Simply put, every player listed above has been in a decline as it is shown in their most recent competitive appearances. And in this business, if players don’t achieve even a sliver of success, they’ll be replaced accordingly. Regardless, SKT is SKT so everything single thing they do will be looked at with keen interest. It’s because of this attention that their announcement have sent massive shockwaves all over the LoL landscape.
If you were to compare this kind of move to those from traditional sports, then it would be like if the Golden State Warriors released Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant after failing to reach the NBA Finals for the first time after a stretch of consecutive appearances. To have a team breakup so abruptly after experiencing a dynasty is unprecedented. Normally, when historical teams enter into a decline, they would fizzle out in a string of postseason losses which leaves them handing the torch to the newer and younger teams.
However, what SKT did instead was the complete opposite of what was expected. They decided to offload everyone in order to acquire new talent that would complement their core pieces (Faker, Leo, and Effort) and hopefully wreak havoc just like they have always done. Essentially, they’re opening their wallets to buy the most expensive toys on the market. They have the money and prestige to do it, so why not?
And with many good players leaving their respective teams throughout the world at the same time, the free agent market from now until early 2019 will absolutely morph itself into being a survival of the fittest. As a result, SKT is moving with haste to nab their wanted players. They’ve already come into contact with people such as top-laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha (Kingzone DragonX), jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho who was part of SKT a couple of years ago (again from Kingzone DragonX), and jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min (JD Gaming) so they can replace those two now-empty positions. But they’re not going to finish with just those three players though. They’re looking to add more candidates to their team for the sake of adding depth within their ranks.
Regardless of who they end up signing and by how long they do it, SKT will need to do this both logically and correctly as they are implored to give their players enough time to be acquainted with one another of their distinct playing styles through various practice sessions before the first official match is played.
However, all of this is only accounting for their starting lineup. Along with completing the task of filling their starting roster, SKT will need to find capable substitutes who can step up when needed in certain situations where it caters to their strengths. Even though that is certainly a big problem in which every team must go through in the restructuring of their roster, Korea has a plethora of players worthy of joining such a renowned team like SKT, so it shouldn’t be too big of an obstacle for them to entice their targets to come aboard. After all, it’s the land that has taken home the World Championship in five out of the eight total editions.
Who knows what the future might hold for this legendary team; but one thing’s for sure: they will be back with a vengeance to make up for lost ground in the past two years.
