MSI 2017: A look at SK Telecom T1’s awesome macro play
At the MSI 2017, SKT1 had such an awesome macro play, it was truly a sight to see.
You may hear the casters, like Krepo, Quickshot, or Deficio, (love me some EU LCS) talk about SK Telecom T1’s amazing macro play at the MSI 2017. What is that? What makes them so dominant on the League of Legends professional level?
Macro play is understanding the aspects of the whole map and how they impact the objectives you’re trying to control. If you need something more thorough, Markz breaks it down in a short YouTube video about Cloud 9 v Flash Wolves.
All professional teams have a much better command of macro play than players on all levels of the Solo/Duo Queue because they play as a team regularly and have strong communication. If you have been watching MSI, you have seen SKT1 putting up some impressive tournament numbers. They seem to be above and beyond the skill of most professional league teams.
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When SKT1 played Flash Wolves, there was one play which blew me away. Early in the game, FW were playing very aggressive against SKT1. At seven minutes, they surprised SKT1 with a lane swap. FW’s jungler, support, and ADC went top lane and shoved Huni under tower.
Huni was playing Fiora in the top lane, and this early in the game, she doesn’t have the wave clear to fend off this kind of attack.
In reaction to this play, SKT1 knew they could push hard to try and take the bot lane turret, but certainly not before FW claimed First Turret Blood. This was exactly what happened.
Typically, in a turret swap, the team that takes the turret first can keep pushing to put pressure on their opponent. They took the turret first, they will get to the next turret first. Typically, the opposing team has to recall to stop the push, easing their pressure on other places of the map, because they would lose a base race otherwise.
Notice I said “typically”?
Unbelievably (or maybe not) this isn’t what happened with SKT1. FW kept pushing and Huni was doing his best to mitigate the damage to the second tier turret. He cleared minions and avoided as much damage as he could using Fiora’s counter. It slowed down progress by FW on the turret.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the map, SKT1 was pushing the second tier turret and the jungler had joined the fun! FW’s MMD over stepped when he used Nautilus’ hook to grab SKT1’s support. SKT1 instantly turned on him, killed Nautilus, and had an undefended turret.
In SKT1’s top lane, Faker had come up from mid lane and helped clear the wave at their tier 2 turret. Now FW had no defender at their second tier turret and no minion wave to pressure SKT1’s turret.
All of a sudden, it was Flash Wolves on the back foot. They had to retreat and deal with the threat of SKT1 at their inhibitor turret.
What did they do differently?
SKT1 defied conventional ideas that a three-man split push has to out push a two man push. They were able to communicate with each other and not over extend. When MMD’s Nautilus hooked Braum, that was a crucial error that caused FW to lose the advantage they had.
Huni’s Fiora was able to keep the damage on the second tier turret down by clearing minions and poking champs under tower. SKT1 had Kog Maw, who they know is also strong at taking towers, while FW’s Twitch didn’t share the same advantage.
Next: MSI 2017 prize pool hits over $1M
SKT1 is known for their precision and they punish every mistake by their opponent. To beat them, a team has to have strong execution and understanding of how to manipulate the larger elements of the game to their advantage.