Samsung vs SKT 2016-2017: the definitive rivalry

The setup: the king and the challenger

In 2016 SK Telecom T1 defended the crown and Samsung Galaxy — CuVee, Ambition, Crown, Ruler, CoreJJ — was the team that had lost the previous final and returned obsessed: dethrone Faker.

Nobody expected what came at the Staples Center in Los Angeles: five maps on the edge of a heart attack.

2016: the most famous 3-2 ever

SKT went 2-0 comfortably. Samsung, against the ropes, took games three and four with a huge Crown and an Ambition finally winning the jungle duel against Bengi and Blank. Game five, with Faker on Orianna and an imperial Bang, fell to the king: 3-2 SKT.

It is the final many vote as the best ever played: ten players at their peak, five maps, zero redemption for the loser.

2017: the perfect revenge

A year later, in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest, the same final repeated. And Samsung did the unthinkable: a surgical 3-0 with CuVee destroying Huni, Ruler’s Varus landing a legendary arrow and Crown beating Faker in the duel of destiny.

The image of Faker crying in his chair after game three is the most human and painful in esports history.

Why it matters

These two finals are sport’s two faces: the epic of the surviving champion (2016) and the justice of the challenger who learns and strikes back (2017). Across both there are eight maps every fan should watch and rate.

Two years, two finals, the same ten names. There was never a rivalry like it.

Time to vote

Find the LA 2016 and Beijing 2017 games in the matches section and score them: was 2016’s game five better than 2017’s game three?