SK Gaming in LEC : still awaiting for the spotlight

Despite being one of the storied organizations in Europe, SK’s journey in LEC has been marked by a difficulty to stand out; the German team has never been bottom of the league but they also have never escaped the lowest tiers of Europe’s premier competition. Before 2023, they averaged a placement of 7.3 in the LEC, never reaching results above top 6 in playoffs. 2023 finally marked a change for SK, who crushed expectations and achieved their highest placement ever.

Very few expected SK Gaming to be challenging at the top in the LEC Winter split, especially since they brought in rookie botlane Thomas “Exakick” Foucou and Mads “Doss” Schwartz from French ERL team LDLC OL. The botlane wasn’t the only rookies brought in as Joel “Irrelevant” Miro Scharoll would also arrive from MSF. In addition, the retaining of Daniel “Sertuss” Gamani made a lot of people think that SK would remain in their usual spot, around 7th place and not challenging the top teams.

But with the chaos that was Winter, where many strong rosters performed below their expectations, SK managed to use their pre-existing synergies alongside Mark “Markoon” van Woensel’s efficiency to finish 6-3 in the regular season.

The former LFL winning Bot lane of LDLC also showed very good form, the French-Danish duo managed to stay true to their lane-focused gameplay which resulted in great success against some of the best LEC Bot lanes. Overall, SK were very consistent, while Sertuss and Irrelevant proved that they stepped up compared to their 2022 season.

With a convincing third place, SK had the right to dream ahead of the Winter playoffs. Despite a poor start against KOI where SK got skill-checked by a solid KOI, they bounced back against a very weak Team Heretics to give themselves a decider against Vitality.

Almost everyone placed their bets in Team Vitality, the superteam were the natural favorites after winning the regular season. In spite of atrocious odds, SK surprised everyone by winning a very clear 2-0 over VIT. Some may say that Vitality choked the bO3, but SK showed this day what could be their best shape of 2023, especially for Sertuss who had dominated Perkz in the Midlane.

SK would then advance to the loser's bracket of the playoffs, The blueside had had a 100% win rate in this BO5 and MAD had side selection for the first game, since the loser of the previous game has side selection in the next game, MAD selected blue side in games 1,3 and 5. However, it was clear that the Lions were very well suited against SK, as their highly rated Botlane duo of Carzzy and Hylissang was a tougher opponent for Exakick and Doss, who couldn’t generate a lead solely in their 2v2. Still, the match was very close, and in the end, MAD’s superior experience may have paid off against a roster not used to BO5s.

Winter marked a big surprise and the proof that SK could fight for the top spots, Exakick and Doss had a very strong start, Markoon was a great fit for Sertuss, the team overall synergised very well. But the potential SK had was never reached again, to the point where we can wonder if SK even changed a bit from Winter to the end of the season.

SK had a strong start, but didn’t notably progress in Spring and Summer, obviously, the other teams caught up very quickly.

In Spring, SK lost two places in the BO1s, but most notably, they didn’t win a single game during playoffs, losing 2-0 against both BDS and G2, harsh draws, yes, but SK truly seemed to be rudder-less, which was not the case in Winter.

Summer was similar, however SK clawed an unexpected victory against FNC in playoffs, but, what could have been a rebirth was nothing else than a one off, SK lost a bitterly close BO3 to XL and got smashed in return by Fnatic in the deciding qualification match. Despite all of this, SK earned a ticket for LEC Season finals, but they truly were the fifth wheel of the final bracket as BDS totally stomped them, in the end, SK is 6th, slightly better than their average, but not enough to be remarkable.

Nevertheless, sixth place is objectively the rank SK were seen to be on paper from fans and analysts alike (approximately), 2023 isn’t disappointing because SK played under the expectations, it is saddening because it is a repeat of the past seasons despite a very strong start in Winter. SK managed to show promise of breaking their lower placement curse, but it turned out to be a flash in the pan.

So far, 2024 is close to being a repeat of 2023, SK’s team building ahead of the new season is similar to during the 2023 offseason. Firstly, SK kept more than two players (Irrelevant, Exakick and Doss) to maintain stability in the team, secondly, SK brought in a rookie who had an excellent season in ERLs, Ismaïl "Isma" Boualem from Movistar Riders, and lastly, SK managed to attract an established player, even more than what Markoon was this year : Mid Laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer.

