Sometimes dynasties collapse with a thud. SK Telecom T1 will not even finish among the top three teams in Korea after KT Rolster beat them in the second round of the playoffs early Wednesday morning. KT Rolster will now go on to face the Afreeca Freecs in the LCK Semifinals, with the winner going on to face Kingzone DragonX in the Grand Final.
KT was the betting favorite coming into this match by virtue of winning the regular season series and performing much better in the regular season too. KT was -210 when BetDSI opened the line, but money came in on SKT throughout the week to make them around +150 once the match got underway.
The Series
Game 1 was all SKT. KT drafted an early game composition that fell apart after SKT won a team fight and turned that into a Baron. That play totally swung the momentum after KT had controlled the early game, and SKT never looked back afterwards.
However, KT Rolster showed that they truly were the better side over the next three games. Newcomer Rush was subbed out in favor of the veteran Score and KT saw its fortunes change thanks to his warding and clever pathing. He dominated Blank in the jungle, rendering him ineffective over the course of the next three games.
It wasn’t just Score that came up big for the side of KT Rolster either. After showing poor form in his first game, Smeb showed why he is one of the best top laners in the world and outdueled Thal in the next three games. As I wrote in my preview, this was one of the keys to the game as Thal needed to at least hold his own for SKT to have a chance with so many other issues on the roster. SKT tried to prioritize power champions for him, but it just wasn’t enough.
Ucal’s play against Faker in the mid lane was a large part of why KT emerged victorious too. He had to try to hold his own against Faker and did so pretty convincingly. He was great on both Taliyah and Swain, helping him go even or win the lane against Faker.
Next Up
After the win, KT will take on Afreeca Freecs in the semifinal. Afreeca Freecs should be a slight to moderate favorite per the oddsmakers, but these two teams were relatively even in the regular season.
