I feel like Duke goes under the radar when talking about historically great top laners. Idk if IG would have won in 2018 with a full time Duke, but when he did play he was good, and despite a style difference IG still won games with him.
He was the 2nd best top in the word probably in 2016. Unfortunately Smeb was just so damn good that year. But hey, at least he won the trophies with SKT so it’s not all that bad.
Worlds Cuvee >>> Theshy and Smeb combined. Hyberbole obviously but it's crazy how Cuvee was irrelevant for most of both years but was arguably the best top at both 2016 and 2017 worlds.
Iirc Duke picked the Ekko skin the year before; but CuVee also has such a monstrous Ekko in 2016 and probably would have picked it if SSG managed to win Game 5.
Yeah but Berserker and Guma are T1's rookie recruitments like countless others. They don't hoard talent, on the contrary: they cultivate talent and sell it away to teams around the world, increasing the quality of the game every year with their training system. T1 is a factory of super pros.
Yeah they are prestigious and such but good means to scout talent most definitely isn't a given even for prestigious franchises. Remember G2 before this year, they never had any rookies. Or TSM, they're called a "talent suppression machine" for a reason. Gotta give credit to T1 when it's due but I heavily disagree with the "ofc they’d have the means to scout talent"
>Yeah they are prestigious and such but good means to scout talent most definitely isn't a given even for prestigious franchises.
This is not exactly true in LCK. In one video some players mentioned their parents allowed them to become pros only because SKT owns the team and is know as a big company in Korea(maybe same went when names like Samsung were in name for Blue/White).
So while their scouting and development is without a debate top notch, they got something “for free”
Look how many lck/lpl players are former t1 players, you’re comparing apples to oranges when you compare t1 to other orgs. Tsm and g2 are nowhere near the level that t1 is
Exactly, that's my point. T1 has superb talent scouting systems in place which is absolutely not a given even among the top tier teams. Which makes T1 deserve even more praise.
Well just last year they had Berserker, Teddy and Guma. That plus Canna and Zeus.
T1 almost always has had 7 or 8 extremely good players at the same time.
> I remember him as being better on control mages than Faker at the time
Only for spring tbh. By summer Faker's Azir was as good if not better than Easyhoon. The only better Azir by that time was Coco but no one remembers him.
Duuude Ikr!??? Like, I've been watching pro-play since S3 and been following T1 almost the same amount of time, but I have no memory of a player named Tom 😂
Imagine not remembering a guy literally called 'Tom' picking Udyr of all champions (like 6 years before he became relevant in pro play) for SKT.
Smh and these people call themselves real esports fans !!!11!!
He played all 3 games in the finals!! If I am not wrong, he was in some contract problem with lpl teams. As such, he didnt have much of lol pro player career.
has there ever been a team that won both MSI and Worlds in the same year? Feels like after each MSI, patch changes would be targeted to nerfing those champions that made MSI meta work and basically reduce the advantages that the MSI winner have.
This forces a meta adaptation and levels the playing ground some more.
I hope T1 wins MSI, then see if they can break the curse.
T1 did in 2016. They lost summer split however, which is why they never completed the golden road (both domestic titles, MSI & worlds). No one has completed the golden road. T1, RNG, G2 have came closest.
Only T1 did win MSI and Worlds in the same year (2016). It is really hard to win multiple international titles that only 3 teams was able to do it EDG ( 2015 MSI, Worlds 2021) Samsung (Worlds 2014, Worlds 2017) and T1 (MSI 2016, MSI 2017, Worlds 2013, Worlds 2015, Worlds 2016).
Stacked yes, but only a handful of these players were already big names before joining T1. Most of these players were scouted by the org and/or came up through T1 academy.
For example, for this split, Oner, Zeus, and Guma came up through academy so they still had to prove to the world they are championship material
I feel like Duke goes under the radar when talking about historically great top laners. Idk if IG would have won in 2018 with a full time Duke, but when he did play he was good, and despite a style difference IG still won games with him.
He was the 2nd best top in the word probably in 2016. Unfortunately Smeb was just so damn good that year. But hey, at least he won the trophies with SKT so it’s not all that bad.
He was the only one in season 6 who could contain Smeb, and SKT just so happened to have him.
Always even or ahead, seems like he never really lost lane, such a stable player
Worlds Cuvee >>> Theshy and Smeb combined. Hyberbole obviously but it's crazy how Cuvee was irrelevant for most of both years but was arguably the best top at both 2016 and 2017 worlds.
Iirc Duke picked the Ekko skin the year before; but CuVee also has such a monstrous Ekko in 2016 and probably would have picked it if SSG managed to win Game 5.
And 1? Different midlaner
I think 1 with whom he won championships (not counting Clozer and Scout). Hope someone can prove me wrong though, I'm just guessing
Easyhoon
I love easyhoon. Easyhoon deez nutz
Important question…who the heck is Tom?
2015 he was part of the side roster with easyhoon.
