As one of the most pleasant surprises this season, KT Rolster has had an impressive second half to the summer season, solidifying their position at Worlds. For many Korean LoL viewers, this is actually much bigger than the rest of the fanbase would imagine. KT Rolster as an organization has been at the top of OGN champions before. They'd won Summer 2014 with the KT Arrows, but have never made it to worlds (for some reason). This year, not only is KT Rolster as an organization going to Worlds, but 4 out of the 5 players from the KT Bullets of 2013 (finalist of the summer season, a team that deserved a spot at worlds that year) are going to participate in this year's world championship in some way shape or form.

Top – Kim “ssumday” Chan-ho

Before this season began, there wasn't much enthusiasm behind ssumday as a top laner. His most standout season in OGN was the same season in which KaKAO and Rookie took off and propelled a relatively mediocre KT Arrows team to compete an elite level. At the time, ssumday had good games but was ultimately referred to as a beneficiary of KaKAO's hard carry jungle style. Soon after the beginning of 2015, ssumday showed the world that his performances were no fluke and he was a huge part of why KT has managed to finally make it to Worlds. Equally as effective on tanks such as Shen and Maokai, yet capable to snowball out of control with Yasuo and Riven, ssumday stands as the carry of KT Rolster.

Jungle – Go “Score” Dong-bin

Never amounting to anything more than a mediocre AD Carry with a tendency to not die, Score's switch to the jungle had a lot to prove about KT's insistence on keeping this veteran player on the roster. His transition to the jungle went a lot better than many had expected, seeing as it became clear that Score was an intelligent player with appropriate timings of any seasoned jungler, arguably even better than the majority of junglers that are going to participate in Worlds this year. To his excellent timing, we add the presence of Piccaboo roaming the map along side the jungler of KT; we essentially have a duo capable of locking down any jungler playing against them.

Mid – Kim “Nagne” Sang-moon

Often overlooked by viewers as just another OGN mid laner, people often underrate the role that Nagne plays in KT. His versatility and low resource playstyle gives freedom to allow ssumday to carry from the top lane. Being able to match other mid laners in Korea with meta champions like Viktor and Azir as well as being skilled on assassins like Leblanc and Ahri basically relieves the stress of having to secure a specific champion for the mid lane. Nagne and KT rolster have also demonstrated how well they can execute the Jugger'Maw/protect the ADC composition with either ssumday or Nagne on Lulu.

Ad Carry – No “Arrow” Dong-hyeon

As standard as you'll ever see from the AD Carry position, Arrow has never truly impressed beyond expectations. He was expected to be a good AD Carry and has delivered on that front. Ever since the early days of the KT Rolster Arrows, it was clear that this young marksman wasn't going to become a superstar since his inconsistent performances held him back from achieving such stature. However, during 2015, Arrow has demonstrated that he can rise up to the occasion if need be, especially with champions such as Kog'Maw that require very accurate and precise positioning to make work.

Support – Lee “Piccaboo” Jong-Beom

Mid split roster changes very seldom provide the results teams seek. Not only is this not the case of Piccaboo and KT, but rather the opposite. This is the best idea KT Rolster had since putting Rookie and KaKAO on the same team in 2014. Honorable mentions going to their former support, Fixer. Just because Piccaboo filled a role that suited the team better, doesn't mean that Fixer was by any means a bad support by any stretch. However the addition of a world class level shot caller is exactly what KT rolster needed to elevate themselves to elite tier status. With a very aggressive roaming style, Piccaboo compliments Score's game sense and knowledge while also having the ability to mess up the other team's jungler entirely, simply by wandering into the jungle as a pair.

Player to look out for: Piccaboo.  There is no exaggeration; this man is arguably the best support in Korea. It's not just his roams, but his 2v2 laning is also good, making him a threat in both standard lanes and lane swap scenarios. The only time his team was contested in both ways was in the finals of the LCK summer playoffs, in which SKT had tailored their playstyle to counter exactly how Piccaboo and Score were playing the early game.

Conclusion:

KT is in a strange place to put right now. Sure, Piccaboo is a very good laner, but ultimately his laning partner is Arrow – who at best is a mediocre AD carry. Much of KT’s success relies heavily on lane assignments and vision control. If when seeking for a lane swap KT doesn’t find it, Piccaboo isn’t nearly as effective as when allowed to roam freely. KT can be challenged if teams find standard lanes against them. Force Piccaboo to stay in lane to babysit Arrow and nullify KT’s strongest early game strength.

Images courtesy of thethaodientu.vn, paravine.com, thescoreesports.com, OGN's Youtube Channel & Daily Esports

If you enjoy bite sized content about specific teams, don't forget to follow the author on twitter: @Heckmaister. More to be released in the following days in anticipation of the world championships.