GAME 1

SKT was starting to play like a team struggling against fading glory in the semi-finals. All Worlds tournament, Bang and Wolf have looked the weakest they have ever been. Their plays have often been sloppy and too passive, and Game 1 seemed to be a response to weaknesses SKT identified and wanted to actively fix. They did this by spotlighting their top and bot lanes and leaving Faker as the tank-initiator in the mid-lane. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

Too much of the draft worked against SKT and too much of their own draft didn’t deliver. While Huni was supposed to be a constant split-pushing threat on Gangplank, he was instead shut down immediately by constant ganks and pressure. Meanwhile, RNG’s LetMe utilized Shen to constantly save Twitch and assert pressure across all the lanes. Wolf looked especially bad on a surprise Blitzcrank pick that only theoretically would have given SKT the pressure they needed to turn around their slow-starting style. Unfortunately, it simply never happened. Wolf not only never hit any major grabs, he did almost nothing in the entire game to support his team, and it was a case not of outdrafting, like Misfits did, but of correctly counter-drafting.

GAME 2

Game 1 may have had many doubting SKT – especially with the completely off meta picks and styles – but Game 2 brought it home in typical SKT style, with gameplay that was smooth, coordinated, and nearly without flaw. By 15 minutes, SKT had two turrets, two dragons, and Rift Herald while RNG had nothing. This was the tempo that would dictate the entire game.

Though some of the drafts for both teams were interesting, it was mechanics that ruled the day. SKT’s Leona – a throwback to the loss they suffered against Misfits – helped secure first blood and a bottom lane lead that constantly translated into dragons. Meanwhile, RNG chose Nocturne as a nod to the GIGABYTE Marines, but this pick never came close to realizing its potential, especially considering that RNG drafted it after Faker had chosen Galio – which is something RNG would be wise not to allow again.

Faker spent the entire game clearing waves then roaming to top and bottom, securing objectives, and getting dragons. He was also a constant frontline initiator acting as a battering ram for SKT that constantly smashed through RNG.

GAME 3

Misfits were the first team in a long time to shake SKT, to outdraft and outplay them and throw their usual crisp performance completely off, but all RNG had to do was tilt Faker. It all started with a simple first blood from Xiaohu onto Faker. It was an impressive outplaying of the World champion that forced Faker to retreat heavily past his turrets and to expend his flash only to still be killed. After showing clear shock at the incident, Faker began aggressively looking to return the kills and recruited Blank to follow in his mad pursuit.

What followed was a constant mid-lane back and forth of trading kills while Faker seemed obsessed with the idea of reasserting his dominance mid-lane. But even as the kills started to go slowly in RNG’s favor, the biggest problem was the plays Faker committed to, especially after RNG collapsed their entire team mid to get another kill onto him. Faker’s ults were constantly sending him into losing situations, either to the bot lane where he would quickly die, or into SKT’s jungle when Bang had already lost his life.

SKT also tried to follow on the heels of their Game 2 victory by choosing Camille for Huni again. However, Huni never got anywhere near the split-pushing dominating force he did in Game 2, and he wasn’t nearly enough to get SKT the win in Game 3.

GAME 4

Despite the success that SKT has always had in putting all their chips to Faker, for the fourth game in a row, SKT put Faker onto Galio. Instead of pushing Faker onto an assassin or utility mid-laner, they double-downed on the strategy that had failed them so much in the past. They also went straight to the bot lane, the place SKT has been criticized so strongly all Worlds, and went for a Kog’Maw/Lulu bot lane, looking to let Wolf and Bang carry them to victory.

While Bang was obviously instrumental in SKT’s Game 4 win, the match ultimately came down to map control and coordination. It was Faker catching out an unprepared Mlxg and forcing his flash that prompted SKT to turn to Baron and secure it after getting four kills onto RNG. Though there were missteps, such as SKT giving up four of their own kills after a Jarvan/Rumble ult combo decimated them, SKT still held control of the map and the game.

While Game 3 saw Bang visibly shaken and taking the loss hard, the win for Game 4 seemed just as powerful. Going into a Game 5, and with the pressure of a fourth Worlds championship on their shoulders, SKT’s mental fortitude is perhaps the thing that will put them ahead of their next competitors.

GAME 5

One final series is all that stands between SKT and their fourth Worlds championship. Though RNG gave it their all, nerves were starting to show heavily on both sides. The crazy aggression that Faker had shown previously to try and get kills and push his team ahead all but vanished. While SKT did get kills – far more than RNG, who had only a single kill to their name when the game ended – they went about this final game with practiced precision.

While other teams have drafted Caitlyn for what is arguably an attempt at early game dominance, SKT drafted her for what seemed a very different reason. Bang played cautiously the entire game, slowly farming and bidding his time, and it wasn’t until SKT slowly out rotated RNG to secure Baron that the Caitlyn choice showed through as far superior to Uzi’s Tristana. The trap line on every RNG turret was a nearly impenetrable wall of death, for if even one member stepped forward onto a trap, it was an almost guarantee that Faker would follow with a taunt.

But that isn’t also to say that the rest of SKT didn’t step up. Peanut was subbed in for Blank after Game 3 and it was with his masterful Jarvan performance – and catch onto Mlxg – that SKT pushed forward. Huni was also the domino that started the landslide victory after securing Elder Dragon and flashing over the wall for a two person Gnar ult. And this is SKT’s true strength. Though they will always have Faker, it is their ability to work as a team and for every single member to step up that sets them apart. Whoever they face next week should be studying this game closely and realizing that their mentality is the thing they must train the most in order to beat SKT.