VKE Suffers a Crushing Defeat in Their CKTG 2024 Debut
In SofM’s first return to CKTG, he and his team faced a formidable opponent, the MAD Lions KOI – a team from the LEC. Although they had to participate in the Play-In stage, it doesn’t mean that the “Mad Lions” are weak opponents. MAD started from the Play-In simply because the LEC only has three slots, and they were one of the last three teams remaining in the final rounds of the LEC Summer 2024. Therefore, while hopes were high for VKE to win, everyone understood that the chances for SofM’s squad were very slim.
The reality of the match showed that MAD was still too strong while VKE made numerous mistakes. Not to mention, both Nanaue and Gury lacked much international tournament experience, which was a significant disadvantage for VKE. In both games, perhaps only Shogun managed to maintain a somewhat high level of performance. Both Kati and Bie also had quite a few moments of error. And MAD only needed that to end VKE’s chances of victory.
The Community Believes VKE Made the Same Mistake as T1 at CKTG 2024
According to viewers, aside from specific errors that occurred during the match, VKE made a significant mistake against MAD: The VCS representative failed to anticipate that the “Mad Lions” would employ a lane swap strategy. This is quite similar to T1 when Faker and his teammates were extremely confused at MSI 2024, extending to the Summer Split just last season. In fact, this lane swap strategy completely neutralized the strength of teams with a strong bot lane, and T1, now VKE, fell victim to it.
MAD’s lane swap also exploited VKE’s weaknesses, particularly the lack of experience and the insufficiently honed mentality of Nanaue. Although there were moments in the match when this young player regained some advantages, it still felt too little, and it can be said that VKE’s defeat resembled the collapse of a domino chain, with the frustrating lane swap strategy being the root of it all.