(courtesy of OGN)
The first half of the Spring Split was one to forget for most SK Telecom T1 fans. Leading up to IEM Katowice the team had suffered back to back losses against what should have been inferior opponents, Longzhu Gaming and the Afreeca Freecs. Lee “Duke” Ho-Seong was struggling to assert his dominance in the Top Lane, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was repeatedly caught out overextending and being too aggressive and Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung provided little more than vision on the map. While their Bot Lane indeed looked solid, the other three often looked lost and there was very little synergy throughout the team.
The team’s struggles led many to believe that SKT would not succeed at IEM, with a number of analysts picking the LPL’s representatives to win the tournament. Yet as we know now SKT triumphed in a seemingly effortless manner and used that victory as a catalyst for improvement over the rest of the split. There are many reasons for their newfound success, but chief among them was the changing of the Jungle guard.
(courtesy of @sktelecom_t1)
Kang “Blank” Sun-gu’s introduction into the team was not just an injection of fresh blood, but a complete change in team chemistry. Just looking at stats alone shows a massive disparity between Blank and Bengi’s play over this split. Blank played almost exactly double the number of minutes as Bengi, yet amassed almost 5x as many kills while dying only 22 times more. Bengi had the lowest kill participation and KDA on the team while Blank placed second in each category. The numbers alone show the massive difference between each Jungler’s respective effectiveness.
However, stats never really tell the whole story. Bengi is who Bengi has always been, a supportive and vision-focused Jungler. With the vision changes in the offseason Bengi’s ability to control the game via ward control had been rendered obsolete. These changes, coupled with the fact that support and utility Junglers were no longer viable, caused him to struggle mightily. With Bengi unable to find his footing in season 6, it at first appeared that bringing Blank to IEM was a desperation move. The few games in which he played early in the split, Blank looked out of sync and ineffective. However, as he would prove over the split and especially in the playoffs, Blank’s introduction to the Jungle was the turning point in SKT’s season.
(courtesy of OGN)
One of the major reasons for Blank’s emergence is that he is much more adept in a meta that favors carry oriented aggressive Junglers. Blank’s early game pressure and aggression changed the whole team atmosphere, and for the first time Faker had a Jungler who matched his aggressive playstyle. With Blank invading the enemy Jungle and consistently applying pressure, Faker was infinitely more able to be the Faker we all know and love. Duke also had much more synergy with the new Jungler and increasingly grew in confidence as he learned to trust his Jungler’s abilities. Blank completely changed the complexion of this team.
(courtesy of @sktelecom_t1)
There were, of course, growing pains. Blank didn’t exactly come in lighting the world on fire, instead making steady progress as the split continued. This was never more evident than in their playoff series against KT Rolster and the Rox Tigers. Blank was able to go toe to toe with arguably the two best Junglers in Korea, and the matchup against Go “Score” Dong-bin was the best that Blank looked all split. Score is often the catalyst that makes KT go, but if he has no impact on the game KT often find it difficult to win. Blank made this a reality as he took Score completely out of the game, outplaying his adversary and contributing hugely to a clean sweep of KT.
When SKT was struggling nobody believed they would be the team to represent LCK at MSI. Yet after beating the Rox Tigers handily, they are the odds-on favorites to win the upcoming tournament. There are many reasons they are in this position, but Blank is surely the main one.
