This article is part of our LoL Previews series.
As the dust settles on another Summer Split, five teams remain in contention for the automatic qualification spot for Worlds. While the differing play styles and storylines heading into the four-stage bracket will lead to intense games, one perpetual question lingers over the LCK: will SKT continue their dominance over the rest of Korea? The answer: a resounding "probably." Taking a look at the teams that will compete round-by-round, we'll figure out which teams will advance in the bracket, and how.
Round 1
afreeca Freecs (8-10) vs. Samsung Galaxy (12-6)
afreeca Freecs have had a tough fight to claim the fifth and final spot in the playoff bracket, and face an uphill battle if they hope to make their Worlds dreams a reality. Currently, the team relies on a frantic, skirmish and pick-heavy style to gain an early gold lead over foes. Usually, afreeca invests heavily in AD carry Kwon "Sangyoon" Sang-yoon, who has been known to make clutch plays on meta picks such as Ashe and Sivir, with jungler Yoon "SeongHwan" Seong-hwan camping afreeca's bottom lane and support No "SnowFlower" Hoei-jong keeping Sangyoon safe. This strategy, while effective, leaves top laner Heo "Lindarang" Man-heung on an island in the top lane, often a target for enemy abuse. Finally, mid laner Sun "Mickey" Yong-min can be best described as mercurial: sometimes he feeds like crazy, sometimes carries afreeca, sometimes he plays second support to Sangyoon, etc. Mickey and Sangyoon are instrumental to afreeca's success, as the team usually falls apart if the two carries fall behind early.
A surprising success to some, Samsung overcame controversial roster swaps to secure the fourth seed in the LCK playoffs. This squad is surprisingly similar to their Round 1 opponents in the afreeca Freecs, in that Samsung often live or die by their ADC, Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk. Ruler consistently puts in great performances for the team, without receiving anywhere near the attention that Sangyoon gets. To get ahead, Samsung rely on the tandem of support Kwon "Wraith" Ji-min and jungler Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong, who roam heavily throughout the early game. Through early game roams and skirmishes, Samsung gets mid laner Lee "Crown" Min-ho ahead of his lane opponent, which helps immensely, since Crown often struggles in the laning phase. As a point of interest, Samsung has recently benched top laner Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin, who was plagued by poor rotational play, in favor of Kwon "Helper" Yeong-jae, who displayed good teamfighting skills in his debut outing against MVP.
The Result
A battle of two predominantly early game teams, this ultimately came down to strategic execution. afreeca is limited in terms of gameplan, as most of their wins have come from getting Sangyoon ahead and praying, making their win conditions extremely one dimensional. This was not the case as Sangyoon struggled in both games to find any sort of advantage on Jhin, putting his team at a disadvantage. Samsung's duo lane put up an impressive performance to knock the star-player off his feet. Without their main threat, afreeca had an extremely difficult time in both games of the series. Mickey was afreeca's last hope, but unfortunately for the team, he also failed to perform. With both the stars failing to create any sort of impact in the game, afreeca was quickly swept 2-0 by Samsung.
Round 2
KT Rolster (13-5) vs. Samsung
One of the perennial powerhouses of the LCK, KT Rolster has proven able to adapt throughout various patches while remaining near the top of the table. KT prefer to play to the mid and late game, allowing top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho to farm up to the point where he becomes an indomitable frontline presence. To get to this later point in the game without falling too far behind, versatile jungler Go "Score" Dong-bin often applies heavy pressure across the map in the early game, allowing mid laner Song "Fly" Young-jun and ADC No "Arrow" Dong-hyeon to scale into the later stages of the game. Once the mid game arrives, support Ha "Hachani" Seung-chan plays incredibly well on a menagerie of champions, enabling the rest of KT to dominate mid game teamfights to take control of the game. While a lack of early game priority sometimes sets KT behind, they are good at recovering from early mistakes, as well as out-rotating opposing teams.
