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H2k-Gaming: What SK should have been

Despite finishing second in the regular season, H2k-Gaming is considered a heavy favorite going into the playoffs in EU LCS. With such a dominant run of form this season and Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou-Napolean as the star of the team, this H2k team bears resemblance to one of FORG1VEN’s previous teams, SK Gaming. In the 2015 Spring Split, SK finished in first place with just one more win than the current H2k team. The make-up of the rosters and the roles the players fit into are also similar. However, that SK team fell flat in the playoffs and underperformed greatly. As the heavy favorites they would lose to a very inconsistent Unicorns of Love team in the semifinal and would also lose their third place matchup against H2k. After falling from first in the regular season to fourth after the playoffs, SK would fall apart and FORG1VEN would be removed from the lineup. Although their regular season finishes and the make-up of the teams seem similar, H2k looks much better than that old SK Gaming team and look to live up to expectations in the playoffs.

Statistics and Match Histories from oracleselixir.com and lol.esportspedia.com

Pictures from Riot ESports flickr

                                                                                    

The one player that connects the two teams is FORG1VEN. Over the past two years, he has been the best AD carry in the West and has been the star player of both the current H2k and the past SK team. While with SK last year, FORG1VEN was awarded the Spring MVP and has maintained that same form until now. There was a dip in his success after being sent to Gambit in the Summer of last year - he sacrificed some of his playstyle in order to try and make that team successful - but his individual performance and mechanical skill never dissipated. This Spring season, FORG1VEN finished first in creep score differential at ten minutes and kill/death ratio. He was second in gold differential at ten minutes and creeps slain per minute. He is well aware of his role as a carry and damage dealer and dominates in both lane and team fights. Although he was removed from SK last year, reports indicated that it was due to personal differences and in-team fighting. FORG1VEN’s play has never been a problem. In fact, his stellar play at the AD carry position was one of the few strengths SK displayed in the playoffs last year and his continued performance will be a large factor in H2k’s success in these playoffs.

The top laners for the old SK and the current H2k fit into similar roles in terms of team dynamic and structure. In 2014, Simon "fredy122" Payne was arguably Europe’s best top laner. As a stable top laner capable of impacting the game through teleport usage and zoning in team fights, fredy122 was a standout on the SK roster before the 2015 season. Going into season five, the expectations for him were quite high and he was expected to be a major contributor on SK as a potential secondary carry to FORG1VEN. Unfortunately for SK, his play would see a steady decline over the course of the season and he would be surpassed by the likes of rookies such as Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon and Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet. The meta change allowed for more hard carry potential to come from the top lane and players like Huni would thrive, but even a player like Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu, who filled a similar role on H2k, had surpassed fredy122. In the playoffs, fredy122’s play would get even worse and was a large reason for SK’s decline.

                                                                                     

After emerging in 2015, Odoamne grew immensely as a player and was one of the best top laners in Europe. That growth has continued through this year even with the major roster changes on H2k. Playing with three new players, including a new jungler, Odoamne has continued to be a rock in the top lane and has shown diversity in his play being able to play both carry champions as well as tanks. He is the player that fredy122 was expected to be on the old SK. He is able to take some of the carry load off of FORG1VEN, giving the team options. The old SK team was very one dimensional and suffered because of it over the course of the Spring.

In the past, Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen had built up quite the reputation as a jungler in Europe. Along with fredy122, Svenskeren was a star on the SK team that made Worlds in 2014. In fact, many believe his suspension during the group stage is what caused SK to miss the bracket stage. Svenskeren was known as a very aggressive and invasive jungler, constantly finding himself in the enemy team’s jungle and seeking to duel his opposition. His style found him less focused on vision control and ward placement but he was still very effective, even in 2015. In the regular season, SK used Svenskeren’s consistent counter-jungling as a means of vision and reconnaissance. As a human ward, he provided the team the information necessary to take advantages in lane and build gold leads. This style of jungling was very unorthodox but was effective up until the playoffs where he also failed to perform. Svenskeren’s invasive style with a lack of vision control was no longer working and did not gather the same sorts of leads that it had previously.

                                                                                       

Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski was known as the “First Blood King” with ROCCAT in 2014. With subpar laners and a lack of talent on his team, Jankos made ROCCAT competitive through his consistent and aggressive ganking. He would gain leads for his team through his ganks that would snowball into victories as he overachieved with a mediocre team. The addition of more talented players to the ROCCAT roster in 2015 generated more expectations, but the team was not able to deliver. Jankos’ hyper aggressive ganking was not as effective due to a lack of synergy with his new mid laner, Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm, and a lack of experience from his top laner, Remigiusz "Overpow" Pusch who had role-swapped from mid. The 2015 ROCCAT never came together the way everyone expected it to, and although Jankos would resign from ROCCAT at the end of the season, he would find himself on H2k at the start of 2016. With more talent at every position, his aggressive style has found success once again. He has reclaimed his title as “First Blood King,” ending the season at the top in terms of first blood participation among starting junglers. He was also first in kill participation and second in kill/death ratio at his position. His newfound synergy with his top and mid laners also freed Jankos up to invade, counter-jungle, and obtain vision for his team because he knows he has people who can follow up. When compared to Svenskeren, Jankos is similar in his forceful and proactive jungling, but is much better at vision control and ganking which is part of what was missing on the old SK when playoff time rolled around.

