Last minute team entries, an early start to the tournament and new starting line-ups did not hamper compelling competition at the IEM Gyeonggi event in South Korea as Samsung Galaxy secured the championship over Kongdoo Monster.
With most of the teams featuring new line-ups, Samsung Galaxy showed the value of familiarity, with CuVee, Ambition, Crown, Ruler and CoreJJ exhibiting an understanding of their relative roles within the team to clinch the title.
CuVee provides a steadying presence
Starting in the top lane, CuVee was the ever-steady force Samsung could rely on consistently to provide a tank line to work around. Primarily playing Poppy and Maokai, CuVee did not particularly stand out and yet was the most consistent contributor for the team. With playmakers Ambition and Crown in other roles, CuVee understands his role within the team perfectly; play a front line champion that can create space for the rest of the team to operate. While CuVee won’t show up on many MVP lists, his impact and ability to provide the support his team needs means he deserves more recognition than he has been given.
Samsung with Ambition
Ambition had an incredible IEM Gyeonggi, putting in a series of quality games from the Jungle on a variety of champions. While performing well on Lee Sin and Rek’sai all tournament long, the stand out clash for Ambition has to be the second game of the Finals against Kongdoo Monsters in which he pulled out a surprise Kha’zix pick. To put that selection into perspective, the last time Ambition played Kha’zix in a competitive game was back when he played mid lane years ago. Ambition absolutely dominated his opposing Jungler Punch, securing first blood and finishing the game with an impressive 5-3-12 scoreline. While Ambition had his stand out performances, it’s also important to note his consistency throughout the tournament was something Samsung could rely on, putting him in a very similar vein to CuVee.
Crown’s MVP performance
Mid laner Crown has been seen as the best player at Samsung for a while now, and he did nothing to disprove this during the team’s run to the championship. Crown has everything you look for in a player today; a strong champion pool (coupled with playing newer fringe picks), mechanical prowess to dominate both the laning phase and team fights, and the attribute it seems every member of Samsung has; consistency.
Dealing with Crown is an incredibly difficult task for an opposing team, who understand that he must be held in check at all times even in the pick and ban phase. While not one of the best two or three champions in the mid lane right now, some teams feel forced to ban Viktor against Crown simply because of his mastery of the champion. This gives his teammates better choices in their roles and thusly helps them as a whole. It’s difficult to overstate the value Crown has on this team, with many giving him the MVP of the whole tournament and deservedly so.
Bot duo impressive once more
The bot lane duo of AD Carry Ruler and Support CoreJJ have risen to become a surprising global force. CoreJJ’s former experience as an AD Carry provides him with a mechanical prowess that little have in the Support role, as well as an understanding of how his lane opponent will want to play the game. The fact that an AD Carry in Miss Fortune is currently used as a Support counter pick to top tier selection Zyra gives CoreJJ yet another advantage over a majority of Supports in the game today.
Ruler on the other hand is a rising star who has gotten better and better as he has gained more experience under his belt. With a willingness to play every AD Carry, Ruler has shown a keen ability to be flexible and assist both Ambition, but more specifically Crown, via playing more supportive engage champions such as Jhin and Ashe. Look for CoreJJ and Ruler to rise further in ability going into the New Year, and as a possible threat to become a top tier bot lane not only in Korea, but also the entire world.
