Group C

FunPlus Phoenix

Splyce

JTeam

GAM Esports

Group B

SK Telecom T1

Fnatic

Royal Never Give Up

Clutch Gaming

DRAFTING

KEY POINTS

Xerxe doesn’t have Lee Sin active in his champion pool; Rek’Sai might be his go-to counter if Gragas and Elise are contested. An issue is that Humanoid doesn’t have many AD mid laners in his Champion pool, so that might emphasize Rek’Sai for Xerxe to diversify the damage portfolio.

Active AD Junglers for Xerxe: Olaf, Rek’Sai, Qiyana

Nocturne may appear into Lee Sin dependent on Comp.

Spell Shield the Sonic Wave and you win the trade by default.

Humanoid doesn’t have a large active AD Champion Pool compared to Mages/Faker.

AD Mid Laners: Qiyana, Tristana

1 Irelia, Camille, Yasuo performance in Domestic Split

SKT can flex between every Position; Splyce can only Flex on a handful of picks and between Xerxe, Humanoid, and Kobbe.

Vizicsacsi and Norskeren have a small active Champion Pool.

Nautilus/Thresh + Gangplank/Gnar/Cho’Gath/Poppy

Qiyana is contested between both of these teams but infinitely more important for Splyce.

The only time Clid didn’t play Lee Sin was when it was picked away from him on 2nd rotation by Karsa + Clutch Gaming..

Both Teddy and Kobbe have shown Heimerdinger in Solo Queue.

THEORIZED BANS

Splyce have to bite the bullet on Akali or Renekton. I theorize they’ll let the Akali slide because Humanoid would be the mathcup to take confident bets on versus the Renekton Top. The other option is to try and trade Qiyana or Akali by replacing that ban with a targeted Jungle ban like an Elise to force Clid onto Lee Sin. Second rotation from Splyce would surely be Qiyana/Akali + Gragas for SKT 3rd pick Lee after SKT Akali/Qiyana Priority Pick.

Splyce have to problem solve 2 things:

Can they skill check the Lee Sin?

Can they skill check the Akali?

This revolves around the idea that Xerxe can skill check the Lee Sin/Gragas Matchup so by leaving Lee Sin open, Splyce can priority pick the Akali or Xayah, or if SKT are fine trading.

Syndra was Splyce’s Priority Pick when Qiyana/Akali/Xayah have been denied.

VERSE RED SPLYCE:

Majority of these strategies seemed to be about using Priority Pick as a 4th ban against Splyce. The tactic really only changed when FPX decided to give Kai’Sa + Syndra to Splyce and then flex Renekton + Ryze pending matchup and deny Humanoid kill pressure on his opponent as well as force Kobbe on an ADC with low range. This strategy finally felt that someone built a composition to counter what Splyce like to play.

VERSE BLUE SPLYCE

When GAM didn’t ban Qiyana it was the Priority Pick where as Syndra was Priority Pick vs JTeam. The strategy seems to be Pantheon + Xayah + ??? and then rotating as many Splyce signature champions as possible. Denial has been the active strategy against Splyce for majority of this tournament. The keynote here is that in the weaker group, SKT won’t need to resort to the same strategy and instead have deep enough Champion Pools to skill check Splyce on their comfort composition, and that’s where things become terrifying for Splyce.

FLEX CHAMPIONS

VERSE RED SKT

VERSE BLUE SKT

Should be noted that SKT banned Kayle from Blue Side every time save for the Clutch Game where she fell all the way through draft — obviously not having Priority on it. I expect the same assumption will be made of Splyce but Bans will tell us very quickly if Splyce have Kayle in their active Champion Pool; they ban it from Blue Side. Once SKT showed the Kayle into FNC’s Yuumi + Garen, it was banned or Priority Pick Denied away from them while SKT were on Red Side.

ANALYTICAL NARRATIVE

The LCK have stronger Fundamentals across the holistic region. Their ability to skill check multiple matchups, play weak side, control waves, and time resets mean they do not expose themselves to the same punishable mistakes that other teams/regions do. This is the key to the “consistency of the LCK”. The region’s ability to understand the basics of the game is at a much higher level meaning they play “standard League of Legends” better on average than the rest of the competition.

Spawn Delivery:

This creates a “handshake” mentality where the region’s teams are better at recognizing when their team/enemy team have an advantage, making them more prone to trade objectives rather than fight. At this tournament however, the other regions have been less consistent with that “handshake” and an ability to read/agree on which team is stronger, causing more skirmishes and fights that normally wouldn’t happen domestically in the LCK. This is reflected in SKT’s KILL@15 which is significantly higher for Worlds than their LCK average.

lolesports stats team

In short, LCK teams make less “unforced errors” in their general laning phase which gives less opportunity for team’s to punish them. SKT is making less mistakes themselves and punishing opponents mistakes more = recipe for them to dominate the tournament.

