It is unclear what specific reason has caused many Western League of Legends streamers to flock to the Korean server to rank up recently. First was TF Blade with a playstyle focused on spamming Irelia, Jax, and Tryndamere, who climbed to top 4 Challenger in Korea. Next was TheBausffs, nicknamed “The Sion Assassin,” who also reached Grandmaster on this server. And most recently, Tyler1 announced that he would head to Korea to climb to Challenger at the end of this month.
However, right after Tyler1’s announcement, many people believed that the “toxic god” would not be able to successfully climb to Challenger on the Korean server. Even LS, an American who has lived in Korea for many years, suggested that Tyler1 would not be able to complete this challenge. The main reason LS pointed out is that players at the Silver, Gold, and Platinum ranks in Korea have much better skills than the players Tyler has faced.
LS: “I just watched Tyler1’s video about him coming to Korea to climb to Challenger. Honestly, I don’t think Tyler1 can do that, no offense. Basically, Tyler1 ranks up by outsmarting all the other players on the North American server. However, players at Silver, Gold, and Platinum ranks in Korea have much higher skills compared to NA.
Indeed, the tactical thinking and macro of those players might still be poor at mid-tier ranks, but their skills are extremely high. Therefore, Tyler1 will find it hard to escape that rank when battling on the Korean server.”
In reality, the skill gap of Korean players at solo queue has been acknowledged for a long time. A Western streamer, Yamikaze, once stated in an interview with Inven Global that players at Gold/Platinum ranks here have significantly higher skills than those at Diamond in NA. Therefore, ranking up on the Korean server has never been easy for Western streamers like Tyler1.
Additionally, another factor that may hinder Tyler1’s ranking is his choice of Tarzaned as his companion on this upcoming trip to Korea. It should be noted that both Tyler1 and Tarzaned have publicly criticized each other and exchanged insults on stream, so harmony between them seems unlikely. We can completely envision a scenario where these two argue on stream, leading one of them to head back to North America midway through.
