LEC - SK Gaming (1/10): Shattering the Glass Ceiling

SK Gaming is set to return to the Summoner's Rift with three new faces for the 2025 LEC season. While the German organization has retained its confidence in jungler Ismaïl “Isma” Boualem and AD Carry Cho “Rahel” Min-seon, it has recruited the two BDS Academy sololaners—Janik “JNX” Bartels and Steven “Reeker” Chen—alongside South Korean support Kim “Loopy” Dong-hyeon. These changes may come as a surprise given the team’s performance at the conclusion of the 2024 season. With a revamped botlane, SK Gaming secured first place in the Summer Split regular season.

Despite early eliminations in both the Summer playoffs and the Season Finals, the Schroet Kommando seemed to have established a strong foundation for future development. “The roster we had in the Summer Split was really good,” admits David “OWN3R” Rodriguez de la Torre, SK Gaming’s assistant coach in 2024, now promoted to head coach for the upcoming season. “But some problems inside the team happened and people have not been able to work with each other during the Season Finals and the playoffs,” he explains. “Everyone on the team had his opinion on how and why the team didn't function. We talked with the management and the team chose which direction they wanted for next year. So we decide to make changes among players.”

SK even considered replacing the entire lineup to build a new project with a fresh philosophy, largely due to frustrations stemming from two consecutive years of similar struggles. The German team started strong in both 2023 and 2024 but faltered during the high-stakes matches at the end of each season. OWN3R’s goal is to break this cycle with the implementation of a long-term project aimed at maturing the team by the end of the year. “I don't want to be a team that is always like top 5 top 6 and is happy,” he asserts. “I really want SK to be top 1 or top 2 in the LEC. [...] My idea is that the players believe that they will improve individually and reach a point where they can be top 1 or top 2 in their positions in the long term.”

To achieve this, OWN3R is experimenting a more individualized approach to coaching, partly inspired by his interactions with the coaching staff of teams that participated in Worlds in Europe a few months ago. “I'm trying to build a system where the reviews focus more on individual coaching,” he explains. “We used to have many team reviews where usually only one or two players led the conversation. I want to try to avoid that and to be super-efficient with the time. I'm doing small groups instead of individually because I don't have five coaches. We do like jungle-support together to review mid-game and late-game. And then midlaner and toplaner will be together talking about sidelane for example. Depending on how the game is, the AD Carry will join the jungle-support or the top-mid conversation.”

The first step of this new SK Gaming structure was the recruitment of a new assistant coach aligned with these methods: Mauro “Garih” Garih Vidal — another former member of BDS Academy. “I didn't want to have players and then sign a coach,” OWN3R explains. “We see the game similar in many ways. He is a coach who puts a lot of emphasis on small details and mechanics. I like that.” Together, the coaching duo analyzed players POVs and conducted interviews with promising candidates. “We tried two or three players per position,” the coach elaborates. “During the interviews, we did many exercises, in terms of clicking, moving the mouse, camera, and communication, with all the players that we were interested in. I chose some of the players because, during those two weeks, they improved quite a lot in the tasks I asked for.”

The first player to secure a spot on the roster was Reeker. “Reeker is really analytical,” says OWN3R. “He analyzes every player a lot and he puts a lot of effort into making sure that he understands what we ask from him. If he doesn't understand something, he will make the effort to understand and make sure everyone in the team understands too. And from the mechanic's point of view, this guy is really good. When he’ll be on the spot where he’ll have to carry, I think he will be there” The German midlaner’s arrival even displaced a European midlane stalwart, Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer. Nisqy’s departure surprised many fans. “Nisqy can be one of the best players to lead a team in general but he needs some stuff that SK couldn't provide,” OWN3R explains. “I'm not sure if he is the type of player that will work super well with an entire rookie team.”

The toplane also saw the departure of a major name. Joël “Irrelevant” Scharoll, whose contract expired, became one of the most sought-after toplaners this offseason. Although SK thought to retain him, he ultimately chose to join BDS. To fill the vacancy, SK recalled former SK LEC team player JNX, offering him a second chance. “In terms of team environment, he is always a plus,” assures OWN3R. “This guy is super nice. He is a hard worker. If he has to talk with his teammates, he will do it. He will not complain about anything. He analyses too, in terms of items, or of the meta in general. And he's super smart about it.” The Spanish coach is aware that his toplaner still needs to work on improving, but remains convinced that JNX “will be one of the best top in LEC with the time”.

The synergy between the two German sololaners—both BDSA alumni—was more coincidental than intentional. OWN3R reveals that SK nearly signed other toplaners — including Adam “Adam” Maanane and Kyeong “Photon” Gyu-ta, as previously reported by Sheep Esports. Similarly, Loopy’s prior partnership with Rahel wasn’t a decisive factor in his recruitment, even if the two had won the LCK CL together in Summer 2023 with Dplus Academy.

SK made another bold choice in replacing Luon, who had quickly established himself as part of one of the LEC’s strongest botlanes with Rahel during the Summer Split. “Luon is a great player and it's sad to lose a player like him,” admits OWN3R. “But Loopy actually improved quite a lot in the tasks that we were asking him to do. He also surprised us quite a lot with the English because he was able to speak in a good way. In the end, from my perspective and both coaches, we thought that Loopy would add more stuff to the team.”