Get Faker: Blueprinting A Dynasty's Demise

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

It didn't take very long for SK Telecom T1 K to get rolling: the current League of Legends World Championship team was still in its rookie year when they took the crown, and were already among the strongest in their debut. They'd come out of nowhere in late February -- a team comprised of three rookies and two barely considered veterans, debuting to a breathtaking start against the likes of Korea's powerhouse teams. Yet despite this seeming disadvantage, they secured a third-place semifinal finish in their very first attempt, just barely missing out on achieving a legendary "Royal Road," wherein a rookie team wins it all in their very first debut.

Their upset rookie debut victories over KT Rolster Bullets and CJ Entus Frost would put any team on the map, and subsequently in everybody's crosshairs, but SKT T1 K was undeterred by the pressure. Their next attempt at the Champions title concluded in a breathtaking best-of-five series often cited as the best League of Legends series in all of 2013 and the single best play, as Faker executed Ryu in a mirror match for ninja supremacy. And even that was just the springboard towards a nearly unchallenged global conquest as the number one rookie team of the world secured the Season 3 World Championship.

True: a shaky performance at the World Cyber Games Korea qualifiers blemished an otherwise perfect streak of gold medals since summer, but it was hard to believe that the team took any event so soon after the world championship seriously. Any doubt was blown away when the team not only secured a back-to-back Champions title, but did so without dropping a single game throughout the winter season.

For the last two of League of Legend's competitive seasons, a team's peaked at the very top, then drifted down into irrelevancy, satisfied with having made history. The Fnatic of Season One is no more; the Taipei Assassins are unrecognizable but for Bebe still carrying games from bot lane. But with SKT T1 K, there is talk of dynasty.

Of course, the important thing about dynasties is the foundation they're built upon. Invariably, the concrete at its base is a calcified admixture of the crushed hopes and aspirations of everybody they've trod upon on their way to the top. There might be admiration and respect for all that SKT T1 K have accomplished, but that's not all there is to it. Envy lurks beneath them, as does resentment and jealousy. The question isn't if anybody can take them down -- their performance hiccup at the World Cyber Games Korean Qualifiers showed that even they can bleed -- but who, how, and when?

BIND THE HANDS

From a player's perspective, what exactly is SKT K doing that makes them seemingly untouchable at the moment?

Fnatic mid laner Enrique "xPeke" Martinez (jokingly):

Get some baseball bats, and hit hard in the head or hands.

Dignitas mid laner William "Scarra" Li:

SKT has some of the best players in the world at every single position. Their team synergy is incredible to watch, and most of their players have the rare quality of having both high mechanical skill as well as strong game sense. To beat them, other teams will have to raise their skill levels tremendously and really make use of all the outside resources possible to do so.

SKT K notably has an extensive and flexible champion roster on each player, with Faker especially known for thriving despite often having all three bans targeted at him. But when asked if flexibility was the key to SKT K's strength, Scarra was quick to rebuff.

Since they are such talented players, they are able to bring out most of the power of any champions they focus on within a short amount of games. But even then, most of their players have certain champions they are known for because they perform out of their minds on those champions.

What do you think needs to be done for a team to defeat SKT K?

Said former Fnatic manager Sami "Rico" Harbi:

Basically, playing versus SKT is like playing against a team who has Kassadin: no mistakes are allowed. A combination of various aspects needs to be done against SKT K. 'Winning' the picks and bans to try and break their setup. Play safe lane compositions and heavily focus on objectives instead of fighting too much.

The Season 3 World Championship was the first time some of the top regional teams were allowed to showcase their play styles against each other. China's representatives, Royal Club and OMG, shocked the scene with a nearly unprecedented level of aggression -- Royal Club's support player Tabe, in particular, legitimized what is now the most common of duo lane supports: Annie, the Dark Child.

But though China's aggression was enough to burn through North American and European teams, the ultimate confrontation between Royal Club and SKT T1 K was an anticlimactic show of dominance by the current world champions. Against SKT K's objectives focus, Royal's fiery aggression was quenched in just three games.

BREAK THE HEART

Infrastructure is often cited as one of Korea's biggest advantages on the world stage, and SKT T1 K in particular. Not only do they have the backing of one of the biggest Korean telecommunications companies, but they can afford the aid of a definitively world-class support staff. Coach Kim "Kk0ma" Jung-gyun, in particular, is credited with much of the team's success, whether by recruiting three rookies to form a powerhouse team in the first place, or laying down the roadmap toward their strategic excellence.

According to Rico:

"As for coaching, valuable input helps a lot. And I believe that the amount of staff members behind each Korean team is definitely a key factor to the overall level of esports out there. It's hard to catch up in NA and EU simply because we don't have that many esports veterans to fill up those positions."

Scarra also believes that there's much room for improvement:

"Even for Korea, I feel like there's a lot of room to improve. Obviously there aren't the resources to do what professional sports does. Stuff like... analyzing hundreds of solo queue or pro games to see the tendencies of wards and map movements. But eventually, if it ever gets to that, I could see teams doing some insane stuff."

OnGameNet translator and DOTA team Zephyr manager William "Chobra" Cho, however, believes that SKT T1 K's success isn't simply a matter of resource access.

"I actually don't think it's Kk0ma anymore who makes SKT win. I think it's the kids and their attitudes. These guys see it as 'play well, we're alive; not so much, we're dead.'" AD carry Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin, in particular, was famously upset even while hoisting the Champions Winter cup, claiming that he didn't perform up to his own expectations.

SKT players have a Super Saiyan zone, so to speak. You hit a trigger, and they'll play off the charts. Even to potential they weren't aware of."

But that sustained level of discipline can potentially be a risk unto itself, claimed Rico.

"Even though I have the utmost respect for Korean esports, having spent a year there, I think they are overdoing it in terms of practice schedules. So often we see Korean pro gamers stepping back because of health issues."

SKT T1 K took a high-profile loss just recently as team captain and support player Lee "PoohManDu" Jeong-hyeon declared an indefinite leave of absence, due to ongoing health issues. In that, he joins former NaJin Shield jungler Kim "MOKUZA" Dae-woong (waylaid by a blood disease), and former Taipei Assassins mid laner Toyz (victim of carpal tunneling).

This may be the chink in the armor that their rivals have been looking for. Said Chobra:

"I actually think a polished [CJ Entus] Blaze or KT Bullets have a good shot. Sure, the rest of the four are still good, but ManDu played a huge role. A lot of calls rested on ManDu, and while he was one of the more emotional of the bunch, he was still captain for a reason."

The team's recently recruited Kwon "Casper" Ji-min, formerly IceBear of Jin Air Greenwings Stealths. Thus far, their new support's filled in nicely, showing a level of aggression and tactical skill more than sufficient to catch up with his new teammates – which is not at all good news for their rivals. KT Bullets, especially, seem shaky with new jungler Zero. For now, the K in SKT T1 K still stands for "kings."

Image credit: lolesports.com, inven.co.kr