The first round robin of Champions Spring 2016 has come to a close with a few surprises and yet another undefeated run.

Narrative of the first round robin: ROX Tigers’ unbeaten streak

Last spring, the GE Tigers burst onto the Korean scene with a walk-in closet of flashy outfits and a then-unmatched amount of coordination. In a world where organizations struggled with which individuals from their now merged sister teams would start, or had lost their talent to China, the GE Tigers rose from the proverbial ashes and swept through the first round robin undefeated. Their first loss came at the 2015 IEM World Championship, where they were upset by one of China’s worst teams at the time: Team WE. WE’s win showcased a primary weakness of the Tigers’ that their Korean opponents had failed to capitalize on: the jungle position. The Tigers failed to track Lee “Spirit” Da-yoon with deep vision and the Team WE jungler took full advantage of the space he had been given, providing insurmountable pressure.

At that time, the Tigers’ Lee “Hojin” Hojin was a serviceable jungler but not a particularly strong one. By multiple player accounts he was a good voice in comms, always positive and assertive, well-coordinated when it came to teamfighting. However, like many junglers in 2015, the arrival of Cinderhulk confused him a bit, and he was thoroughly defeated by SK Telecom T1’s Im "T0M" Jae-hyeon in the Spring Final. The Tigers struggled far more in Champions Summer 2015, yet pulled their team together prior to playoffs with smart drafting and late-game teamfighting. They never managed to give a much-needed punch to their early game, and this cost them in the World Championship Finals where they again lost to SK Telecom T1.

This year, the now-ROX Tigers have completed the first round of Champions Spring 2016 similarly undefeated, with no Korean team able to stand up to their dynamic playstyle and overwhelming coordination. However, unlike last year, the Tigers not only have a better jungler, but the best jungler in Korea: Yoon “Peanut” Wang-ho.

Peanut has fit into the team surprisingly well, especially when one considers the problems that the Tigers reportedly had when attempting to integrate Kim “Wisdom” Tae-wan onto the team in lieu of Hojin last year. Aggressive and proactive, Peanut stalks his opponents in the jungle, forcing them off of their camps and neutralizing any early pressure that they might have. Most surprisingly, when it comes to the Tigers’ signature teamfighting, Peanut is wholly synchronized with the rest of the Tigers. This has eliminated the Tigers’ primary weakness from the past year while maintaining their strong communication and coordination. Mid laner Lee “KurO” Seo-haeng has seen a huge boost in his individual statistics courtesy of the newfound pressure his jungler provides, and top laner Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho shows no signs of slowing down from his career 2015 year. Facilitating the Tigers’ success is support Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon, who has been allowed to pick Alistar in 76 percent of the ROX Tigers’ games and proceeded to dismantle opponents by layering crowd control with teammates.

The question for the ROX Tigers going into the second half of the split is: can they remain undefeated? Last year, their fall at IEM was a well-documented testimony to the Tigers’ hubris, something the team is not eager to repeat in Spring 2016. With an upcoming slight shift in the jungle meta, Peanut will need to learn how to adapt while still providing early pressure for his team. If his recent foray into building Tracker’s Knife is any indicator, Peanut is already prepared for these circumstances, and raised his wards per minute from a dismal 0.46 to 0.51 in his last series alone. It’s still the lowest rate of any jungler in Korea, but he’s learning, albeit slowly.

Runners-up: SK Telecom T1 falters

While the ROX Tigers are reprising their days as GE in Champions Spring 2015, SK Telecom T1 have been retreading their path worn by SK Telecom T1 K in Champions Spring and Summer 2014. Fresh off of a World Championship victory, SK Telecom T1 K blanked all of their opponents in Champions Winter 2013-14 before faltering that spring. Much of this was due to a shift in the jungle meta that pushed Bae "bengi" Seong-woong out of his comfort zone and into babysitting his top laner Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong, all while fast-pushing turrets in a laneswap. This effectively neutered bengi, who had always invaded opponents’ jungles to deep ward so the rest of his team, particularly their star mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, pushed waves aggressively and comfortably. Without bengi’s vision net, SK Telecom T1 K faltered, especially when they couldn’t simply outlane their opponents to victory.

Last year saw bengi reviving his career by doing the exact same thing that had made the jungler and his team so successful in 2013: deep warding with creative pathing to track opponents. Instead of paying the majority of his attention to Faker, Faker learned to be more self-sufficient, while Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-hwan made the most of the vast amount of resources he was given. This led SK Telecom T1 to another World Championship title, and the team promised that they would not fall as they did in 2014.

