SK Telecom T1 All-Stars

*DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece.*

SKT, as an organization, has three world championships under their belt, with 10 players over the course of three championships being crowned the world’s best. In this article, I wanted to do something different and pick the best overall team, from the multiple members SKT has had to create, what I feel, is the ultimate mix… with one exception: No, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.

Let’s be honest, he would get in without a fight. So, for this list, no Faker makes it more interesting. Of course, I imagine not everyone will agree with me, so by all means, tweet to me @MonkeyKingHero who you would have instead.

Oh, and one last thing: I am choosing this list based on their time at SKT. Sorry Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon and Han “Peanut” Wang-ho, your time hasn’t come yet. 

So, without further ado, let’s begin.

Top Lane

Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong

Impact was a part of the 2013 SKT team that came from SK Telecom T1 #2 and he was on the team that gifted SKT its first world championship. He led in overall top lane performance on the world’s stage with a staggering KDA of 4.55 (Lee “Duke” Ho-seong, in the most recent World Championship, only managed 3.51 in more games), and SKT had a superior win rate when Impact was a part of the team.

Since moving to NA, Impact has, for a lack of better words, failed to make much of an impact, but his SKT Jax skin still shows much of his accomplishments during his time as an SKT player before he moved to Team Impulse in January 2015.

Since then, Impact has made a home in Cloud9, where he is one of the team’s outstanding performers and seemingly has settled well in the NA scene.

Jungler

Bae “Bengi” Seong-ung

Was this really a debate? As a three-time world champion, this man is not called the right hand of God for no reason.

In all of the games played during the 2016 World Championship, teams that had Bengi on them only lost twice. In fact, in all of the games at the three world championships he has been a part of, he has only been in six losses out of the 44 games he has played in.

Just to elaborate, current SKT junglers Kang “Blank” Sun-gu and Peanut have a combined total of 12 losses just from the season six world championship in games they played in. Bengi has lost less games than that over multiple championships.

Bengi finally moved on from SKT at the end of the year to join the LPL’s Vici Gaming with former teammate Lee “PoohManDu” Jeong-hyeon coaching and Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon playing.

SKT had been Bengi’s only team until this moment and he should go down as an SKT legend for eternity.

Mid Lane

Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon

With Faker out of the picture, the only real person who can step in is Easyhoon. Lee “Scout” Ye-chan is the only other mid laner the team had and his LCK record isn’t the most desirable under the SKT banner, playing one game and losing one game.

Easyhoon, during his time at SKT, won four out of four games in the 2015 World Championship. He was a great substitute for Faker and showcased his own skills when needed, giving the team some diversity. 

Easyhoon also impressed in the regular season when called upon by SKT to give Faker a rest, which is a shame, as we have not seen that level of play show up in recent memory in the LPL with Vici Gaming. Hopefully, we get to see more of this level of play from Easyhoon in the future.

AD Carry

Bae “Bang” Jun-sik

I cannot stress how much I wanted to put Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin on this list, but I could not justify it. Bang is a beast of a player; we only have to look at his season five World Championship KDA, where it sits at a huge 15.83 in overall matches. Losing just a single game during that tournament, his Tristana, Kalista and Vayne were absolutely unbeatable.

As a double world champion, Bang has earned his reputation as one of the best ADCs in the world, let alone for SKT.  

Bang is one of three players continuing into the 2017 season as a member of SKT, and moving forward, all eyes will be on Bang to steer his team towards his third world championship.

Support

Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan

You cannot have a great ADC without a great support, and even though my heart says Lee “PoohManDu” Jeong-hyeon should take this spot, I feel he earned a lot more as a coach than he did as a player, even though he brought SKT their first worlds title in similar fashion to Impact.

Wolf and Bang are unstoppable together. Mainly known for his Alistar, Wolf has been a mainstay on the SKT team since his united with Bang, and his personality is one that SKT fans cannot get enough of.

He speaks from the heart, isn’t afraid to get into a fight and literally support his team in every aspect. He has only lost seven games in total at a world championship even, one less than Bengi. Wolf has shined following the release of PoohManDu, and he certainly has not looked back since.

Adam Newell is a journalist for @GAMURScom and can be contacted in ways displayed below. If you have any tips or want anything covered, be sure to let us know:

Email: adam.newell10@outlook.com

Twitter: @MonkeyKingHero

Photo credits here.