In only a short few hours, the finals of Ongamenet’s Hot6ix League of Legends Champions Summer 2014 will take place between KT Arrows and Samsung Blue on Haeundae Beach in Busan. This series promises to be another thriller, as we’ve come to expect out of the grand finals of Champions. A few things to note, this series will be played outdoors (the players will still be in soundproof booths), casted in English by Erik “DoA” Lonnquist and Christopher “Montecristo” Mykles. The game will be played on patch 4.13.

How did they get here?

KT Arrows finished first in group D with two wins and one tie. They fought tooth and nail against Champions Spring’s second place, Najin White Shield, for a 3-2 victory to move on to the semifinals. There they defeated SKT T1 S 3-2, despite their losses due to S’s signature “Take it to 60 minutes and force them to screw up” tactic, their 3 victories were actually quite convincing.

Samsung Blue, in similar fashion to KT Arrows (and all the first place teams, actually) left their group with two wins and a tie. They handily took down the Jin Air Greenwings Stealths 3-0 in the quarterfinals, leading them into a teamkill with Samsung White. They took down their sister team 3-1, showing off some very impressive play, even on new picks like the reworked Maokai. They showed that SSG Blue is still one of- if not the- best teams in Korea at quickly picking up and applying new champions.

Lane Matchups

Top- Ssumday vs. Acorn

The state of toplane currently is in flux somewhat. The meta is caught between the very tanky toplaners, with Mundo still seeing some play and Zac bouncing back onto the rift, and the relatively new AP bruisers such as Gragas and the reworked Maokai. Quite a few bans are sure to be sent towards the toplane as Maokai will still be running rampant without the 4.14 nerfs (Acorn having gone 10-1-22 in game 1 against Samsung White). Gragas, despite some nerfs, chiefly minion damage reduction on his barrel roll, remains a staple of the toplane.

Samsung needs to get a read on KT before they can really get a feel for how to go about dealing with Ssumday. Much like the rest of his team, Ssumday’s play is wildly inconsistent. In the Semifinals against SKT T1S, he had back to back Gragas games where he went 2-0-8, then 0-4-1. He has shown that he is most comfortable on Gragas, but with it being a hotly contested pick, it remains to be seen what else he might use. He’s used Mundo to great effect, as well as pulling out a top Kassadin in game 5 of the Quarterfinals. Samsung will likely need to keep a close eye on Ssumday in the event that he snowballs hard.

KT Arrows needs to focus on keeping Acorn away from Gragas and Maokai. On those two champions in particular, Acorn has shown that he is quite adept at taking control of the map, while still being able to make it into every teamfight to ensure a win. Keeping Acorn on a lower tier pick like Lulu or Shyvana means that he’ll have less playmaking opportunities.

Jungle- Kakao vs. Spirit

Kakao is certainly one of the best junglers in the world right now. Spirit isn’t too far behind him though, without a doubt in the world class of junglers. A Regnar ban is going to likely show up in every game, though other picks like Kakao’s Elise might take its place. Other strong junglers like Lee Sin and Evelynn will certainly make at least one appearance during picks and bans.

Samsung has to be very worried about Kakao. SKT S always devoted bans to his Lee Sin and Rengar, but left his legendary Elise play open. I’d frankly be surprised if either team were to ever get a Rengar, and I could only imagine the amount of destruction Kakao could cause with it; however, it is likely that Kakao is likely going to be on Elise or Evelynn most of the night. He has pulled out Nocturne and Jarvan IV before this season, and could make an appearance as well.

KT has less to worry about Spirit. Not unlike his team’s core ideology, Spirit is more focused on surviving the early game and winning teamfights later on. He always has a solid impact on the game, consistently getting quite a few assists and/or kills. He’s shown that he’s proficient at 4 or 5 champions, but there are simply to many better bans to focus anything on Spirit. Kakao will most likely get a very solid read on Spirit like he always does, it is on Spirit to overcome that and still impact the game.

Mid- Rookie vs. Dade

Rookie has very quickly shown that he is one of the best midlaners in Korea, earning himself the nickname “Faker Junior.” Dade, however, is… well… Dade. The King of Spring came back full force in summer, currently leading in MVP points in hopes of repeating as season MVP. To say Dade’s play has been amazing this season would be an understatement, succeeding on quite a few champions, even non-meta picks like his Zed play he pulled out twice against Samsung White. Kassadin is going to be a definite troublemaker, and is most likely going to be banned in all games. Other picks, like Ahri, Orianna, and Twisted Fate will likely slip through and find their way into these players’ hands.

