Written by Gosickboy

Please note this article is not talking about Korean Challenger -- that shit-show is beyond saving. Teams are completely devoid of sponsors (thus lack the ability to actually pay their players) and any good player gets poached by a LCK, LCS, LMS or LPL team. Sometimes these players never even see starter play, content to rot on the LSPL bench until the end of their days.

Instead, this article will focus on the Korean Reserve League, a League many Western fans don't even know exists. The only one of its kind in the World, the importance of the Reserve League is obvious once you realise that Korean teams will always have an in-house practice team. As far as I understand it the only LCK team currently operating without a reserve team is the KOO Tigers (and they're something of an anomaly anyway). Yes that's right, even after they've been stripped of all their talent by poachers of the world, Korean teams will still have sister teams.

First off let me start by writing out the complete (known) rosters for each KeSPA team (players are in order of their assumed preference by coaches):

SK Telecom T1

Toplane        MaRin

Jungle        Bengi, T0m

Midlane    Faker, Easyhoon, Scout

ADC        Bang

Support        Wolf

KT Rolster

Toplane        Ssumday, Mimic

Jungle        Score, Prime, Ares

Midlane    Nagne, Edge

ADC        Arrow, Mach

Support        Piccaboo, Fixer, Sage

KOO Tigers

Toplane        Smeb

Jungle        Hojin, Wisdom

Midlane    KurO

ADC        PraY

Support        Gorilla

CJ Entus

Toplane        Shy, Helper

Jungle        Ambition, Trick

Midlane    Coco, Bdd

ADC        Space, Ghost

Support        Madlife, Max

NaJin e-mFire

Toplane        Duke, SoL, FIFA

Jungle        Watch, Peanut

Midlane    Ggoong, Tank

ADC        Ohq, Zefa, SoL

Support        Pure, Cain

SoL is listed twice because he's an ADC main who's played toplane for NaJin but is now listed as an ADC substitute. I know, right?

Jin Air Green Wings

Toplane        TrAce, Ham

Jungle        Chaser, Winged

Midlane    GBM, Kuzan

ADC        Pilot, Cpt Jack

Support        Chei, Sweet

Longzhu IM

Toplane        Expession, Apple, Lil4c, ISh

Jungle        Tusin, Spooky, Dochi

Mid        Frozen, Smile

ADC        Roar, S0NSTAR, Paragon

Support        IgNar, Elroy

IgNar was supposed to join WFX alongside Limit (former NaJin BS toplaner, now on NewBee) after their Korean bootcamp. He changed his mind with a week to go which prompted Limit to jump ship to Team DK (LSPL team), which then forced WFX to pick up Avalon (a midlane main at the time) and Imagine a jungle main at the time). The rest is history...

Samsung Galaxy

Toplane        CuVee

Jungle        Eve

Midlane    Crown, Ace, Bliss

ADC        Fury, Raven

Support        Wraith, Luna

Raven used to be teammates with TL Fenix (then Miso), CJE Roar (played midlane back then) and Reapered on the original Jin Air Falcons.

Wraith is another player's who's been around. Originally on ahQ Korea (under the name LoRay), he joined Jin Air Falcons (and changed his ID to Icebear) with team mates Jin Air TrAce, Hoon (now coach for WE), ACTSCENE (now coach for M3). Then leaving for greener pastures on SK Telecom T1 K (and again changing ID to Casper) as the temporary stand in for PoohManDu. My god this guy likes to change his ID.

SBENU Sonicboom

Toplane        Soul, SoaR

Jungle        Catch, Flaw

Midlane    SaSin, do it

ADC        Nuclear, dan

Support        Secret, viviD

Yes, truly a ridiculous amount of substitutes. You see how 7/10 teams have one or more reserves for nearly every position? There'll be many more who don't even get a mention (think Huni on Samsung Galaxy in Season 4 for example), this is just how Korea operates.  So, as some kind of compromise with certain Korean teams, KeSPA decided to launch the Reserve League in the Summer Season of 2015. The objective of the Summer Season?

- - -

1.  To showcase reserve players and allow fans to get a better understanding and a read on their favourite team's reserves.

2.  To give reserve players more competitive experience and make their possible transition to the main team smoother.

3.  To incentivize KeSPA teams to develop the talent on their bench, not just suck them dry.

4.  To give Korean Reserves something to aim for other than just making the main team.

5.  To increase exposure for the Korean Challenger League.

- - -

It seemed like such a perfect plan, there was just one issue... Well OK, there were lots of issues, so with no further delays:

Not Every Team Competed

Reserve League objectives undermined: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5

I can cut KOO Tigers some slack for not competing since they're not a KeSPA team (and likely don't have enough players to field) and I don't really care about Renegades Anarchy (the less time I have to spend watching them the better). However, iit's pretty laughable that SK Telecom T1 and CJ Entus, the two oldest (still existing) teams in Korean eSports, didn't bother competing.

Both teams have enough players sitting on the bench to compete, those substitute players are the exact kind of player that the Reserve League was set up to help. It completely undermines the entire purpose of the League and hurts Korean eSports as a whole. SK Telecom T1 and CJ Entus aren't just the most popular teams in Korea, they're the Korean teams with the most fans around the entire world.

It's pretty obvious, for me at least, that KeSPA need to use their authority and make participation in the Reserve League mandatory for all KeSPA teams.

Some Teams Didn't Bother Using Substitutes

Reserve League objectives undermined: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5

It turns out that the rules around 'substitutes' were pretty vague and open to interpretation. This led to some teams (LZIM and Jin Air) just fielding their entire main roster once they were firmly out of playoff contention. NaJin, still in playoff contention, had no chance but to let their substitutes get bodied in the Reserve League.

The Reserve League should start the split off with essentially glorified solo queue and finish the split watching polished teams mirror their big sister's strategies. It should be a measure of how well these teams foster and grow talent, not a shit show between two teams incapable of making it to the playoffs. There should be some level of correlation between performance in LCK and the Reserve League, something an LZIM vs. Jin Air final flies in the face off.

I'm not saying we shouldn't see previous LCK starters drop down to the Reserve League. There's something beautifully poetic about the thought of Peanut repeatedly smashing Ambition's face in as one heads for the stars while the other sinks into the earth. The moment in which the talent defeats the veteran is an important moment in any rising player's career and there should be no better place to watch this than the Reserve League.

It's pretty clear to me that there needs to be more control around substituting players in and out of the Reserve League. However, I've racked my brain for a solid rule and I just have no answer. Every rule or scenario I think of hurts the Reserve League player more than it hurts the team or LCK player who attempts to abuse this issue. No matter which approach I take I always feel like the teacher who kept the whole class behind after school because one student misbehaved. I'm confident that KeSPA have identified this issue (they definitely will after they've read this article) and will come up with a reasonable and practical rule in response.

Gosickboy is an LCK specialist and a panelist on Korea Talk.  If you enjoyed this content, give him a follow at @Gosickboy_.