After four consecutive losses, former world champions SK Telecom T1 secured their first match win of the summer with a 2-0 victory against Jin Air Green Wings earlier today.
When Xayah and Rakan were released on April 19, 2017, the two champions quickly became a deadly duo in the bot lane. Now, one year later, SKT have moved the lover-rebel couple up Summoner’s Rift into the jungle and mid lane positions.
SKT tried their hand at an AD carry gold-funneling composition in game one, with Xayah as their ADC of choice. And SKT paired Xayah with jungler Kang “Blank” Sun-gu playing the mid lane Rakan, while Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok went to the bot lane as Taliyah.
Although this was a risky strategy due to the time needed for Xayah to scale, SKT’s composition wasn’t punished by Jin Air at all. Aside from one bot lane gank, Jin Air jungler Lee “KaKAO” Byung-kwon was virtually non-existent throughout the entire game. Instead, SKT initiated the first fight onto an ill-prepared Jin Air. SKT were free to scale their champions and easily controlled the pace of the game thanks to Jin Air’s inactivity.
Game two saw SKT revert back to a more conventional team composition, with Faker in the mid lane. Jin Air, on the other hand, subbed in jungler Eom “UmTi” Seong-hyeon.
UmTi’s presence helped Jin Air become more proactive on the map, due to the jungler’s proclivity to try to make plays around the map. But the problem with UmTi’s play came in his execution. SKT punished UmTi’s cavalier engages to create an initial lead. Although Jin Air extended the game past 40 minutes through picks, SKT eventually closed out the match with the help of both the Elder Drake and Baron.
Now with a win under their belt, SKT will prepare for their upcoming Telecom War against KT Rolster, which is set to take place on June 26.
