The Telecom war has always been a must-watch match fixture in the League Of Legends Korea (LCK) calender due to the rivalry between SKT and KT Rolster. At the beginning of the spring season, KT Rolster assembled a new super team with the intent to dethrone SKT, the reigning World Champion. Top laner Smeb, Mid laner Pawn, ADC (Attack Damage Carry) Deft, and support Mata joined the roster with old guard Score remaining as the jungler. On the other side, SKT let go of their top laner, Duke and their so-called “Right hand of God” Jungler, Bengi. Bringing in Huni as the new top laner while Peanut, a player with exciting prospects joined the team to replace Bengi. With their new roster, both teams battled it out twice in the regular season with SKT emerging as the victor on both occasions. They then met again in the grand final of LCK Spring 2017 where SKT stomped with a 3-0 scoreline, winning the Spring Championship.
Fast forwards, it is now the 2017 Summer season. Both teams met again in Week 5, with defeat after defeat handed to KT Rolster by SKT. How will KT Rolster handle this match series? Will SKT finally fall at the hands of KT Rolster? Let’s dive into this particular Telecom War to find out!
Game 1
KT Rolster Line-Up:
- Smeb – Top Renekton
- Score – Jungle Elise
- Pawn – Mid Corki
- Deft – ADC Kalista
- Mata – Support Thresh
SKT Line-Up:
- Huni – Top Kennen
- Peanut – Jungle Rek Sai
- Faker – Mid Karma
- Bang – ADC Ashes
- Wolf – Support Braum
Things got off to a bad start when Huni’s Kennen conceded first blood to Smeb’s Renekton after a great early gank by Score’s Elise. Huni fell even further behind when Smeb, Score and Pawn worked together to gank Huni, yet again in the process of destroying the first turret of the game. With the first turret destroyed, Smeb was left with plenty of room to roam and impact other lanes. With Smeb’s roams, KT Rolster also started gaining advantages and managed to secure a baron buff in the process. Using the baron buff, KT Rolster secured even more turrets and inhibitors. Huni was caught out by Smeb, who killed Huni with the assistance of Pawn. With Huni being dead, KT Rolster pushed on securing the victory in Game 1.
Game 2
KT Rolster Line-Up:
- Smeb – Top Renekton
- Score – Jungle Gragas
- Pawn – Mid Corki
- Deft – ADC Xayah
- Mata – Support Lulu
SKT Line-Up:
- Untara – Top Gnar
- Blank – Jungle Elise
- Faker- Mid Orianna
- Bang – ADC Ashes
- Wolf- Support Karma
With Huni tilting in the last game and Peanut being ineffective as a jungler, SKT’s coach, Kkoma decided to swap them out, replacing them with Untara who joined SKT in the Summer season and the current season’s undefeated jungler, Blank. However if SKT was hoping for an improvement, they were in for a great shock. Once again, they fell behind early in the game and in the process gifted KT Rolster some early kills. With the early advantages, KT Rolster managed to do some great rotations to destroy plenty of SKT’s turrets. They eventually went on to secure a baron and elder dragon buff mid game. Despite all these advantages, KT Rolster couldn’t find a way to close out the game. And at the 40 minute mark, they granted SKT a way back into the game. Smeb’s Renekton flashed in to engage on Faker’s Orianna. The rest of SKT focused their attention on trying to kill Smeb. In an attempt to split up SKT, Score’s Gragas unleashed his ulti which result in Untara’s Mega Gnar being knocked back into a good position to use his ulti on KT Rolster’s players. Following that, Faker’s Orianna unleashed her ulti to kill the KT players in a beautiful wombo combo to win the team fight. With the slight respite from the team fight victory, SKT successfully defended their base and moved towards the baron’s pit. At the baron’s pit, KT Rolster started the baron with Smeb teleporting into a different side of the map in an attempt to flank SKT. However, Untara managed to zone Smeb away from his team and from there SKT won the resulting team fight. Eventually marching on to win game 2 in a match that KT Rolster should have won with their advantages!
Game 3
KT Rolster Line-Up:
- Smeb – Top Rumble
- Score – Jungle Kha ‘ Zix
- Pawn – Mid Karma
- Deft – ADC Jhin
- Mata – Support Zyra
SKT Line-Up:
- Untara – Top Fiora
- Blank – Jungle Gragas
- Faker – Mid Corki
- Bang – ADC Ashes
- Wolf – Support Thresh
Once again, KT Rolster got off to an early start and secured some early turrets kill. With early control of the map, they were able to sneak in an early baron. However, just like the previous game, KT Rolster was unable to find a way to end the game despite their advantages. In particular, Deft was caught out by SKT a few times. With Untara’s Fiora being a menace at split-pushing, KT Rolster was forced to answer him thus giving SKT a chance to secure a baron of their own. With KT Rolster seemingly at a loss of what to do, SKT destroyed turret after turret and eventually engaged with KT Rolster in a team fight which SKT won. With that SKT closed out game 3, winning the series with a score of 2-1.
In my opinion, KT Rolster should have been able to win this Telecom War. However SKT showed why they are considered the world’s best team by coming back from what seemed like the impossible. Will KT Rolster get revenge? Perhaps in the next Telecom War!
