able to get confidence for their match against Shield. Even though they had a disastrous first match against Najin White Shield, they were able to keep their composure and come back to get a draw. In the following tiebreaker Ozone won easily against Najin White Shield and secured first place in their group. In the quarterfinal they swept the floor with CJ Entus Frost and met Shield yet again in the semifinals. Even though Shield gave a very good performance, they were no match for Ozone. You can say that Ozone had the easier way into the finals, but if there is one team which could beat SKT T1 K, it is Ozone.



Ozone has by far the best winrate against SKT T1 K with 66% (8W/4L), and we all remember the Spring 2013 Final where everybody thought that Blaze will 3:0 Ozone in the Final but it was the other way around. Ozone is probably the best team in terms of preparation. They can analyze a team better than anybody else against CJ Blaze, and it helped them because Blaze was a one trick Warhorse as DoA and Monte branded them. SKT T1 K has more than one strategy and they can quickly adapt to their enemy’s strategy and disable every attempt to get momentum by the opposition. One thing is for sure - if Ozone can beat SKT, they will get a lot international recognition after their failed World performance. Will they become King slayers or just one more team that got demolished on the SKT T1 World domination tour?



Top Lane

Impact vs. Looper



Though some bemoan the current state of top lane as being repetitive or stagnant, some good does arise when every player is piloting Dr. Mundo and Shyvana over and over. With the playing field in top lane as level as it has ever been, it is now easier to gauge the impact a top laner has on the game. Impact and Looper are certainly in their element in the top lane, with bulky pushers being their forte. Viewers should look for how the players manage 2v1 lanes, as well as the timing with which they choose to group up with their team.



Impact has shown remarkable growth as a player since his early days, and is now absolutely immovable in lane. Though Shy may still hold the title of the world's most stalwart top laner, Impact has surpassed him in his ability to influence a game, whether it be through ganking Faker's lane or rotating out of his lane at a key time. Though Impact is not someone who will pull out a flashy play or crush his lane and carry by himself, his eye for rotation timings and the map movement of his opponents exemplifies SKT T1 K's preferred method of play, in which they emphasise winning the macro game above all. With a standard top lane champion pool spiced up with potential Jax and Singed picks, Impact is looking to extend his top lane win streak.



Looper's last few months have certainly been chaotic, as the rookie top laner made his debut at the Season 3 World Championship, of all places. As one of the only members of Ozone to perform solidly at the World Championship, Looper carried his form over into Champions Winter, gradually improving as he began to play against better competition than what he faced in the Riot Games studio. Though Ozone’s top laners always switch gears before an important match, Looper’s strengths will likely be played to again, with relentless split pushing on Shyvana and Dr. Mundo (or the odd Renekton and Singed). More notably, Looper’s use of Teleport is unparalleled in Korea in effectiveness. Should Looper obtain control of his lane, he will be able to set the tempo of the game, and strike back against SKT T1 K.



It is unclear how this lane will play out exactly, as Ozone likely have something up their sleeves to deal with Impact’s impenetrable armour, while SKT T1 K will be researching Looper’s Teleport and the conditions under which he uses the spell. However, a clash between two strong macro players will be a great sight for those who are fans of the strategic side of League of Legends.



Jungle

Bengi vs. DanDy

In Champions Spring, Ozone named DanDy as their most valuable player, despite Dade winning the fan vote. In Champions Summer, SKT T1 K attributed their successful season to Bengi’s jungling, despite Faker receiving the official accolade. It’s hard to argue with the teams - these two junglers are the main forces driving the teams’ victories, which all come from smooth early games. To make things more difficult, Korean junglers are considered to be the mid lane ‘supports’, due to the importance of having a strong synergy between the two main roaming positions.



Bengi has had an outstanding season, being one of the few junglers to continue to play Nunu effectively. Undoubtedly the best jungler in the world at controlling early game vision, Bengi has pushed his team through the laning phase by choking the enemy jungler’s vision, forcing them to take gambles when moving around the map. The remarkable thing is that Bengi has been able to do this on any champion, from the strong ganker Elise to the farm-hungry Olaf. Bengi has proved beyond doubt that a jungler’s ability is not and should not be contingent on champion selection, and this versatility and reliability is what puts him ahead of other junglers. Yet, he has struggled against DanDy in the past due to the Ozone jungler’s strong intuition, even without vision.



While Bengi opts to gain vision control from the jungle, DanDy’s strengths lie in his confident, meticulous map rotations. As a heavy ganker, DanDy utilises his strong jungle intuition aided by efficient wards in order to ascertain the opposing jungler’s position, allowing him to succeed in ganking, pushing, or counterganking a lane. DanDy is probably the best in the world when it comes to dealing with a vision deficit, which does confer him an advantage against Bengi, but it will be not enough unless he is able to tap into his counterjungling instincts in order to shut down Bengi’s early game.



Mid Lane

Faker vs. Dade



In the past, Faker respected Dade as the best mid lane player in Korea. This statement came after MVP Ozone knocked SK Telecom T1 Judgment Day out of their first Champions season. Things have changed since then, however, and Faker is now regarded as the world’s best mid laner. Yet, Dade’s championship form has been just as impressive as Faker, with his main slip-up being that he has failed to consistently produce games at the highest level. It is hard to envision an Ozone victory where Faker is left to his own devices, so this match-up will be crucial in Ozone’s game plan.