“NOT YOUR PAPA’S SKT”

This iteration of SKT combines the greatest hits of the LCK: the legacy of in-form Faker, performing Khan, hyped Teddy, and superstar breakout Clid. Oh, and Effort is here too. And this SKT isn’t the “slow macro LCK” narrative beaten to death — this team came out of the gate with unique picks and high-octane, proactive, play. This wasn’t a “slow start”. This is a team that has shown the ability to attack in the early game to snowball or play a controlled standard game.

In short, be afraid. Be very afraid.

SKT STRENGTHS

At this tournament, this team’s playstyle is diverse and adaptable. Most notable has been Faker’s ability to create and absorb Pressure while Clid is the beneficiary. Dominance in lanes in terms of wasting enemy Jungler time or always leveraging advantages (gold, kills, experience, objectives) when SKT have strong side with their Jungler make this team as flexible as Clid’s pathing and unpunishable as Faker’s laning. They simply don’t expose themselves during lane stages. If you can’t skill check SKT in lane, standard League of Legends is not an option.

SKT WEAKNESSES

Now, where SKT can be exploited is during the Mid Game setup stages in the Vision Game. For as strong as their laners individual abilities are, Effort is not on the same individual level and can slow this team down if they rely on him for starting fights or his timer gets desynced from the team, meaning SKT’s Vision Game lags behind with him, slowing them down considerably. However, this is completely shored up if other members have engage tools.

In multiple series at Worlds, particularly the RNG games, SKT struggled to optimize their sidelane pressure. And if that’s because the 3 in 1–3–1 lacked the coordination to disengage from the hard engage, or the team over values teamfighting as a means to leverage advantage, it wasn’t a perfect showing. Making sure SKT don’t snowball over you in lane phase means you should have an opportunity to get a hit in the open map Mid Game.

That said: SKT are, undisputedly, the best teamfighting team at the tournament. Goodluck.

SPY STRENGTHS

Splyce are exceptionally well coached and practiced in “set plays”. Their goal is not to attack, but to neutralize during the lane phase to allow Xerxe to control the pace of the game. “Download, dissect, and destroy” is the gaol, but create chaos and suddenly Splyce tear at the seams.

SPY WEAKNESS

I suspect that due to the inexperience of Humanoid and Norskeren, Splyce’s mid game severely suffers in their setup. They can be extremely slow to the punch and don’t have the same versatility to adapt on the fly, meaning that if teams disrupt them in their setup, it takes Splyce ridiculously long to recover. It’s also the perfect time to catch them out of position.

Vizicsacsi and Humanoid have 23 and 22 isolated deaths respectfully. Csacsi is due to Splyce’s reliance on grouping to leverage fights for advantage rather than their ability/comfort to play Sidelanes for Map Pressure. Csacsi will often get caught-out and killed in his rotations back to his team.

“WORLD’S BEST MOM AWARD: XERXE”

Humanoid doesn’t know how to lose gracefully in most matchups. His momentary brilliance needs to be polished and demands serious investment from Xerxe to succeed. He plays to win lane and doesn’t adjust accordingly to any other plan.

lolesports stats

The tournament average Jungle Proximity was 44.7% compared to Xerxe’s 52.5%. Despite that time investment, it helps showcase Xerxe’s efficiency in pathing for experience because he’s bang-on average for level 6 timers.

JUNGLE PATHING HIGHLIGHTS

Xerxe loves playing for Raptors/Krugs and getting quick resets on these timers due to holding the most gold/experience of the camps. He’ll almost always start Red Buff Side into immediate clear of Krugs unless he’s playing Olaf and can play for Raptor camp with invade enemy Raptor into Mid Control to allow double Raptor Camp.

I think this inherently makes Splyce a better Blue Side team due to Krug camp’s location to bottom lane and the ease gank access where he’s more likely to play through.

Clid will actually do his Gromp and Wolves much more often than Xerxe and be more fluid in his pathing to find opportunities to play around his lane’s power where as Xerxe is looking for efficient control.

I expect Xerxe to attempt the Nocturne vs Lee Sin Matchup at least once this series.

EXPECTATIONS

I believe SKT’s strategy will be to ban Xayah, exploit Splyce’s active Champion Pool in Top/Support, and then prioritize the Jungle matchup in Clid’s favor. Splyce don’t have enough depth/Champion Pool flexibility in their side lanes to deny SKT as Splyce will often forego Xerxe’s pick to secure comfort for Norskeren/Csacsi.

If SKT get the superior 2v2 Jungle/Mid, they’ll simply exploit Humanoid and force Xerxe to try to attack through his side lanes where SKT are confident they can absorb or straight abuse Norskeren/Csasci. Any Splyce success will surely be a carry from their core three: Humanoid, Xerxe, and Kobbe but it’d really be about the “brick wall” of Csasci and Norskeren to deny exploitation and give their carries a chance.

I expect Splyce will have at least one unique strategy to “break” the game. If they believe there’s zero chance in beating SKT in standard. They’ll either rely on a creative composition or their Laneswap; anything to make this an unfair fight.

Red Side inherently means less for Splyce than SKT due to Champion Pool in ability to utilize Counter Pick, unless it’s for Humanoid. I believe in a standard game this more about Splyce finding their comfort than denying what SKT want to put together. Likewise SKT simply have vastly more options/tools.