Will picking Huni go to Worlds enough for SKT’s top lane?

It seems that SKT will not choose Untara in the world roster. Can they succeed with just Huni?

One of the biggest shocks to the LCK scene this past year was the return of top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon to Korea.

After plowing through the LCS tournaments in Europe and North America, Huni caught the attention of SKT coach Kim “Kkoma” Jung-gyun. Huni used to play for this team before leaving Korea, and it was a very good time to return. Recruiting had a clear result, as SKT continued to be successful in the LCK Spring Split and MSI, but started to decline in the Summer Split. SKT, which is known for always picking the right players and working with the perfect and professional staff, has found another very stable top laner named Park “Untara” Ui-jin.

Untara played all the way from the start of the summer to the series finale, when he was defeated by Longzhu’s Kim “Khan” Dong-ha. Huni made a brilliant comeback stage with a victory to save SKT from losing in game 3, before being taken care of by the enemy jungler and led to SKT’s defeat. At that time, there was a controversy: Who will be chosen to compete at Worlds?

According to our prediction, based on the information on the LoL Esports site, it seems that the team has decided to pick Huni as the starting player. Huni also hinted at it in an interview with Inven recently. If that’s the case, Huni will be the one to play, Untara will not be able to play, and SKT will bring in the second jungler as a substitute.

Is this the right decision?

SKT will have to be careful against which team?

When we analyze the question “Huni or Untara”, take the most recent match as SKT vs. LZ for analysis is the first thing to do. That series brought a lot of skepticism to SKT – but few teams can put as much pressure on top as Longzhu.

EDG’s Chen “Mouse” Yu-Hao has improved a lot over the past year and the team has also given him a lot of resources in the game. But for a team that emphasizes map-wide pressure like EDG, he’s not the main target. Ahq has also invested heavily in Chen “Ziv” Yi in the past, but ahq has never proven to be on par with SKT as a team.

Looking at the tournament as a whole, with Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho’s absence this season, there may not be a player who can weigh on Huni like Khan. In this situation, what can Huni bring to the team that Untara can’t?

Potential problem

First of all I have to agree that Huni is the better player. Although Huni’s performance with tanked champions was a bit lame, he can play a lot more champions than Untara, and has a lot of tele to teamfights that are very effective.

So why was Untara picked for such a long time despite with a lower probability? Because of this season, the team doesn’t seem to want, or even can, to invest in top lane much. Part of that is because both players are very susceptible to ganks, making top lane a scary place for SKT’s two junglers. But part of the reason also belongs to the bot lane as they can’t consistently win their lane, often putting their network in the laning phase when facing strong opponents.

Under those limitations, Untara has proven to be a safer and more stable card. When he is on the scoreboard, we still feel that SKT still has the potential to be somewhere else. And with his tanked items discounted, he could still be useful in teamfights.

By substituting for Untara, Coach Kkoma seems to be suggesting that SKT’s jungler will focus on bot lane. Longzhu revealed this tactic in the last series. Longzhu took the lead in bot lane, where SKT was usually leading at the time.

There will be more choices

Longzhu showed that SKT has a weakness that can’t be covered up by taking care of their bot lane duo anymore. At that time, Huni will give them more options. Strong teams always know how to swap targets all over the map. SKT rarely does this before, because they are used to not having to do it.

As proof of this, one can look at SKT at Worlds before they were able to lose the laning phase and take a few kills. But with impeccable strategic play, followed by deadly teleports by Lee “Duke” Ho-seong – who was once known for his reticence with his moves – led them to win. In other games, the team also played a 4-1 formation, taking advantage of Duke’s odd pushing power against Trundle or Gnar.

But those two generals are not choices that Huni often uses. Untara has been playing those two champions more throughout this season. But the idea of ​​placing a pressurized top laner in their teleports to their advantage, was the path that led them to three world championships.

The problem named Khan

So far we’ve seen the standout factor, which is Khan and Longzhu’s focus on top lane. Longzhu’s boldness had reached the point of risk, but in the end, they won.

Maybe that’s why Kkoma decided to pair Huni with two of the team’s junglers. In the past, we’ve seen Untara play with both junglers Han “Peanut” Wang-ho and Kang “Blank” Sun-gu, and Huni playing with Blank. But the couple Huni and Peanut never went to war together.

That combination will be the pinnacle of SKT. That’s their five best players on the map at once. It was the lineup that helped them win MSI. Why do we only see this lineup coming out on that occasion?

Over the course of the LCK season, Huni and Peanut have gradually proven to be both resource-intensive players on their part. They have a very aggressive playstyle, which can become very difficult to deal with if staying calm and waiting is the right thing to do. It will be hard to endure this instability during the 3-month period of the LCK season.

But Worlds only lasted a few weeks, and Kkoma wanted to bring out his best players. He believes his ability to lead the champions will make Huni and Peanut play with their heads held high and straight to glory. Against Longzhu, SKT was left behind early in the game and never caught up. Huni and Peanut will give the team a chance to hit back. The update to the Worlds will probably bring in early-game junglers like Nidalee or Lee Sin.

With the pick of Huni and Peanut, Blank being a solid backup behind, Kkoma is aiming for the diversity of SKT’s play. Only time will tell if this decision will bring optimism and help SKT stand up to the championship again.

Source: Dotesport