The Matchup
Styles will clash in Round 2, but KT Rolster is a safe bet to claim the Round 2 win and advance to face SKT as KT holds a 2-0 regular season record against projected opponent Samsung. While Hachani and Arrow have had some difficulty in the early game if pressure is applied, the duo manage to remain relevant in the mid game, which is where KT shines. KT's macro play and teamfighting exceed that of their opponent, while KT's laners are close to both of their prospective counterparts, negating any advantages Samsung would hope to achieve despite their impressive 2-0 victory over afreeca in Round 1. In addition, KT Rolster is good at preventing opposing teams from snowballing, able to swing the gold lead and momentum into their favor, which Samsung or afreeca would have a hard time dealing with.
Verdict: 3-1, KT Rolster
Round 3
SK Telecom T1 (13-5) vs. projected opponent KT Rolster
It's difficult to look at SKT and say this roster won't make it to the final round of playoffs, despite poor recent showings. This split has shown that SKT are still among the best teams in the world, despite dropping series to teams lower on the table. SKT boasts perfect records against every team in the playoff bracket except afreeca who have since been eliminated, due in large part to the play of superstar mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. Faker's ability to take over games is well documented, but it cannot be understated how much pressure Faker takes off of top laner Lee "Duke" Ho-seong and ADC Bae "Bang" Jun-sik. These two are given equal responsibility to carry as Faker, with jungler Bae "Bengi" Seong-ung and support Lee "Wolf" Jae-wan supporting their efforts. SKT's playstyle is fast, aggressive, and dominating; SKT takes control of the map through side wave management, with every move yielding huge results for the team. SKT can play almost any team composition, can find success with strange off-meta picks that Faker is fond of, and is eager to return to the world stage in an effort to become three-time champions. There can be no doubt that this is a world class team.
The Matchup
Let's pretend for a second that Faker and company aren't the former World Champions, and look at how they stack up against projected winner KT Rolster. KT's mid-to-late game oriented play, while effective against teams who aren't able to secure and snowball early leads, might not work against SKT. SKT's map-dominant play style can spell disaster for KT, who needs time to scale into their comfort zone. Now, bring SKT's world championship title, the prestige, the intimidation, and every ounce of hype that the League of Legend community can muster, back into the equation. KT Rolster might take a game off of SKT, but it's very unlikely that SKT drops this series.
Verdict: A conservative 3-1, SK Telecom
The Finals
ROX Tigers (15-3) vs. projected opponent SK Telecom T1
The Tigers are an enigmatic bunch, shifting from sponsor to sponsor while remaining near the top of the Korean scene for the better part of a year. From the former laughing stock of the league to recently crowned two-time MVP, top laner Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho is without a doubt the best top laner in the LCK, perhaps even the world. Jungler Yoon "Peanut" Wang-ho turns in performances ranging from decent to other-worldy, denying the enemy jungler every buff that spawns on either side of the jungle, depending on whether Peanut gets one of his signature carry junglers or not. ADC Kim "PraY" Jong-in is one of the best AD's in the entire world, able to dominate regardless of the state of the ADC meta, and support Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyeon ensures that the superstar ensemble is able to fire on all cylinders. Lastly, mid laner Lee "KurO" Seo-haeng has a deep champion pool and is quick to adapt and try new things, which suits ROX's playstyle. The Tigers have some of the best teamfighting in the entire world, which allows ROX's amazing laning phase to snowball in wildly entertaining fashion. While the Tigers aren't the best objective or rotation-based team in the LCK, they are no doubt the most talented, deserving of the number one seed in the playoffs.
The Matchup
In fighting games, there is a theory that breaks down a player into three attributes: body, mind, and heart, each possessing a rock-paper-scissor type of relationship with one another. Applying this theory to League of Legends, body, or mechanics, is beaten by mind, knowledge and decision making, which is in turn beaten by heart, or teamplay, which can be ruined by great mechanics, returning to body. ROX Tigers are mostly dependent on body, outplaying their opponents for most of their wins, but have shown a lack of consistency in their decision making. SKT, meanwhile, boast the strongest minds in the LCK, in addition to fantastic mechanics and teamwork. ROX is entertaining and flashy, but, as SKT has proven throughout this split, ROX is unable to keep up with SKT's blistering pace, especially when SKT are firing on all cylinders. Therefore, it's hard to imagine a world in which SKT don't return to Worlds as the No. 1 seed from Korea. If any team can take any given game off of SKT, ROX is the team to do it, but lightning won't strike three times in the LCK Summer Split Finals.
Verdict: 3-1, SK Telecom
