Flash Wolves: A Hope Crushed by SKT
Flash Wolves, the team known for their impeccable record against Korean squads, was the last hope to beat SK Telecom T1 at the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational. Led by mid laner Huang “Maple” Yi-tang and jungler Hung “Karsa” Hua-hsuan, Flash Wolves gained their reputation by pressuring teams.
In the previous year’s World Championships, Flash Wolves managed to take a game off SKT in the group stage, thanks to their duo strategy. They chose a snowball composition with Aurelion Sol in the mid lane, allowing Maple to exert influence across the map, leading his weaker side lanes to victory.
However, in their recent match against SKT, it seemed like Flash Wolves did not learn any lessons from their previous encounters. Rather than trying to secure a favorable push champion for Maple, they opted for scaling champions in mid and jungle, along with Twitch as their scaling ADC. This strategy was a huge mistake against SKT, the ultimate late-game team. It’s unclear why Flash Wolves abandoned their previous successful strategy. Perhaps the slow start to the tournament affected their decisions or they simply did not expect to beat SKT.
Regardless of the reasoning, the result was a complete stomping by the LCK Champions. SKT dominated the early game, accumulating significant leads on top laner Huni and ADC Bang. Flash Wolves attempted to counter their weaknesses through lane swapping, but their top laner made a fatal mistake that only fed SKT further. The rest of the game was dominated by SKT’s patient split push strategy, leaving no chance for Flash Wolves to make a comeback. Huni on Fiora and Faker on Fizz were nearly unkillable, while Bang effectively wave cleared in the mid lane on Kog’Maw.
Despite Flash Wolves’ hopes to maintain their impressive record against Korean teams, SKT proved to be on another level. It wasn’t just that SKT won, but Flash Wolves didn’t even put up a fight. Faker, Huni, and the Korean Champions displayed mastery in a game that looked entirely different from the one played by Flash Wolves.