SK Gaming is a founding member of the League of Legends European Championship, formerly known as the EU LCS, which was renamed to reflect its new identity and organization in 2019.

The 2023 LEC Winter Split was without a doubt SK Gaming’s most prosperous split in almost a decade. For the first time since 2015, The League of Legends squad advanced to the top four of the European playoff tournament and narrowly avoided eliminating eventual runners-up MAD Lions.

SK had a 12-8 record in individual contest this season. The team has not experienced a winning campaign for eight years, and this year’s SK Gaming team hasn’t finished a season with more wins than deaths in nearly a decade.

Since having a team-wide KD that was just slightly above 1.0 in 2014, SK has not had a favorable KD ratio. The squad had 1086 wins and 1047 deaths in that year, and SK hasn’t had another year quite as productive since. One could argue that 2014 was the company’s last successful year. SK finished third in the summer split and second in the spring split of that year. In addition, the group’s most recent League World Cup qualification came in 2014.

Since that season, the team has gone without a winning record, but this year’s Winter Split performance has placed them on an early track to run through 2023 with a winning record and a positive KD-provided they can keep up their present level of play, of course. According to League data website Oracle’s Elixir, SK has a KD ratio of 1.15 across its squad through their first 20 games of 2023.

SK’s support Doss, who has a season-high personal KDA of 6.3, is the single player who has had the biggest impact on SK’s favorable KD ratio. Additionally, according to Oracle, SK has a 1.15 team-wide KD, which is second-best in the LEC only to G2 Esports, who have a blazing percentage of 1.58 for the year.

Expectations

SK has already exceeded expectations in 2023 despite being predicted as a potential postseason bystander during the summer. When the 2023 LEC Spring Split starts on March 11, they will have the opportunity to continue where they left off.