The two additions are a very interesting decision from SK. Isma was one of the strongest prospects coming in from ERLs, but his role in SK remains hard to pinpoint. The Franco-Belgian rookie has had two very distinct playstyles in the ERLs, he was at first a hyper carry jungler, making a name for himself with champions such as Nidalee or Graves, in S04, he pursued this playstyle with great success, establishing himself as the strongest jungler in Prime League.

Upon joining the LVP Superliga (Spain’s ERL), Isma would totally reshape his gameplay, with his early choice of joining MRS, he made a transition to a second-support playstyle, playing lots of Sejuani and Maokai throughout the season, even when some high resource options were open and strong in the meta. This transition has been the catalyst for Isma to have his best year yet and he managed to do it with very little problems.

Contrary to many rookies, Isma is set to arrive with a very wide range of adaptable gameplay styles that SK will see as a boon.

Although it is likely that SK will use Isma’s experience as second support since it is his most recent playstyle (and his strongest), the EMEA Masters finalist has a ton of potential as a carry jungler.

In MRS, he would often be the main snowballer for the team when a sufficient lead was gained in the early game. Despite playing Maokai, Isma didn’t hesitate to fully use the base damage of his champions to invade - sometimes very far and alone - the enemy jungle and reaped the rewards from his aggression. The difference however with a classic invader jungler (such as Bo) is that Isma wouldn’t get a lead for himself in the early game, but he would rather use the lane’s advantages that he initially created to suffocate the enemy jungler with clever pathing.

To know which side of Isma we will see the most, Nisqy’s plans are to be also analyzed. The former FNC midlaner has been known for being an excellent enabler for his Junglers, however, with this year’s lack of synergy with Elyoya, Nisqy developed the individualistic aspects of his gameplay much more than before. He is still a bit far from reaching the likes of Larssen or Humanoid on that matter, but Nisqy has begun changing his playstyle after numerous years of staying relatively the same.

It would be very surprising to see Nisqy bringing back his C9 days where he was like a Yuumi to Blaber’s aggressive gameplay, however, he will be a different type of Midlaner to play with for Isma, as Nisqy is more proactive than Fresskowy. MRS’ gameplay consisted of a lot of midlane roams done by the botlane, however, for Nisqy, it’s usually the other way around.

If Isma embraces his second support playstyle, Nisqy will have to be aggressive against his opposing mid, and less from roaming. In the end, the two would have to form a deadly skirmish duo, which on paper seems like the best option for SK.

On the other hand, Isma could try to play more selfishly while requiring Nisqy’s enabling capabilities alongside Doss or Irrelevant’s movements.

However, Exakick-Doss’ duo has mostly worked self-sufficiently this year, leaving Markoon with a lot of freedom to play around topside, rarely have they received very early ganks such as the dives at around 2 minutes 30 seconds Isma was doing 50% of games in the LVP. Naturally, rarely would they move during the early game to help around the map as they weren’t the centre of attention.

SK’s structure could very well be a duo with Isma-Nisqy enabling the map on one side, while Exakick and Doss would be the carries that receive the benefits of the enabling. This system could hurt Irrelevant a lot, even when factoring in the fact Irrelevant has been quietly one of the LEC’s stronger Top Laners during Winter, who was receiving a lot of attention from Markoon this year, however, if we look at every other SK’s players’ past teams, for everyone of them, their best form was with a self-sufficient and weaksided Top laner.

We mentioned that SK’s teambuilding for 2024 resembles a lot from what has been done in 2023, however, the same results would be another disappointment. SK Gaming is the only starting and remaining LEC team not to have ever won a BO5, another year with this would be a major failure.

SK’s potential is at the very least as big as it was in 2023, Doss and Exakick still have a lot to prove in the botlane, Nisqy hasn’t had his best year in 2023 but looks far from past his prime, Irrelevant is in a pivotal year where he needs to go one step further is his development. Last but not least, Isma is one for the future, he could follow Sheo’s steps and make himself a top tier jungler in one year in LEC, his results and form in ERLs prove that Isma has a ton of potential.

On paper however, SK seems destined to be a top 6 team once again, Doss and Exakick’s middling past two splits don’t really indicate that they will be able to challenge the top 4 botlanes of Europe, Irrelevant could have very well reached his limit this year since his progression has been excruciatingly slow even if he was strong, and overall, the names are less appealing that many other teams. The odds aren’t stacked against SK, but neither are they in their favour - as always - it is SK’s time to prove that they are not an invisible team in LEC, if Excel has done it, everyone can.