SK Telecom T1 has done what most may not have predicted: gone 6-0 in a group stage that also included EDG. This writer had SKT as the 1-seed out of groups, but it looked like they would drop 1 game to EDG out of their 2-game series. That was not the case as SKT showed sheer dominance against each team in Group C. In today's matches, SKT beat EDG in 23 minutes, H2K in 29 minutes, and BKT in 26 minutes.
We're nearly through with the group stages, and at this point in time, can anyone give SKT a run for their money? We're looking at an SKT team that had question marks coming into the tournament, but from what we've seen they're nearly unbeatable. Most thought EDG could take them down or maybe LGD later on, but LGD struggles to get a win in their group and EDG can't even get a win against SKT. Who else could challenge them?
The bright spot for yours truly with this SKT team is the dominance of MaRin. MaRin has been absolutely unstoppable and arguably the MVP of the tournament so far. We never saw what MaRin could do in this new meta coming into worlds. We knew his Rumble was better than anyone else, his Maokai was a force, and he could play Shen to a high degree, but we never saw the new meta take place for him. It seems that now to stop SKT, you have to hope your top lane shuts down MaRin. The talk is always about Faker, the best player in this game, but now that the mid-lane isn't as dominant as it used to be, MaRin becomes an even larger presence that no other team in this tournament can compete with.
Everyone who's following this tournament needs to appreciate what SKT is doing. Not only do they have an advantage at nearly every position, their rotations and objective control is incredible to watch. Just when you think a team is gaining a lead on SKT, SKT gets ahead with objectives. It's been fun to watch and also great to see Monte and DoA both cast the games today together. Hopefully they do that more often going forward.