Unfortunately, the shifting nature of the metagame in League of Legends cares very little for promises, and it has proved impossible to stay on top forever. This year’s jungle meta is ill-suited to bengi, who has struggled to find another champion besides Elise on which to find success. Their jungle substitute, Kang “Blank” Sun-gu applies even less pressure than a struggling bengi, invisible on the map in all of his appearances. Additionally, new top laner Lee “Duke” Ho-seong has struggled to find synergy with his new teammates, also affected by the lack of available vision for teleport plays or joining up with the rest of his team. Faker has been a bright spot as always, along with AD carry Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, who has continued to impress in spite of his team’s overall disorganization. SK Telecom T1 has spent the majority of the first round robin on late-game scaling compositions built for Bang’s Ezreal or Duke’s Gangplank. Combined with the lack of pressure from bengi, this has been a fairly disastrous combination at times, allowing opponents to take advantage if they can apply early pressure.

A slight shift in the jungle meta is on the horizon in Patch 6.3, giving bengi back one of his stronger champions in Gragas. The team is bound for the Season X IEM World Championship before they return to Champions, where they will look to reestablish their dominance, similar to what the team did at the 2014 All-Star event, where SK Telecom T1 K did not lose a single game.

Pleasant surprise: Samsung Galaxy

Prior to the season’s start, Samsung Galaxy’s roster was one of the more panned lineups, e-mFire and CJ Entus aside. The acquisition of jungler Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong was puzzling, as the former mid laner had begun to seriously struggle in his new position in his waning days with CJ Entus. Samsung Galaxy had also lost their best player, AD carry Lee “Fury” Jin-yong and neither of his replacements — Lee “Stitch” Seung-ju or Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in — were seen as fit substitutes.

Contrary to initial predictions, Samsung Galaxy (6-3) sits solidly in fourth after the first round robin, ahead of Longzhu Gaming’s superstar roster and the lagging SK Telecom T1. Their roster has gelled surprisingly well, led by an improved Ambition in the jungle. Top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin has polished his performance significantly, and has specifically impressed on Lissandra, a champion he was abysmal on last year. Teammate Lee “Crown” Min-ho has also bettered his play. The Samsung mid laner entered this season with a wider champion pool than Viktor and currently deals the second-highest damage per minute of any Korean mid (600) with only Faker ahead of him. Support Kwon “Wraith” Ji-min places the most wards of any player in Korea at 1.55 per minute. This has led to Samsung leading all teams in wards placed per minute at 4.06 — a particularly impressive statistic considering that Samsung has the third-lowest average game time (37.8) of any team in Korea.

Last year, Samsung were a team that always seemed on the cusp of becoming legitimately good. They were able to take one game off of superior opponents with smart drafting before their opponents adapted, resulting in another Samsung loss. Now, Samsung shows greater poise, particularly in the late game, and a surprising amount of coordination. Yet, with teams like SK Telecom T1 and Longzhu underperforming, the second round robin will be the proving ground that determines whether they’re a playoff team or not.

Greatest disappointment: SBENU Sonicboom

After last year, there was seemingly nowhere that SBENU Sonicboom could go but up. They were atrocious throughout Champions Summer 2015, and one of the worst teams in OnGameNet’s Champions history. Owners of nearly every worst statistic imaginable, from their -1,597 gold differential at 15 minutes to the worst kill to death ratio at 0.52. Five of the ten worst KDAs in the league belonged to SBENU players. AD carry Sin “Nuclear” Jeong-hyeon had the highest KDA on the team of any starting SBENU player with a dismal 2.8.

Due to their improved showing in the KeSPA Cup, along with the addition of up-and-coming jungler Sung “Flawless” Yeon-jun, SBENU was projected to be a mid-tier team prior to Spring 2016. Nuclear and mid laner Oh “SaSin” Seung-ju were considered rising talents along with the team’s new jungler. Next to nothing was expected of e-mFire’s (recently rebranded to Kongdoo Monster) cobbled-together roster along with CJ Entus, who were counting down the days until Bdd’s 17th birthday, and the aforementioned Samsung Galaxy. These expectations, combined with the fact that the team had visibly improved, led most to believe that SBENU could break into the mid-tier, possibly stealing games off of their better opponents.

Currently, SBENU is once again in dead last. They have yet to win a single series, and have only won three games total. The team still has five of the ten worst KDAs, which include both Flawless and SaSin, two of SBENU’s presumed bright spots. In spite of a similar position statistically, the team has improved since last year, it simply hasn’t been enough to overcome any of their opponents. SBENU has had difficulty in applying early pressure, and they lose all coordination come mid game. Even Kongdoo Monster, who has less overall individual talent, looks more synchronized than SBENU.

