Photograph by Colin Younger-Wolff through Riot Video games
Drafts make or break the high-octane matches.
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When High Esports walked off the stage following their 0–2 loss to KT Rolster within the 2025 League of Legends World Championship Swiss Stage, the frustration was palpable. For a staff with a championship pedigree, expectations had been excessive on the house turf, however nobody felt the sting of defeat greater than head coach Yoon “Homme” Sung-young.
After the Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage match, Homme didn’t shrink back from taking duty. He mirrored on what went mistaken and the way a lot of it, in his eyes, got here right down to his personal selections.
“I really feel like in the present day, I might say that the majority of it falls on me as a result of the opponent ended up getting so most of the good [draft] picks,” Homme stated to Dot Esports in an unique interview. “We really noticed many errors throughout the goal fights. So, I consider that so long as we’re in a position to refine these factors, I consider that we’re in a position to put together nicely to do even higher and have a greater exhibiting subsequent time.”
He admitted that KT had outmaneuvered them from the draft onwards. In each video games, the LCK fourth seed staff’s compositions regarded sharper and extra cohesive, particularly when it got here to preventing round impartial targets, which High Esports did not match. They’d poor goal management within the first sport, with simply two Dragons and one within the subsequent sport, when the enemy secured the soul as nicely.
Homme additionally acknowledged that among the staff’s struggles stemmed from the draft itself, notably from his early resolution to lock in Jarvan IV, a decide that has but to search out success at Worlds 2025, at the moment sitting at 0–9. Nonetheless, the High Esports coach defined that the difficulty doesn’t lie with the champion itself, however moderately with the way it matches into the general staff composition.
“Jarvan IV, as a champion, doesn’t have any issues, however you positively can discover plenty of synergy with sure particular champions which you can play with Jarvan. He’s really lots higher to play at any time when the opponent has a low-mobility composition.”
In hindsight, Homme felt that his eagerness to safe the decide early within the draft may need been untimely. “I believe in the present day the error was that I picked him too quick (throughout the champ choose).”
With a number of different AD jungle champions just lately nerfed, Jarvan has grow to be a consolation possibility for a lot of groups, which is a pattern Homme now questions. “Currently, plenty of groups have been choosing him too shortly,” he admitted. “Lots of groups are simply choosing him [Jarvan IV] simply method too shortly. That’s not one thing you need to be doing.”
Regardless of the loss, Homme didn’t dwell on the frustration for lengthy and shortly shifted his focus towards enchancment. “I consider that I can positively study from this error,” Homme stated. “From right here on, it’s about making up for it, refining our method, and ensuring we’re well-prepared for the subsequent match.”
High Esports nonetheless have a path ahead within the Swiss Stage, however their margin for error is shrinking as stronger groups from the Swiss Stage will now stand in TES’s method to make their path to the knockouts troublesome. Nonetheless, if Homme’s introspection interprets into actuality and the staff solves their non permanent woes, they may simply grow to be the favorites to win all of it in China.
