Bengi has been a crucial player for SKT at Worlds but his younger counter part is knocking on the door...
Veteran Korean jungler Bengi put in a frightening performance in the semi-final to help his team SKT turnaround a 2-1 deficit.
As well as thinking about playing Samsung Galaxy in Sunday’s final, he will also be competing with his side’s other, younger jungler for a place on the starting line-up.
Will he do it? Here’s how he can make the difference…
Welcome to the jungle
Seongung “Bengi” Bae played an instrumental part in what has been described as one of the most exciting League of Legends matches in recent times.
He helped SK Telecom T1 (SKT) beat fellow Korean team the ROX Tigers in the World Championship semi-final on October 22nd in spectacular fashion.
SKT triumphed 1-0 in the first game, with Bengi putting in a solid 1/2/6 performance as Olaf in the jungle.
For whatever reason, management decided to bench him in game two in favour of his younger contemporary Sungu “Blank” Kang.
Blank racked up scores of 2/3/3 and 2/4/5 in the next two games as SKT fell behind 2-1.
SKT knew they had to do something to shake things up, and subbed Bengi back in for game four.
Lose this and they – the holding champions – would be knocked out of this year’s World Championship.
In the pick and ban stage, SKT locked in Nidalee for Bengi – a champion he has never before played in a professional match.
Bengi later revealed the pick was made by his manager to prevent ROX’s jungler Peanut from playing as Nidalee, not because Bengi was competent as Nidalee.
Experts were quick to point out the seemingly strange pick. At this point, some thought SKT could get knocked out.
MonteCristo summed it up nicely. “Benji has never played Nidalee EVER in his professional career, this is a massive gamble from SKT”.
It was a surprising situation, and the pressure was on; Bengi had to step up when it counted.
And step up he did.
Bengi put in a stellar performance as Nidalee, collecting six kills and seven assists, and only dying twice.
He synergised incredibly well with his team, combining plays to punish ROX at every opportunity and secure kills whenever possible.
His chemistry with mid-laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was particularly impressive, and he showed why his experience sets him apart from SKT’s younger jungler Blank.
It made for an especially exciting game – and one that got everyone talking.
In the fifth and final game, Bengi went 4/4/9 as Lee Sin to help secure SKT’s passage to another World Championship final.
The battle between Bengi and Blank
If you compare the two players’ performances at Worlds so far, you’ll see there isn’t much difference between them.
Blank has played the majority of games, with 4.2CS per minute, a 75 per cent kill participation and a KDA ratio of 4.5 in the group stages.
Bengi also has 4.2CS per minute in the group stages, with a 59.5 per cent kill participation and a KDA of 11.
In the knockout stages, it’s even closer. Blank has a 4.1 KDA ratio, 68.5 per cent kill participation and 4.4CS per minute.
Bengi, meanwhile, has a 5.4 KDA ratio, 62.8 per cent kill participation and also 4.4CS per minute.
But ask any big sports fan about stats and they will tell you a game is not won on them – it’s won from moments of brilliance.
All it takes is a single world-class play to turn a game and make the difference.
Bengi has that je ne sais quoi – he is capable of producing something from nothing when you need him to. SKT can’t risk not playing him?
At this stage it’s still not clear which jungler they will choose to start in the final against Samsung Galaxy this Sunday.
But Bengi has earned his right to play.
One thing is for sure – he will be ready to take his chance, step up again and show why he deserves to have his name permanently marked in League of Legends’ history.
Picture credit: Riot Flickr