Faker is Faker. For a full treatise on just how incredible of a player he is, refer to our Champions Summer grand final preview, where Fionn described him as the number zero. Faker has no favoured champion, no preferred playstyle, no weaknesses, and almost no discernible habits. Some have joked about him being a robot programmed to play mid lane perfectly, but this assessment may not be too far off. Yet, Ozone may still plan for him. While it is true that he cannot be banned out or shut down, by eliminating certain champions from his pickable pool, his strategy may be able to be influenced. If only a little.

Ozone are known for trusting their players, such as when they kept Homme through his weak period in Champions Spring (which would ultimately lead to him defeating Flame in the grand final). In the aftermath of the Season 3 World Championship, Dade was the first to be crucified by Korean netizens for his weak champion pool and decision making. Yet, he has regained form in Champions Winter, slowly returning to the player that was voted MVP of Champions Spring. Though Dade has shown growth on the siege champions Nidalee and Ziggs, his true strength lies in the addition of assassins Kha’Zix and Zed to his list of comfort champions, where he has initiated objectives for his team by taking out a member of the opposing team. With Kha’Zix such a priority pick at the moment, SKT T1 K must treat the champion with delicate care, lest they find themselves losing suddenly.



Bot Lane

Piglet and PoohManDu vs. imp and Mata



Our previous two grand finals have been decided mostly in the mid lane, but this time around, the fate of the match will likely ride on the outcome of these two duo lanes. While we normally speak of duo lanes in Korea as one entity, recent changes to League of Legends have allowed support players a little more freedom in how they play the game. As such, this lane should be assessed on a player-by-player basis, rather than how the duo lanes interact as a pair.



Piglet has only improved since his debut two seasons ago, pulling off ridiculous plays that one would normally expect from a strong mechanical carry such as imp or Cpt Jack. Yet, through his mechanical growth, Piglet has further opened up his position on the team, becoming less of a Doublelift-style split pusher and more of a PraY-style ‘toolbox’ carry. With consistent performances on his standards Caitlyn and Vayne as a foundation for his play, Piglet has not been afraid to experiment with item builds, picking up Maw of Malmortius in the place of Last Whisper on Vayne, and even experimenting with champions as he selected Graves against Samsung Blue.



imp’s third showdown against Piglet will affect his growth as a player. As someone who has voiced his opposition to the current state of the AD carry position, imp may soon be forced to swallow his pride and switch up his playstyle from the ground up. If, however, his finely honed mechanics come out on top against Piglet, he may be able to continue to rely on Mata for all macro purposes, while he dominates other players with his superior champion control. imp’s old favourite Vayne, ironically, has not made many appearances as of late, as the Ozone carry has opted for Sivir, Caitlyn and Ezreal, paired with an aggressive support. Korea’s best snowballing carry will certainly have his hands full against another top carry.



PoohManDu has settled into his role as a playmaking support over the span of the season, playing a wide variety of supports without much preference for one, though Annie and Thresh remain the region’s most contested picks. While his rotations may not inspire as much fear as those from supports like MadLife or Piccaboo, PoohManDu’s vision control remains superior, and is a real driving force behind SKT T1 K’s midgame dominance. PoohManDu’s presence of mind is to be praised, as he is capable of switching gears during a teamfight to support one of his allies, instantly going from offensive to defensive as the situation demands.



Mata has continued to impress this season, making a strong case for the title of best support in Korea. One of the few supports to adopt Leona, his aggressive playmaking has catapulted imp into the game, enabling Ozone to apply incredible pressure around the map when combined with Looper’s pushing. As the support most likely to dive into the middle of a fight, Mata’s trigger finger must be used liberally against SKT T1 K, who tend to win games through uncounterable midgame rotations. Should Ozone decide to run pick compositions, Mata will spearhead the effort through both initiation and vision control.



Last Thoughts and Predictions



It is becoming increasingly apparent that professional League of Legends games are not decided by individual match-ups as much as they are decided by intelligent macro play and strategy, both inside and outside of the game. Both of our finalists are a testament to this fact. In the future, we will shift our previews towards predicting the ‘big picture’ strategies that teams are likely to employ, interpreting trends beyond the endgame scoreboard.



Ozone will likely be allowed comfort picks, while SKT T1 K will opt to ban out certain strategies or counterstrategies in order to limit Ozone’s options. What this means is that Ozone may be able to win based off their merit as players, if they have practised to the point where they can overpower their SKT T1 K counterparts. Yet, if Dade’s mental block returns and he cannot contain Faker, then Ozone cannot expect to win. DanDy must also find a way to combine his strengths with Dade and Mata in order to wrest control of the map throughout the midgame.



This match will come down to SKT T1 K’s fast push against Ozone’s yet-to-be-revealed strategy. It is no secret that Homme is one of the greatest strategic minds in League of Legends, and as such he may well be Ozone’s greatest weapon, even from the bench. With their incredible domination of Blaze in Champions Spring born of superior planning and strategizing, a win here for Ozone would not be a huge surprise, though it certainly would not be expected. That being said, SKT T1 K is the best team in the world. Even if they fall here, the legacy they will leave will not be forgotten for a while.



Manisier

Head: SK Telecom T1 K 3:1 Samsung Ozone

Heart: SK Telecom T1 K 0:3 Samsung Ozone



Chexx

Head: SK Telecom T1 K 3:1 Samsung Ozone

Heart: SK Telecom T1 K 2:3 Samsung Ozone



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Art by 상똘 (Naver Blog) This edition of the TeamLiquid LoL write-up was brought to you by Cheep, Chexx, Xes, Manisier and Waxangel. Administrator Follow me @TL_Chexx