Riot Games has been teasing the six new skins for SK Telecom, who won their third League Of Legends World Championship in 2016. Fans have been waiting quite a while to get their hands on these shiny duds representing Faker, Bang and the rest of the extended SKT Roster. There’s even a ward skin for Kkoma, SKT’s coach and inspirational leader.
This is the third set of skins for SK Telecom; the team has won three out five of the League Of Legends World Championships. At this point, you’d think Riot Games would have run out of ways to show off the same players, but you’d be more wrong than a Bronze Yasuo thinking he can dive a whole enemy team.
When the 2015 World Championship skins were originally announced, reception was lukewarm at best. Only one of the skins had a recall animation, Easyhoon, SKT’s sixth player and an important part of their domination, was nowhere to be seen and the skins were boring to look at. Riot listened to the community and remade them, releasing skins for a full six-man roster that even the most hardcore of fans could appreciate.
It’s clear this time around that Riot and their artistic department really thought about creating something unique (and didn’t want to mess up royally again), centering each skin’s aesthetic around SK Telecom’s individual players. For last year’s skins, SKT’s players were tasked with creating recalls for their individual champions, which brought a new sense of personality to the game. As a viewer, I rarely associate a champion with an actual player (outside of Froggen and Anivia) but these skins changed that. When I see SKT Ryze do his signature tumble recall, I feel Faker’s Challenger-tier power flow through me.
Like last year, Riot asked SKT’s players to perform their own recalls, but on a much larger scale. For the 2015 set, videos were taken on a cellphone then transferred into the game. The movements weren’t very elaborate, and everything was kept simple to minimize the risk of trying something new. For the 2016 celebration, Riot decided to put a bit more fanfare into it. Each player choreographed their movements, trying to create something unique for the champion. Nami lays on a bed of rice, Olaf rages so hard he breaks his computer and Syndra flaunts her balls.
My favorite League Of Legends skins have always been the ones that make me connect with the champion. Applying a black palette change on Blitzcrank is nice, but Boom Boom Blitzcrank has seen some shit. I picture myself running around the rift like it was a boxing ring, grabbing anyone silly enough to walk near my fists of fury. New skins, like the SKT 2016 World Championship and Demonblade Yasuo, fit that fantasy, allowing summoners to customize their favorite champions.
Riot Games is a very lucrative company that makes most of its money off skins, so they want to do everything in their power to make them as enticing as possible. Releasing a product with a world champion’s input gives credibility to the skin. It’s the same reason sports fans wear jerseys of their favorite players; you can never be as good as Derek Jeter but maybe his spirit will fuel your game. Bang, Duke, Wolf, Kkkoma and Faker all like these, could some of their skill rub off of you?
Do you like the League Of Legends SK Telecom 2016 World Championship skins? Tell us in the comments.
