OMG can't beat SKT at All-Star 2014? A translation from the Chinese media

The following is an English translation of this article from the popular Chinese gaming site Netease Games. The opinions expressed in it are not my own or Games in Asia’s.

At the 2014 League of Legends All-Star, can a Chinese team beat a Korean team?

This year’s All-Star has a lot of familiar teams, and the competition is likely to be more intense than it was last year. As the apex of eSports in Asia, China and South Korea are always vying for dominance in the competitive gaming scene. The [League of Legends] S3 finals and WCG 2013 finals both came down to a competition between Chinese and Korean teams. But unfortunately, neither championship trophy ended up in China.

Casters and players forecast: OMG can’t beat SKT, China’s League of Legends scene is influenced by Dota

What’s interesting is, not only are [Chinese] players guessing about whether OMG can beat SKT, foreign players and casters are also entering the discussion. Korea’s English OGN casters and Korea’s earliest players* hold that SKT will probably beat OMG and become the champions, and in the discussion it was mentioned that China’s League of Legends style has been influenced by Dota. They argued:

• OMG’s play style is [originally] based on Korea’s, but they haven’t continued to learn from Korean teams.
• Chinese teams recently have not played/scrimmed with Korean teams often
• China’s LOL style has been influenced by Dota on a conceptual level

Before season 3, OMG was a new team that was rising quickly in the Chinese scene, making a name for themselves. At the time, the buzzwords for the team were “fast-paced”, “pushing”, and “Korean-style.” In the S3 group stages, they used a Korean playstyle to beat the Korean team SK Telecom T1 K, and in doing so they shocked the world.

So, comparatively speaking, the third point raised by the casters* is the most interesting—China’s LOL style has been influenced by Dota.

Summing up the entire text, his** basic point was this: ‘Chinese teams have been strong in MOBAs, and from the beginning in [WC3] Dota they have always placed a lot of emphasis on the carry position, so they’re often wholly focused on protecting the carry [because] in the late game a true carry team will win (what we call the four-protect-one strategy). So after LOL came along, Chinese teams continued to focus on the ADC’s development, making sure that the ADC can do massive damage to win the teamfights in the mid-game and then win the game. Conversely, Korean teams mostly didn’t have any MOBA experience before LOL, so many of their strategies came from studying and adapting what other teams did, and developing their own original strategies once they understood the game.’

So basically, they** feel that many Chinese pros probably got their start in Dota, and it left a strong first impression that they’ve since brought along to League of Legends: the four-protecting-one mentioned above. But some of those [Dota] concepts aren’t applicable in LOL, and at the same time Chinese teams also lack some creativity.

OMG is better off; there’s hope of beating SKT

OMG’s performance in the LPL spring split was excellent, and in fact the team set the record for the most-ever consecutive wins in the league. Moreover, OMG doesn’t have any major shortcomings in any of the five positions. Some fans have denounced Pomelo in the jungle and San [the ADC] because they can sometimes “go invisible”, but at least at present, they are fully deserving of being called the best team in China.

Turning to SKT, the team has been acknowledged the world over since Faker burst onto the scene during last year’s OGN winter. Gosugamers has been calling them the best team in the world continuously for the past half year. But in this year’s OGN Spring, SKT found its Waterloo against old rivals Samsung Ozone. They were stopped at the final eight, and because of the Spring results they’ve now even become involved in a match-fixing controversy. This is destructive for all of SK Telecom T1 K’s players.

Generally speaking, OMG’s situation is pretty good right now, and historically speaking, they have done well [in matches against SKT]. Up against an SKT that’s been decidedly average recently, OMG definitely has a chance.

The S3 loss made people sad, but it has also made us realize our insufficiencies. League of Legends has been developing steadily in China, and with some promising young talents emerging in the league, there is cause for celebration. Xiyang going from a regular player to the MVP in this LPL spring split is enough to show us the skill and power in China’s player base.