Ahhh, I should be hated for saying I don't care for KOI, and I don't think they should get to worlds.
So! KOI are technically a new org, but quickly accrued one of the largest fanbases in esports by being founded by famous and popular Spanish content creator and e-celebrity Ibai, and being part owned by footballer Gerard Piqué. Previously however, they were known as Rogue, probably one of the less popular teams in the LEC.
Being a team accepted during franchising, they didn't come in with the greatest advantage. They didn't have a regional fanbase like MAD Lions, they didn't have a huge pre-established presence in LEC history like Origen or SK, only being present in Rainbow 6 Siege and their parent company also owning a COD League team. The 2 esports you DEFINITELY invest in for huge fanbases. But they quickly established a presence in LEC by being so perfectly average, and then by being so perfectly average that they began succeeding.
Entering in 2019, they were a middle of the pack team with some insane talent, like Inspired and Larssen, plus Woolite and Vander in the botlane. That roster didn't pan out the best, and after Hans sama joined in 2020, they had a middling spring followed by coming 1st in regular season summer, and making it to worlds, then they shit the bed and went 1-5 :p.
Well 2021 went a hell of a lot better, adding Odoamne and new rookie Trymbi, coming 2nd in spring, and 3rd in summer playoffs, making worlds and being drawn into the Group of Death, and managing to make FPX blow the fuck up. 2022 replaced Hans sama with Comp, an oft maligned player resigned to C tier rosters like Vitality's 2019-2021 disaster rosters, and their MVP jungler Inspired with Malrang, a korean player who was known for his time on goddamn Jin Air (rip sadplane). They then proceeded to get 2nd in playoffs in Spring, and 1st in Summer. As you do. Being the only western team to make it out of groups, they immediately got drawn vs JDG, and lost pretty handily with some weird niche picks that absolutely did not pan out (Trymbi Nasus Support, in a bad matchup for it, anyone?)
2023 began with Odo being replaced in toplane with Szygenda, a player similarly maligned by vitality's disaster rosters and the rebranding to KOI, after a merger with Rogue's team, inheriting Rogue's entire infrastructure in the league. Now that's how you get into the league in a big way and establish yourself quickly. And as the previous champions, giving Odo and Larssen their first LEC titles, there were fairly big expectations put on this team. Sure, Szygenda was basically kinda a rookie at this point still, not having played a full year on Vitality before being benched then brought back in 2021, but his performances in the LFL were impressive nonetheless, often being called TheShygenda for his insane performances on Gwen and Gnar.
Winter began as it usually does, weirdly. KOI take a game off of BDS, with a double ADC botlane, off Excel with their tried and true Kalista/Soraka, and losing a game to a Fnatic who hadn't boomed completely yet with a very ill advised Jhin pick. But, a 2-1 start isn't exactly awful. However, KOI showed some of the problems that Rogue would show back in 2022 Spring, and 2021. Namely, the phenomenon known as Rogue Time. Where at around 16-20 minutes, the whole team mental booms and completely forgets how to play league of legends well, and the midgame completely collapses undoing the earlygame advantages they accrued usually. It got memed heavily by Korean fans, and slowly spread, but it was an actual thing that would happen. Rogue mid-game was absolute abysmal, only in 2022 Summer did they overcome it, and in Winter 2023, it came back in a big way.
Week 2 didn't go that well. A loss to a fumbling Heretics, and Ruby's 2nd good game for the year, a loss to MAD's double ADC comp, and a loss to SK with another, ill advised ADC pick. God, what was going on? Odo wasn't the biggest shotcaller, but they were a lot better than this in Summer? Well one thing was Trymbi didn't look the best, basically ever since he picked Nasus at Worlds and he went on a bit of a tirade on Twitter against the people saying it was a troll pick. Basically he stopped playing to his usual standard afterwards, sadly.
