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Three reasons why SKT will and won’t win the League of Legends World Championship

By s. samek

League of Legends. Photo courtesy of Riot Games.
League of Legends. Photo courtesy of Riot Games. /
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The favorites for some to win it all, here’s why SKT will bring the League of Legends World Championship back to Korea, and three reasons they won’t.

Once the proudest dynasty in the history of professional League of Legends, SKT is back and looking for revenge after missing Worlds for the first time in 2018. In keeping up the series we take a look at the first seed from Korea – SKT – and why they will (or will not) be winning another League of Legends World Championship.

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Three reasons SKT will win

1. Strong Roster

There’s little doubt that, at least on paper, SKT has one of the strongest rosters in the LCK and in the entire world. After a 2018 season that saw them miss out on Worlds, which followed a runner-up finish in 2017, changes were needed to get SKT back to the promised land.

The first was getting rid of underperforming top laner Park “Untara” Ui-jin and picking up Kim “Khan” Dong-ha from Kingzone DragonX. They then sent long-time jungler Kang “Blank” Sun-gu packing for Kim “Clid” Tae-min. ADC Bae” Bang” Jun-sik left for 100 Thieves in North America and was replaced with Park “Teddy” Jin-seong from Jin Air. To complete the roster, SKT lured in veteran Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong away from KT Rolster to boost the support role.

The roster moves worked well as They finished first in the LCK playoffs both Spring and Summer Splits. This roster is also highly rated on a lot of pre-worlds lists. All five SKT players are mentioned in LS’s top 20 list, which we previously discussed here. I do think this is a roster more than capable of winning it all, which should inspire confidence if you’re an SKT fan.

2. Strong seed from a strong region

As mentioned above SKT are the champions of Spring and Summer Splits in the 2019 LCK. In the spring, they finished with the second-best record during the season and dispatched Kingzone DragonX and Griffin in the minimum six games over two best of five series.

The Summer Split was a bit more interesting. After a slow start, SKT finished in the number four spot and had to climb the whole Gauntlet in playoffs to secure a spot at the World Championship.

Well, the climb wasn’t too hard as they beat Africa Freecs 2-1 in round one. In the second round, SKT swept Sandbox Gaming 3-0, and Damwon was dispatched 3-0 as well in the semifinals to set up a heavyweight bought with Griffin for the summer title.  Deja vu was the order of this series as SKT hoisted the trophy after a 3-1 series win, giving them the title and number one seed for Korea.

Not only is SKT the winningest team from Korea, they did it the hard way. SKT beat the second seed twice in playoffs and they swept the regular-season winner in spring without much challenge.

3. Protecting the legacy

SKT is not just the premier team Korea, but in the world. They have the most World Championships of any professional League of Legends organization at three. They also are the first team to ever defend a World Championship title, when they won their second-straight title in 2016.

Even in their dark times, SKT can have comfort in the fact that the last time they were at Worlds in 2017 they made the finals. This org has a lot to be proud of all they have accomplished. Despite all those accomplishments, I don’t feel like they are done yet.

Imagine what another World Championship would do for this team. Would there be any doubt they are the greatest team of all time?

The same thing with Faker, it would just help to cement the argument he is the greatest player of all time. With the legacy of both the team and their franchise player on the line, I think SKT is out to prove last year was a fluke and get back to the winner’s circle in 2019. It might be lofty expectations, but this roster is ready to bear them.

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