League Of Legends final preview – Can SKT pick up their third World Championship?
Tuesday 1 November 2016 16:34, UK
The annual League Of Legends competition comes to a close this weekend as SK Telecom T1 face Samsung Galaxy in the grand finals of the World Championship 2016.
League Of Legends World Grand Final will take place during the early hours of Sunday morning at a sold out Staples Centre in Los Angles. It will be decided over a best-of-five series and, with the quality of the two teams that are playing, it wouldn't be a surprise if all five games are played.
Ahead of this year's final, we take a look at the two teams and their key players…
SK Telecom T1
When it comes to League Of Legends, SK Telecom T1 is the most revered team in the circuit, and for good reason.
SK Telecom T1 have made it to their third grand final in four years and the reigning champions are the only team to have won the World Championship twice.
The big name player in SKT is Faker, who many consider to be the greatest League Of Legends player in the world. Now is his time to prove that.
Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok plays in mid lane, where he has made a name for himself. With this position he'll be able to score integral kills to boost his own strength, ultimately enabling him to assist his team-mates in other lanes. Faker consistently outplays his opposition, and that'll be expected of him in the grand final too.
SKT's jungler will be played by Bae "Bengi" Seong-ung, who has played alongside Faker during their two previous World Championship successes.
Bengi is coming off the bench to take part in the final, having sat out the semi-final victory over ROX Tigers. He's proved himself in the tournament already, and his long-running partnership with Faker will be a key to helping SKT gain a early advantage in each game.
In the bottom lane SKT is bringing in Bae "Bang" Jun-sik and his support Lee "Wolf" Jae-wan. The duo have been playing very well throughout the tournament, dominating as a combination of either Ezreal or Jhin and Karma or Zyra. Expect to see one or more of these 'champions' banned by Samsung Galaxy.
Lastly is the top laner Lee "Duke" Ho-Seong. He hasn't had the strongest tournament, and so will mostly be deployed as a supporting role enabling the likes of Faker and Bang to gather up the advantages.
Samsung Galaxy
SSG has worked hard to get to the World Championship final, and as far as LOL teams go it is one of the more recognisable names. SSG are the only team since 2012 to have broken SKT's stranglehold on the World title, having won it in 2014. With that experience, they certainly won't be daunted facing SKT.
They have however had a relatively unsuccessful 2016, having failed to podium this year in the South Korea league and this is also a very different line-up to the team that won in 2014.
The star of the squad is perhaps support player Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in, who has been brought in thanks to his exceptional Karma play over the course of the tournament. He's won all 10 of his games played, giving him the credentials - and perhaps confidence - to come up big in the Grand Final.
The mid-laner in SSG is Lee "Crown" Min-ho who has managed to make Viktor look like a simple champion to play, utilising the character's skills to great effect. Whether he can use this to effect against Faker will remain to be seen.
Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin is SSG's top lane player, and is really coming into his own, and might have an advantage over SKT's Duke.
ADC Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk is playing much more consistently too, and by pairing with CoreJJ there's every chance the pair could hold their own against the threat of Wolf and Bang on SKT.
Lastly the jungler is Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong who, as the shot-caller, will be the one to guide the team against the beast that is SK Telecom T1.
Prediction
While there's no such thing as a safe bet in League Of Legends, it'd be tough to side with Samsung Galaxy against two-time champions SK Telecom T1.
Ignoring SKT's history, there's no discounting the form they've been in recently. With Faker being the biggest threat, you can expect the battles in mid-lane to be the ones to watch.
It'll all come down to the picks and bans, and how many advantages a team can get at this stage.
Samsung Galaxy, however, is comparably a younger, more inexperienced team when compared to the line-up of SK Telecom. Also, SSG had a relatively unchallenging route to the final, whereas SKT had to face the likes of ROX Tigers on their way to the final two.
It'll be a close call, but ultimately you have to back experience, so expect SKT to become the first team to lift the League Of Legends World Champion during the early hours of Sunday morning.