These problems continued into week 3. They hadn't locked playoffs yet, and were sitting at the bottom of the table with an underwhelming Astralis, a slumping Fnatic, and a dead in the water Excel. A win over Vitality started their week, which I believe locked them at least a tiebreaker, a loss to G2, and a win over Astralis locked themselves into playoffs, with a poor bot showing in all 3 games.
Yeah, KOI didn't look the best. Nothing they won was convincing, and their losses looked lifeless. I don't know, the whole project wasn't going the best so far. Groups wasn't gonna be easy, their first series was a surging SK, who were looking like dark horses for the entire split.
Well, against all odds, KOI actually got a 2-0 over SK, with a good Larssen performance and a renewed Malrang on Sejuani doing Malrang things. Next opponent, Vitality. Ah shit, this is the superteam who got 1st in Winter, KOI have been relying almost entirely on clutch Larssen performances. Well again, against most odds, Larssen pulled out another set of carry performances, with Comp making sure his Sivir his noticed again for its insane carry potential, beating vitality in a quick 2-0. KOI made playoffs! Without demonstrating as much Rogue Time! Let's goooo!
Rogue were always better in Bo1s, but now as KOI they appear to have reversed this? Wonder if their Bo5 performances are gonna be as strong. First up was a series VS the other team who went 2-0 in Groups, G2. A carry performance from Hans sama's Miss Fortune, and a surprise Bel'Veth from Yike took game 1 and 2 respectively. KOI got put on their last legs, and Game 3 came back to a Comp performance. Man got a pentakill! Demolishing G2 inside their base, they got a food back in the series, and it came down to Game 4, it's still doable. Rogue have been reverse swept before, and they can do it to their enemies just as easily. KOI should be able to as well.
Nope nope a disaster in the botlane let Hans sama carry the entirety of G2 vs a Varus/Kalista botlane from Comp and Trymbi, being utterly destroyed. But, but, unlike others so far, KOI got a 2-0 in Groups, so they get a second chance to qualify to finals, and then a potential rematch vs G2. All they need to do is beat their old rivals, the MAD Lions. The team that dominated 2021, and when they slumped in 2022, Rogue took over and won Summer. Their rivalry has been building since 2020, when they took the regular season over G2 and fought each other for the top spots to go to worlds.
And that series went ok! A dominant Larssen Tristana, and a signature Kalista from Comp won Game 1, but that quickly faded. Game 2 featured a fairly weak botlane and the Nisqy Gragas that teams refused to ban, Game 3 had the New Hyli Special, Rell, and Game 4 had the Nisqy Gragas. That's the season. Y'know what, considering they made 3rd overall this season, that's not the worst but it's a step down. They did replace their weakside king Odoamne, so maybe the team needs more time to gel. Their botlane also looked shockingly weak after it was fair to call Comp/Trymbi a top 5 at best botlane at Worlds last year, which was tragic. Trymbi really hadn't been playing well, and Comp looked a lot less confident in lane and in teamfights, probably because his support wasn't doing as well at all.
But, nonetheless, not winning the split is a disappointment. Going into Spring, they were in a good position. Top 3 means that they have a good chance to make MSI if G2 win another split in dominant fashion, as long as they outplace MAD Lions. No changes going into Spring, but Week 1 wasn't exactly a glowing highlight. A loss to Astralis, who were looking pretty good. Day 2, a win over Heretics after some insane fumbles from Ruby, but it's an awful look for KOI, that they could only win through a phonemally awful throw and a botched baron call, and the fact that the game was that close vs a heretics that looked like well...
Garbage they looked like shit.
Day 3, a rematch from Winter, MAD vs KOI, a snoozer with few kills and a generally unimpressive game from both sides. Well, Week 1 ending on 1 win. That's really bad. You made playoffs last split guys... Sadly, Week 2's looking a lot harder. G2, the Winter Champions, SK who blew past all expectations and Fnatic, who despite dropping out in the regular season, came back with a new top laner, new support, and went 0-3 first week...
