KT Rolster vs. SK Telecom T1 League of Legends

With the start of the new season comes the return of the telecom war. For those that don’t know this rivalry is between the telecom companies of Korea Corporation (formerly known as Korea Telecom) and SK Telecom. This is a widespread rivalry over many eSports and many years, which is why in theory this should be a close match. Expect well planned strategies as well as a few surprise subs and picks from both sides.

KT Rolster’s secret pick is Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae who is their substitute jungler. Known for his mechanical excellence and aggressive early game Rush should cause problems for the opposing jungler. Currently Rush has not yet debuted on KT Rolster but I believe that this was done to hide strategies from SKT so that they cannot prepare as well as they could.

KT Rolster’s issues come from their poor communication which hasn’t seemed to improve from a year of playing together. Their scattered focus during team fights has lost them more than a few games and will be a significant factor in this match.

On the opposing side, SK Telecom T1 is the strongest team the LCK has to offer with more than 11 titles to their name. However after their loss at the 2017 World Championship final and struggles in their previous games this season has more than shown that the titans can fall.

SKT have always had strong communication and the best macro play which has saved them from defeat more than once. However their substitution from Kang “Blank” Sun-gu to Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan in the jungle position is their biggest problem. This is due to Wolf’s solo queue like performance which has cause a handful of early deaths which in some cases has lost the game.

In the end I expect SKT’s better communication to take the victory for this match however I think that KT Rolster may have a few surprises to take a game from SKT. Expect to see Rush subbed in for KT Rolster early on in Game 1 or 2 and if SKT tries to sub in Wolf in the jungler I suspect that it will happen in Game 3.

SKT to win 2-1 (So long as they don’t play Wolf in the jungle for all 3 games)

My odds for this match: KT Rolster 40:60 SK Telecom T1