Hampus "Fox" Myhre was greatly overhyped during his rookie season in 2015. He was the secondary carry on SK with FORG1VEN as the primary. Many considered him to be a top tier mid laner in Europe during the regular season due to a few standout performances. However, he was exposed during the IEM Season IX World Championship and the Spring playoffs. With FORG1VEN being heavily targeted with bans and counter picks - sometimes drawing all three bans - Fox had his pick of the litter when it came to carry champions in the mid lane. He was mostly free to pick whatever he wanted in order to take some of the carry burden off of FORG1VEN. Unfortunately, when SK needed him to step up he was nowhere to be found. It seemed as though SK could only win if FORG1VEN could carry and with all teams knowing this was the case, it was nearly impossible.

                                                                                                       

Where Fox failed on SK, Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook has succeeded on H2k. Although Ryu is not the best mid laner in Europe, he is good enough to be effective when they need him. Despite having to leave the team for a few games during the regular season, he is experienced and intelligent enough to recognize when he is needed. Ryu does not dominate lane, but he doesn’t fall behind either. He doesn’t take huge risks and is fantastic at team fighting, giving H2k another damage threat for enemy teams to worry about. In the mid lane, Ryu had the highest kill/death ratio while taking the lowest share of his team’s gold. Ryu also had similar statistics during the playoffs in 2015. He knows what his role is on the team and is able to execute it effectively and efficiently, whereas Fox never could when it counted. Having played under pressure in multiple OGN seasons and performing well during last year's playoffs, Ryu should be counted on to deliver these playoffs.

While Christoph "nRated" Seitz was the brain of the old SK team, mechanically he was a major liability. He was a player known for his intelligence and strategy and was on some of the most successful European teams of all time. However, in 2015 on SK, his individual play was problematic. His champion pool was very limited, often playing Lulu out of meta just to be able to compliment the aggressive play of FORG1VEN. He was very successful on his Lulu, but once teams figured out how to ban against SK, his champion pool became an even bigger issue. Losing his best champion meant losing the ability to enable FORG1VEN, the only consistent carry on the team. Although his mind for the game was highly touted, his actual play in the game was a detriment to SK. Rumors even began to spread that FORG1VEN wanted nRated replaced, although FORG1VEN denied these accusations.

                                                                                                        

On ROCCAT in 2014 Oskar "VandeR" Bogdan, along with Jankos, was the main reason for the team finding success. His synergy with Jankos allowed the jungle-support duo to have a huge impact on the game and they were able to make plays and carry their teammates to victories. Together Jankos and VandeR worked to control the map and gain massive advantages in vision, or pick off members of the enemy team. Just like Jankos, VandeR lost some of his effectiveness with the new ROCCAT roster in 2015. But now on H2k, VandeR has regained his form and is one of the best supports in Europe. His synergy with Jankos has also been revitalized and they once again roam the map and make plays. Mechanically, VandeR is much more up to the task of keeping up with FORG1VEN than nRated ever was. He may not be the great mind that nRated was, but he is by no means unintelligent. Also, VandeR and Jankos have a synergy that never existed between nRated and Svenskeren. On H2k FORG1VEN now has a support who can keep up and empower him on multiple champions, while also being good in team fights and maintaining a good level of awareness and intelligence.               

All in all, this H2k-Gaming team is essentially an upgraded version of SK Gaming from the Spring of 2015. They have a better player at every position despite fulfilling similar roles. Even FORG1VEN has gotten better as he has expanded his champion pool and now plays champions like Sivir and Corki more effectively than he had in previous seasons. He has also finally picked up Kalista, a champion he had refused to play despite its strength in the current meta. H2k were able to finish in second place, just one game out of first, despite Ryu having to miss six games and FORG1VEN nearly having to cut his career short due to Greece’s mandatory military conscription. They have been one of the most consistent teams in EU LCS and have one of the most talented rosters as well. The expectations for SK in 2014 were quite high going into the playoffs, but they had begun showing weakness during the regular season. This H2k team does not suffer from the same faults and should have even higher expectations. H2k have a bye and already find themselves in the semifinals, making their path to the championship that much easier. It is because of all these factors that H2k are my pick to finish the season as EU LCS Spring Champions.

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