Defying the odds, winning against G2 thanks to a strong Szygenda, a win over SK thanks to Comp and Larssen, and then a... loss to Fnatic...
To be fair, Razork took a facilitator in Vi and made it look like a hypercarry, punishing the botlane of KOI super super hard, playing really really not well, failing to execute a pick comp and failing their teamfights really badly despite having goddamn Taric.
Week 3, KOI have basically locked Groups. MAD, Fnatic, Excel and Heretics all being 2-4, while KOI sit on 3-3 means they're safer going forward, almost guaranteed a tiebreaker at the very worst. And hey, they're facing Excel, who just subbed in a new midlaner in Abbedagge (god this news made me kinda mad, but i digress), plus BDS, who practically ran the regular season and Vitality who definitely looked weaker compared to Winter, but were still no slouch, especially with a strongside bot laner like Upset.
Well a win over Excel who showed most of the same problems, especially with closing out games, then 2 losses meant that KOI barely scraped into Groups. 7th place. Not great. You only beat the half starved MAD Lions and Heretics thanks to that one extra win. 4-5 isn't something to be happy about at all, and considering Rogue were often considered Bo1 Merchants, never showing up as strongly in their Bo5s, this is a really bad look. Groups is looking grim, especially considering they're facing G2 next.
And that series saw an incredibly rare Pantheon pick twice in toplane, piloted by BrokenBlade, which kinda stomped the lane vs Szygenda, plus another hypercarry performance from Yike in Game 1 left KOI on the back foot. A disastrous Leona performance from Trymbi as well felt phenomally bad. But, KOI didn't discourage. Next game, they came in and nabbed a Jayce for Szygenda, after some of his insanely good Jayce play in regular season, and a rare Malrang Lee Sin that actually worked out, but a quiet game from botlane, despite a Zeri/Lulu lane. Game 3 was desperation. Mikyx picked a Jarvan Support, and played it like garrrrrbage as Comp proved exactly why they never can give him Sivir, carrying the game incredibly hard, with a weak Szygenda Kennen and a shock Larssen Akali showing KOI at some of their individual peaks again.
A win over the Winter Champions puts you in a damn good position, after a rough as hell regular season. But still, Malrang felt coinflippy after so many junglers figured out his insanity, Trymbi looked incredibly weak despite being alongside Comp who was capable of solocarrying, and Larssen was either passive and willing to scale until late, or fully willing to put the game on his back and carry everything through to a win, with no in between. Facing BDS next, who uhhh...
Managed to completely figure out and lock down the meta.
And KOI as serial meta players... Yeah prayers weren't gonna do anything they got booty blasted in a 2-0. Adam counter picking Kennen with an Aery Jarvan, Sheo putting on an absolute clinic on Vi, and in Game 2, Crownie dominating the laning phase and Nuc getting an insane game on Cassio left KOI reeling going into their next series, this time for their groups lives, another series vs G2.
Now it's fair to say that for most of the season, G2 had been experimenting on new odd picks, since they had a stamped ticket to MSI already, but they obviously had some ambitions still. But, now that they had their entire season at risk, G2 stopped fucking around. Game 1 saw a unique Cho'Gath pick into Kennen, which almost worked until Larssen scaling paid off and he took over the game on Viktor. Game 2 saw a pair of insane ridiculous drafts. The Bel'Veth/Sejuani Jungle/Mid respectively, which demonstrated some insanely high potential, vs an AP Varus Mid from Larssen, which ended up horribly. MVP Performances from Yike, Caps and BrokenBlade vs a really bad game for Comp/Trymbi, again, led into a game point game 3. Larssen Ahri, Comp Sivir, and Trymbi Lulu. This is as close as you'll get to the max comfort draft for KOI, and they shitted it. Hans sama completely ran over Trymbi and transferred that lead everywhere across the map, going deathless and basically solo carrying the game, leading to a KOI loss. Out at 6th, before playoffs. A major disappointment, and everyone on the team felt it. Something had to change.