Series of the first round robin: ROX Tigers vs. SK Telecom T1

A caveat accompanies this series, due to the fact that SK Telecom T1 used Blank in lieu of bengi for Game 3. In spite of this, Games 1 and 2 are enjoyable, displaying both ROX’s true strength and an incredible carry performance from SK Telecom T1’s Bang on Ezreal by way of Faker’s Lissandra. There’s little doubt that SK Telecom T1 will eventually find their footing. Despite series losses that followed — including one to Korea’s third-worst team, the Afreeca Freecs — SK Telecom T1 not only made ROX bleed, but did so by teamfighting rather than their traditional laning dominance.

Runner-up: Longzhu Gaming vs. SBENU Sonicboom

Longzhu remains a bit of a mystery, and has been wildly inconsistent throughout the first half of Champions Spring 2016. This series is against last-place SBENU, yet it displays the best and worst that Longzhu has to offer, including their use of two rotating lines of players for their top, jungle and mid positions. Against SBENU, Line 1 falters only to have Line 2 pick up the slack in Game 2. This has an inspiring effect on Line 1, which returns in Game 3 with significantly better results.

For those who love teamfighting: e-mFire vs. ROX Tigers Game 1

This is ROX Tigers’ infamous all-engage composition. Upon securing Alistar for GorillA, they see the makings of a poke composition from e-mFire and proceed to lock in the rest of their champions within seconds. Of particular note is what happens when Peanut isn’t able to apply early pressure — opponents invade, taking advantage of his lack of vision — and the Tigers’ overwhelming teamfight coordination.

For the jungle lover: ROX Tigers vs. SBENU Sonicboom, Game 2

Peanut puts on a Nidalee clinic in this game, denying SBENU’s Sung “Flawless” Yeon-jun every single buff, showcasing just how dominant Nidalee can be in the current meta. If one simply wishes to see complete annihilation, this game is highly recommended.

Best of the first round robin by position:

Top Lane: Yeo “TrAce” Chang-dong (Jin Air Green Wings)

TrAce is in the middle of a career year, an unlikely occurrence when one considers the fact that he left the team in the offseason only to rejoin. Prior to Spring 2016, it was widely thought that rookie Kim “SoHwan” Jun-yeong would start, and TrAce would be available as a veteran presence on the bench. As it turned out, SoHwan played one game — an unfortunate Fiora outing against Longzhu — before Jin Air started TrAce and never looked back.

Where he previously was criticized for a presumed small champion pool in 2015, the Jin Air top laner has proved his doubters wrong, showcasing the adaptability hinted by his initial Champions appearances while on ahq Korea with a pocket top lane Rengar pick. Throughout the first round robin, TrAce has played 10 champions — the most of any Korean top laner — across 20 games. He has a pocket Morgana pick, which he’s defaulted to more than once this split, and was the first to debut top lane Graves in a surprising 2-0 victory over SK Telecom T1. Currently, he has the highest KDA (5.4) and the second-highest kill participation (69.4 percent) of any top laner in Korea. This is all while being third in line for Jin Air’s gold, receiving 22 percent of the team’s total gold, a middling amount for Korean tops. Due to his safe laning nature he has the lowest percentage of his team’s deaths for all tops, but participates in 25 percent of First Bloods, second only to the ROX TIgers’ Smeb.

Runner-up: Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho (ROX Tigers)

Smeb’s top lane prowess is a large part of what makes the Tigers so versatile, both in drafting and on the Rift. If it weren’t for TrAce’s overwhelming Spring 2016 performance thus far, Smeb would remain the best top laner in his position. Smeb deals the highest amount of damage to champions per minute (515) of any Korean top and is second only to TrAce in KDA. He can play splitpushing duelists like Fiora and Quinn, or group and flank for teamfights on Kennen, Poppy and Lissandra.

Jungle: Yoon “Peanut” Wang-ho (ROX Tigers)

In spite of an endless list of impressive statistics, it’s difficult to quantify just how good Peanut has been across the first round robin, both individually and for the ROX Tigers. Many of the Tigers’ extraordinary team stats stem from Peanut’s ability to create early pressure and make his jungle adversaries miserable. The ROX Tigers have the highest kill to death ratio (1.64), a First Blood rate of 83 percent and a massive 1,872 gold lead on their opponents at 15 minutes.

Peanut himself has the highest KDA (5.8), highest individual First Blood percentage (67 percent) and greatest average gold difference at 10 minutes (296) of any starting Korean jungler.

Meshing with his new team surprisingly quickly, Peanut has led ROX Tigers to another undefeated run in the first round robin without sacrificing their signature teamfighting. Additionally, he’s had the league’s most individually-impressive jungle performances this year, with a recent 10-buff win against SBENU Sonicboom.