Rookie has shown he’s quite skilled at numerous champions, with impressive showings on Ahri (9-3-10), Orianna (4-0-2), and Kassadin (8-2-8 Blind Pick) among others. The Kassadin will need to stay out, and it might be wise to start with an Orianna ban and work from there. Rookie is definitely a top-tier playmaker and Samsung must keep him down if they want to beat KT.

Dade will, I can all but guarantee, not be playing Yasuo in this series. But I feel he’s alright with that, as there’s plenty of other champions to pull out. KT Arrows simply must keep Yasuo away from Samsung, or Dade will show them why it’s so important. His TF also has the potential to see some bans, KT has often banned TF away from players worse than Dade, likely fearing his ability to counter Kakao’s ganks.

AD Carry- Arrow vs. Deft

Arrow, the conveniently named marksman for KT Arrows, will have a tough opponent in the great Alpaca King, Deft. It’s interesting to note just how close on the KDA charts these two are. Both are in the top 5, Arrow in 2nd at 5.1 and Deft in 3rd with 4.8. Both are making very good use of Kog’maw, though Deft has also shown some play on Tristana and Corki. Twitch will likely be banned in all games. Much like Rengar, his stealthy assassination has teams quite concerned of his power.

As is the norm in this patch, hyper-scaling carries like Kog and Trist are going to be very common themes through the night. Not quite powerful enough to warrant any bans except for Twitch or possibly Trist, the name of the game is instead going to be who can get their carry ahead faster. This responsibility falls to the supports and junglers. Samsung may want to lane swap to lower the kill potential for Kakao to put Arrow ahead, though this might put Acorn into an unsafe position.

If KT can successfully gank for Arrow and get him ahead then it will likely mean that he will be able to push the advantage for a win. If Samsung manage to go even or win in lane, I would expect their superior teamfighting to lead them to late game victories.

Support- Hachani vs. Heart

Braum, not unlike Rengar and Yasuo, is not a likely candidate for gameplay. Be it in the hands of Heart or Hachani, his tankiness, mobility, and cc spell disaster for the enemy team. Thresh, Morgana, and Alistar will be likely candidates in his place. There’s a chance that a relative oddball champion like Nami or Zilean will be picked up, but those are the three biggest picks in recent matches.

To be frank, I’d be surprised if Hachani proves himself better than the man of many hair colors, Heart. Heart has shown that he’s possibly the best support in Korea right now, and has played at best in KR level on many champions. It’s not to say Hachani’s bad, because he’s not. He’s shown that his Alistar play is quite solid (going 3-0-11 against SKT S), as well as his Morgana and Thresh, but Heart seems better than him in almost every way.

KT is going to have a hard time keeping up with Heart, simply put. If Heart stays in lane, expect him to make plays there and push Deft ahead. If Heart roams, expect him to push Dade ahead. The double gank is a powerful threat, especially in the event that Heart gets someone as strong as Alistar or Thresh. The bans are few, but one his way might be very wise.

Featured Matchup- Rookie vs. Dade

This seems to be the nexus of power for both teams. Rookie and Dade are the chief playmakers once the ganking ends and teamfights begin. And oh the plays they will make. If Heart and Spirit gank mid and get an early kill onto Rookie, you can expect many won teamfights and objectives to come for Samsung. Likewise, if Kakao gets a solid gank off onto Dade, it will likely set all of Samsung back and give KT the chance to tear the game wide open. Once teamfighting begins I have no doubt that these two will be able to provide with some amazing gameplay.

Score Prediction-

Samsung Blue 3 – KT Arrows 1

I feel the slightest bit guilty putting this up as my prediction, as almost every professional to have made a prediction said this, but it really does seem like the most likely outcome. While KT Arrows, in their wins, look like they could take home the Summoner’s Cup, when they lose you wonder how they even made it out of groups. Samsung Blue has never in this season looked particularly bad, having lost only two games over the course of it (Game 2 in the semifinals against White, and Game 1 of IM2 in Groups). At the end of the day, SSG Blue seems superior in all but one of the lanes, and are unquestionably more consistent as a team. It lies on Kakao and the rest of KT to bring their… ahem… A game and bring Blue a fight.