The LCK so Far
League of Legends: The LCK Summer Split kicked off a few short weeks ago, and already there are some big stories coming from the game’s most competitive league.
Predictably, the aftermath of the patch 8.11 changes have found their way into the professional League of Legends metagame, but Korea seems to be embracing the chaos with a little more fervor than other regions.
Champions like Yasuo, Vladimir, Syndra, Mordekaiser, Gangplank and Lulu have all gone bot lane as a carry in the LCK so far this split, joined by a handful of the usual bot lane suspects such as Kai’sa, Xayah, and Ezreal.
Additionally, jungle and mid lane funnel strategies have also taken hold, with teams attempting to get one lane several extra levels and gold worth of farm over the opposing team. And to cap it all off, Aatrox is the most hotly contested top lane pick in the game.
Perhaps the most alarming effects these changes have had has been on personnel, with players either being forced to learn new strategies within their role entirely, or outright switch lanes. Perhaps the most famous Esports player of all time, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, spent the first games of his season playing a supportive Taric, funneling his minions to his jungler, Park “Blossom” Beom-chan, who was playing Master Yi.
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This came to a head last week when, over the weekend, SKT benched their superstar mid-laner in favor of former Team Impulse mid Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik. The experiment didn’t last long, however, as Faker returned to the line-up on Sunday to help SKT acquire its first win of the Summer Split.
Outside of crazy personnel changes, the newly emerging metagame has had a pretty big impact on the league itself. Griffin holds the top spot of the league currently, sitting 6-0 at the time of this writing, beating Kingzone Dragon-X and proving that they have a firm grasp of this meta and can challenge any team in Korea. Likewise, Gen.G, formerly KSV Esports, hold the second place spot currently. Meanwhile, SKT, KT Rolster, and Jin-Air Greenwings are struggling near the bottom of the table, combining for a total of 5 wins among them.
The bot lane diversity and funnel strats show no signs of slowing down, either. Riot’s patch 8.13 notes show that they’re at least content with how things seem to be going, with only a few minor buffs to a couple ADCs and nothing regarding funneling from the jungle or mid lane. It will be interesting seeing how the long-time stalwarts of Korean Esports continue to adapt and attempt to improve over the relative new-comers who currently sit atop the standings, especially if Riot continues to allow the metagame to progress in its current direction.