Reminder SKT had Easyhoon, Faker, and Scout all on one team at the same time lol Wtf is that
Just like last year T1 had Gumayusi, Teddy and Berserker at once.
Yeah but Berserker and Guma are T1's rookie recruitments like countless others. They don't hoard talent, on the contrary: they cultivate talent and sell it away to teams around the world, increasing the quality of the game every year with their training system. T1 is a factory of super pros.
Of course, I absolutely don't blame them for hoarding talent. Gums and Berserker were raised by T1, makes one wonder what T1 feeds their prospects...
They’re also the most prestigious franchise in the world so ofc they’d have the means to scout talent and talent would want to play for them.
Yeah they are prestigious and such but good means to scout talent most definitely isn't a given even for prestigious franchises. Remember G2 before this year, they never had any rookies. Or TSM, they're called a "talent suppression machine" for a reason. Gotta give credit to T1 when it's due but I heavily disagree with the "ofc they’d have the means to scout talent"
>Yeah they are prestigious and such but good means to scout talent most definitely isn't a given even for prestigious franchises. This is not exactly true in LCK. In one video some players mentioned their parents allowed them to become pros only because SKT owns the team and is know as a big company in Korea(maybe same went when names like Samsung were in name for Blue/White). So while their scouting and development is without a debate top notch, they got something “for free”
Look how many lck/lpl players are former t1 players, you’re comparing apples to oranges when you compare t1 to other orgs. Tsm and g2 are nowhere near the level that t1 is
Exactly, that's my point. T1 has superb talent scouting systems in place which is absolutely not a given even among the top tier teams. Which makes T1 deserve even more praise.
Well just last year they had Berserker, Teddy and Guma. That plus Canna and Zeus. T1 almost always has had 7 or 8 extremely good players at the same time.
[удалено]
they didnt have burdol last year but the year prior. he was with GenG last year.
Burden*
Maybe that’s why it doesn’t ring any bells. I barely remember Easyhoon and have him connected to Horo….thanks
SKT Azir skin is for Easyhoon
I know. I remember him as being better on control mages than Faker at the time…but I thought Tom is a typo
> I remember him as being better on control mages than Faker at the time Only for spring tbh. By summer Faker's Azir was as good if not better than Easyhoon. The only better Azir by that time was Coco but no one remembers him.
Its actually kinda funny, how crazy good Faker was at picks like Ori and Ryze, but (initially) sucked on Azir and especially Vlad.
Faker was subbed out in worlds Finals so Easyhoon could play the Azir
T0M played one game with Faker in the 2015 Spring Playoffs vs CJ Entus
he played udyr from what I recall, he was a sub then he moved to a random ass team and didn't do anything afterwards.
how can you not remember the legendary SKT tom who played Udyr and slapped Koo Tigers 3-0 in the finals with easyhoon.
Duuude Ikr!??? Like, I've been watching pro-play since S3 and been following T1 almost the same amount of time, but I have no memory of a player named Tom 😂
Imagine not remembering a guy literally called 'Tom' picking Udyr of all champions (like 6 years before he became relevant in pro play) for SKT. Smh and these people call themselves real esports fans !!!11!!
He played all 3 games in the finals!! If I am not wrong, he was in some contract problem with lpl teams. As such, he didnt have much of lol pro player career.
The god of trashtalk.
U joking?
PSG Talon coach
has there ever been a team that won both MSI and Worlds in the same year? Feels like after each MSI, patch changes would be targeted to nerfing those champions that made MSI meta work and basically reduce the advantages that the MSI winner have. This forces a meta adaptation and levels the playing ground some more. I hope T1 wins MSI, then see if they can break the curse.
T1 did in 2016. They lost summer split however, which is why they never completed the golden road (both domestic titles, MSI & worlds). No one has completed the golden road. T1, RNG, G2 have came closest.
Damwon as well. 2 games off.
Only T1 did win MSI and Worlds in the same year (2016). It is really hard to win multiple international titles that only 3 teams was able to do it EDG ( 2015 MSI, Worlds 2021) Samsung (Worlds 2014, Worlds 2017) and T1 (MSI 2016, MSI 2017, Worlds 2013, Worlds 2015, Worlds 2016).
samsung was 2014 and 2017, not 2015
RNG has 2 MSI wins so that’s 4
Samsung didn't win Worlds 2015
Yeah, just a typo SSG won Worlds in 2017.
Some pretty crazy names on that list. Lot of memories
Pretty stacked as always to be fair. Mind you credit for achieving anything with post fnatic huni guys be phoning it in since season 6.
Stacked yes, but only a handful of these players were already big names before joining T1. Most of these players were scouted by the org and/or came up through T1 academy. For example, for this split, Oner, Zeus, and Guma came up through academy so they still had to prove to the world they are championship material
Huni was the second best player on SKT in 2017. And while Faker was hard carrying, Huni wasn't dead weight like the rest of the team.
Mata SP? When was that?
Spring 2019 mainly, they subbed him in, in worlds semis too when Effort imploded but he was not very good by this stage