This week didn’t feature many surprising upsets or anything of the sort, but did see the return of SKT after their short break post MSI. Other teams have been lacking considering that this is a new meta and they’ve had more time to practice than the reigning champions. Still, it’s time to check out what we can take away from this week’s LCK matches.

Many teams disappoint

KT Rolster's ssumday  

Although it's a harsh thing to say and many will argue that ESC Ever’s debut has been impressive, we have to remember that it was against a non coordinated CJ Entus. Barring SKT, the rest of the league had plenty of time to analyze the latest patch and it still feels like teams are incapable of finding the right mix. Sometimes it's little issues like not letting a turret kill enough minions to bounce back waves in a laneswap or a bigger issue in underwarding the right areas on the map.

That's not to say there haven't been sparks of brilliance however, far from it. There have definitely been creative ways to play such as ESC Ever’s speed composition with Sivir/Karma or KT Rolster’s “undying” comp with Zilean, Kindred, Ekko and Taric. Variety is beginning to show from teamcomps but inability to close out games cleanly still haunts the league. A lot of this can be attributed to teams playing a bit too heavily around the dragons which would make sense if there were guaranteed Infernal/Mountain drake spawns but isn't the case. Still, the meta is young and the laneswaps are interesting to look at, especially when you realise just how punishing well timed lane assignments can be.

The King's return

After a very tiresome run at the top from winning LCK spring and later winning the MSI tournament, SKT comes into the LCK being the team with least practice on these last set of patches. A lot changed between the MSI patch and the current one so it's interesting to see how the current LCK champions would fair. Fortunately for them, their first opponent was CJ Entus.

Despite really well thought out compositions being formed on the side Of CJ, they simply don't have the cohesion and unity necessary to make them work. SKT simply walked over CJ as if they were irrelevant… which they were to be brutally honest. Similarly, KT Rolster suffered a similar fate at the hands of SKT. It almost seems like the patches meant nothing, SKT is the meta.

MVP officially became the heartbreak team

It's always hard for a team with 3 rookie players to find their style and improve on their teamwork. Yet MVP have started to show great things from their communication. Their progress is admirable and they've shown they belong in the LCK… albeit they need some fine tuning.

If losing a game where you took all 3 of the enemy team’s inhibitors and got the nexus down to one caitlyn auto from death, then hold on we got another painful moment to add to the collection.

After forcing samsung off the area, MVP moved towards baron to retrieve the buff and use it to grind out a win for themselves. They were ahead in gold, kills and basically needed to play the basics of LoL and kill remaining turrets. As the baron was getting lower, Ambition from the samsung side casually walked in on Elise and rappelled into the air. All MVP needed to do was get off the baron, let ambition drop, kill him and finish the baron and proceed to end the game. Instead, a miscommunication from MVP ends with Ambition dropping from rappel, smiting baron and simply flashing away to safety, turning the tides of that game right on it’s head. The steal eventually lead Samsung to recover some lost ground in towers and eventually win the game.

Samsung Crowns their roster.

Here we are a week after talking about ambition to talking about Samsung’s true carries and the main reason as to why this squad has shown signs of promise, Crown and Ruler. Both of these players have shown signs of promise and can make Samsung a serious playoff contender if they continue this trend.

Crown has been proving his prowess for the most of spring split as well. He’s demonstrated he doesn’t shy away from playing anything that his team needs him to. From Viktor to Varus to Lissandra to Ryze to even assassins like Leblanc and Fizz. Crown is morphing into a reliable carry and it will be exciting to see if samsung decides to put most of their eggs into the crown basket.

Ruler is showing signs of promise. Already with just 6 games and 6 game wins, Ruler has demonstrated that he’s got great map awareness and follows up plays without seeming to need to be told to. This is a rare trait to have for such a novice player in the main league of a region. His awareness and self control also frees up Wraith to roam around with Ambition to aid the former CJ player to jungle as aggressively as he desires (which is all the aggression all the time forever). Pairing a self sufficient AD carry with one of the better supports in the league in Wraith was an excellent idea for Samsung Galaxy.

Side note: ssumday played Yasuo top… It didn’t work and got absolutely slaughtered for it by Duke’s Swain… moral of the story is simply: DON’T PLAY YASUO TOP.

If you enjoyed this feature, follow the author of the piece on Twitter at @HeckMaister.

Images courtesy of Riot's lolesports youtube channel. Videos used from loleventvods youtube channel.