SANDBOX Gaming booked their ticket to the LCK Summer Split today after fending off Seorabeol Gaming in the summer promotion series.
Leading up to today’s best-of-five relegation match, the team placed ninth in the LCK Spring Split with a disappointing 5-13 record. SANDBOX breezed through the summer promotions, though, decisively beating and relegating Griffin from the Korean league before sweeping Seorabeol 3-0 today.
SANDBOX had a successful 2019 rookie season, placing fourth and fifth in the spring and summer. But after an offseason roster reshuffle, the team slumped to the bottom of the tables in 2020.
Over the course of the split, top laner Park “Summit” Woo-tae and ADC Moon “Route” Geom-su were the two redeeming factors of the team, consistently playing well and producing above-average performances. Issues with the jungle and mid lane positions, though, along with the pick and ban phase led to the team’s poor record.
In today’s matchup, however, Yoo “FATE” Su-hyeok was the deciding factor of the series, manhandling Seorabeol’s Yang “Danchung” Hyeon-jong in the mid lane. FATE barely gave the rookie room to breathe, outfarming and outplaying him every step of the way.
SANDBOX might choose to rethink its roster ahead of the Summer Split and look for answers. Their individual players are good, but their team play is lacking. They should rethink their gameplay decisions going into the Summer Split if they want to get to a better spot. Summit is considered one of the best top laners in the region but is lacking a good team to support that. He was considered as a substitute for T1 at one point during the offseason,
The LCK Summer Split kicks off in June, but a specific date has yet to be set. This was the last promotion tournament for LCK and ends an era for Korea’s rookie teams who came to dominate the LCK, such as the recently relegated Griffin. While we will no longer see such teams in the LCK, the history created will always bring sweet memories and is better for the future of the region.
LPL and LEC have proved that franchising is a huge success since it attracts stable organizations that are willing to develop their brand and fanbase. Multiple rookie talents have emerged in the regions due to the stable revenue which they can earn now instead of the insecure salary before the franchising. Looking forward, LCK should evolve to be better as well. Stay tuned to see the newly emerged LCK which will start in June.