Runner-up: Go “Score” Dong-bin (KT Rolster)

It’s difficult to find a runner-up to the overwhelming performance that Peanut has had this split. But Score, along with fellow role-swapped jungler Ambition, has had an impressive spring of his own, showing an improved understanding of what the position actually entails. Previously, Score was aided by former support Lee “Piccaboo” Jong-beom in both map pressure and vision control. This made up for deficiencies in Score’s pathing, which was predictable to his better opponents — particularly SK Telecom T1’s bengi.

Now, Score is paired with support Ha “Hachani” Seung-chan, who is far less stealthy on his support vision rotations, and newcomer Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun who has had trouble communicating with the rest of KT. In Piccaboo’s absence, Score has proven that he’s not only a smart player, but a legitimate jungler, especially in a meta that allows him to occasionally hop on AD carries like Kindred or Graves.

Mid Lane: Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom T1)

Faker’s statistics may be lower this split, and his team may be struggling, but he’s all-too-often the difference between an SK Telecom T1 win or loss. More impressively, this often comes from a successful teamfight or skirmish rather than simply out-laning his opponent. As the map has collapsed back towards Faker due to bengi’s lack of jungle pressure, Faker still has the second-highest CS differential at 10 minutes (4.2), second-highest CS per minute (9.3) and highest damage per minute (678) of any starting Korean mid. The DPM statistic is of particular note, as SK Telecom T1’s average game time is on the lower end of the league at 38.2. Faker additionally boasts the highest kill participation of any Champions mid laner at 77.9 percent. Instead of bengi, it’s Faker who has been applying pressure, in an attempt to pick up his slack.

Runner-up: Lee “Kuzan” Seong-hyeok (Jin Air Green Wings)

Alongside Jin Air’s top laner, TrAce, mid laner Kuzan has had a startlingly strong split and has been a key factor in Jin Air’s success. He’s displayed a larger champion pool than previously thought, and has the second-best KDA of all Korean mids at 5.3 and the highest CS difference at 10 minutes at 6.3. Kuzan is also heavily involved in Jin Air’s map movements with a 74.1 kill participation, the third best in his position.

AD Carry: Bae “Bang” Jun-sik (SK Telecom T1)

Another bright spot on SK Telecom T1, Bang has excelled in Spring 2016, continuing the level of dominance he set as a precedent in late Spring 2015 all the way to the 2015 World Championship. He has the best KDA of all AD carries (6.1) which is also the third-best of any player in Korea. He also has the smallest number of deaths on SK Telecom T1 (12.2 percent of their total deaths, the lowest of any AD carry) yet deals 584 damage per minute, the second-best among AD carries and fourth-best in Korea.

SK Telecom T1 has stuck to placing him on late-game, scaling carries, specifically Ezreal, on whom Bang has had some of his most impressive performances, including a monstrous Game 1 against the ROX Tigers. This is all while receiving less than the average gold percentage for Korean ADCs (24.3) with a relatively low 23.7 percent gold share. As always, Bang’s Lucian and Kalista are both power picks for the SK Telecom ADC, still occasionally drawing bans from opponents. His teamfighting is, at times, peerless, especially if Faker is on a champion with crowd control to lock down Bang’s targets.

Runner-up: Kang “Cpt Jack” Hyung-woo (Longzhu Gaming)

Likely a contentious choice for runner-up, Cpt Jack has all-too-often kept Longzhu going, even as the team struggled for consistency. Once known for his daring and oft-reckless maneuvers in teamfights, Cpt Jack has been notably stable over the past split, especially as his teammates shifted around him. As part of a duo bottom lane with support Kim “Pure” Jin-sun, Cpt Jack has remained steady and strong throughout Longzhu’s best and worst of times in the first round robin. The third-best damage dealer of any ADC in Korea, Cpt Jack’s other statistics aren’t particularly impressive, but he has shown surprising growth in teamfighting while taking far less of his team’s resources so they can be distributed elsewhere.

Support: Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon (ROX Tigers)

Of the 21 games that the ROX Tigers have played, GorillA has played Alistar 16 times, showcasing a mastery of the Minotaur that few players achieve on any champion. GorillA’s timely crowd control initiate and orchestrate ROX Tigers’ teamfights and skirmishes, locking down opponents so that Smeb, KurO, AD carry Kim “PraY” Jong-in and even jungler Peanut can deal sustained damage.

Adding to this are his strong individual statistics. GorillA has the highest KDA of any support (6.2), second-highest of any player in Champions Korea Spring 2016. He also has the highest First Blood participation rate (43 percent) of any support in the region.

Runner-up: Hong “MadLife” Min-gi (CJ Entus)

The one player keeping CJ Entus afloat until Bdd and Ghost turn 17 has been MadLife. While Untara and Kramer have had their impressive performances, much of this can be attributed to MadLife’s direction. It’s all thanks to the veteran support that CJ Entus is in a relatively good position for their previously-underage players to take over in the second half of Spring 2016.