Summer came along, and a few rumours flew around. One of the biggest rumours was Rekkles roleswapping to support for the future, which meant no Fnatic botlaner, since they weren't gonna keep him on as a support. So a trade was proposed. Fnatic buy Trymbi, a talent grown on Rogue, winning a title with them, and a weakspot all year for KOI, in exchange, KOI get Advienne, excitable, mature Advienne who, to be frank, hadn't gotten the best chances in LEC. A small stint on Excel before being replaced by Mikyx, followed by a benched season and a re-run in the ERLs, then joining Fnatic after a fairly weak season from Rhuckz. Advienne came into a bit of a bad situation, having to follow someone who was world class like Trymbi, even if 2023 was fairly weak so far.
And so, Summer began, with a sole change of the support, Advienne instead of Trymbi. Was this gonna fix the team? Fuck no, you can say a lot of things about Trymbi, bad and good but he's a loud player who calls a lot of shots, something that KOI definitely needed more of. Advienne wasn't that guy, at all.
And wouldn't you believe it, the same shit happened again. 1-2 Week 1, 1-2 Week 2, 2-1 Week 3 barely scraping into Groups. What's the point. But i'm getting ahead of myself. A win over Excel, who most expected to still go absolute dead last in LEC for the 3rd time, so not much to write home about. A loss to BDS who came 2nd in Playoffs and a fairly bad Aphelios game from Comp, followed by a loss to MAD Lions which was honestly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Rogue Time kicked in harder than ever and everyone comitted completely to protecting the president, meaning Carzzy went completely untouched, 1-2 week.
Goddamn it guys. Week 2, a loss to an incredibly strong Fnatic following a disaster game from Comp, a win over Heretics with a very strong Larssen Tristana, and a loss to SK capped off the week, another 1-2 week and a really really bad look heading towards groups. Week 3 started vs Vitality, a free win with a good Statikk Shiv Leblanc from Larssen, a loss to Yike's Kha'Zix for game 2 of the week and the game that would basically decide their groups chances: vs Astralis, who had been floundering in the lead up. And then Comp showed up again, after being basically absent the whole season. Hand delivering Sivir boomerangs to the entirety of Astralis, carrying KOI through to groups, looking phenomally weak and like easy prey. As written yesterday, Astralis then had to hope that SK lose to Fnatic, to keep groups, and their chances for worlds alive, but that all went out the window, after SK pulled a miracle out of nowhere and beat Fnatic.
KOI is the first team i'm writing about that actually is in Group stage, meaning I can do some meaty speculation about them heading into groups, rather than end it with a limp "hope they stick together" again. Truly, KOI look dead. After a strong Winter, an underwhelming Spring and a dead in the water summer they rightly should've lost for some of their abysmal performances and the hard return of Rogue Time, it's unlikely anyone will bet on KOI heading into the group stage. Considering their first opponent is a pissed off G2 looking stronger than ever and looking to secure their place in Season Finals even harder than before, KOI should definitely count themselves lucky that their vacations might start sooner than later. They're also one of the teams fortunate enough to have good championship points, meaning they might eak into Season Finals regardless, if Heretics and Fnatic completely bomb out, which is unlikely at this point.
Whatever does happen, I'll be there watching. Larssen has become one of my favourite players in the past couple years, and of all the "next generation" mid laners, he, humanoid and Vetheo are the ones i've got the most faith in, by far. Comp as well deserves a good roster, just a shame it might only come next year.
A compilation of my KOI drawing highlights this past year and split
I'm not very good with words but...
It's quite bittersweet to see this roster go on vacation now for the rest of the year, players that I've supported and grown fond of
It just hurts to see them all prevail and try their utmost best when it seemed like most of the lec community and world was against them, even while doing their best
