Many fans around the globe are asking why SKT lost this game and some are stating that it is SKT’s topside that they lose these games; in reality there is a lot more to it. This game shows that after the disastrous draft is locked in, SK Telecom begins to lose primarily due to Blank getting obliterated by Umti. Through that window along with Untara’s "disconnection" with the rest of his team, SKT execute very little and are swept under the rug in 28 minutes. Let’s get into it.

First thing's first: SKT Losing The Draft

Jin Air bans 3 champions SKT has seen much success with, removing their common initiators in the Gragas and Ashe, as well as the most played Champion by Faker, Taliyah. SKT takes out the Caitlyn, Zac and Galio, leaving Elise up for Jin Air to start off their picks. SKT respond with Reksai and Varus, two strong scaling picks that can do decently throughout the game, scaling well into late. Jin Air picks up Kalista-Thresh, two champions that synergize together very well for two things: strong long range initiation with consistent Hard CC, as well as an ability to survive a lane phase without going too far behind. They can easily dodge early 8-12 minute dives with the combination of Fate’s Call and Dark Passage.

SKT pick up Zyra for a strong lane to counter that of Jin Air, and to add an ability to have a pushing lane, setting themselves up to dive with the Reksai and other two picks. SKT now take the initiative and ban out Renekton and Camille, opening up a Rumble pick to give themselves a strong mid-game teamfight. Jin Air throw their bans at Faker, banning Orianna and Cassiopeia. Both are champions Faker has had much success on but their ban forces a Syndra, Kassadin, Corki, or Leblanc pick--all of which are champions he has seen limited success this season. Syndra is the most banned champion against SKT, so one might be able to assume that there is a higher probability they would pick that once the other more successful options are gone.

This is where Jin Air show their plan for game 1. They draft Lucian and Jayce, both strong laners that can easily push their lanes and remove the possibility of a Kassadin pick, whilst adding strong AD that would be lacking otherwise. This is where SKT decide to draft the Syndra, adding another lane with hard CC for Rek’sai to have an ability to gank.

Jin Air Abusing SK Telecom T1's Early Game

SKT prepare for an Elise gank on the bot-side, a common maneuver when the Elise starts on the red, throwing a ward in the river to spot any possibility of a gank bottom-side. Meanwhile, Blank on Rek’sai cleared most of his topside and instantly went for a gank after he hit lvl 3, but faltered on the execution and put himself in a massive hole. While Blank goes for a gank on the top lane, Faker on Syndra disrespects that Elise can come straight to mid without losing much time, and blows both summoners. This opens up Lucian to shove his lane, and Jin Air starts shoving bot as well.

Now that both lanes are pushed, Elise can go for a very early invade into SKT’s Blue side jungle, netting most of the wolf camp, the blue buff, and a ton of pressure against SKT. Blank tries to secure his blue but due to both SnowFlower on Thresh and Kuzan on Lucian using their ability to roam, Blank has to bail on his camp or die trying to get it.

Now at 4:10, Lucian shoves his lane and recalls, tying up Faker under tower after Faker gets back to lane and restricting Blank from getting any single camp back from Jin Air's own jungle, since both the Lucian and Elise can kill Blank's Rek'sai with ease. Blank now is going to be behind in level and gold for a significant amount of time, while Elise can go wherever she pleases. Jin Air decides to pressure mid right before Faker’s flash and ghost can come up, netting the kill and begin their snowball. 

Fast forward to 7:50 and Jin Air has both top and mid perma-shoving, with Jayce roaming between the River to add pressure to Faker’ Syndra, and to strangle any possibility of getting any more gold onto Faker. On the bot side of the map, Bang and Wolf decided to make a play with Rek’sai nearby, trading both of Wolf’s summoner spells for Teddy’s flash and ultimate, setting themselves up for a future dive with Rumble and Reksai. Teddy and Snowflower decide to stay, and SKT goes for the dive shortly after. SoHwan’s Jayce teleports down in response and SKT’s pressure play is now gone, losing Equalizer in the process.

Jin Air now plans their next play to snowball even further. With knowledge that Equalizer is down and both the Top and Bottom lanes are resetting, Jin Air moves their Thresh and Elise to assist the Jayce and dive top. With no Equalizer, the tower will surely fall, and Jin Air will wrench away any nearby camps from Blank in the process. They catch Blank, net the kill, the krug camp, top tower, and then the Rift Herald.

At this point the only weak part of the map is the Kalista-Thresh, but even with SKT attempting a dive, the Fate’s Call and Dark Passage combination would normally ward off the dive. In this case, Jin Air know that SKT must make a play on their bottom side or continue to lose the game, so they send everybody straight over, making for a 5 vs 4 with Jin Air in an advantageuos position since Untara is locked up in the top lane. Now with their 3k gold lead, Jin Air keeps pressure up with the Jayce and Lucian, with Elise always nearby to bolster their strength. SKT does manage to take Jayce down, but at the cost of their middle outer turret and a significant amount of damage to their top inner turret.

Jin Air play the rest of the game out with a focus on objectives, maintaining mid priority and clearing vision in SKT’s red side jungle, pushing turrets down while SKT picks up the Mountain Drake. SKT is very behind throughout this point in the match, being so weak that when they attempt to kill Umti’s overextended Elise, SKT loses Blank and gives up all the pressure they so desperately needed.

With their man advantage, Jin Air rotates Elise down to the bot lane, securing the Outer Turret and growing their lead to 5,000 at the 19 minute mark. With superior vision, Jin Air catch out Untara crossing through the jungle, netting yet another kill and take down another inner turret in the Mid lane as a result. SKT shove top lane to allow his team to get vision, and some pressure onto the baron. They get a Blue buff steal, but Jin Air clears most of SKT’s vision near Baron and start it, knowing that if SKT want to stop their Baron take, they would have to get through Kalista’s Rend and Elise’s Higher damage smite, as well as lose member’s to Jin Air’s insanely strong skirmish and lead. At this point the game is basically over, SKT have no way to get back into the game after the first few minutes.

SKT is continuing their slump even today, as they fall to Longzhu and continue onto their largest loss streak to date. Want more content like this on SKT? Get ready for Part two next week, with a video going into detail on the series!