Once one of the most feared teams in the world, Flash Wolves have gone through tough times this year. Not only did they fail to win the LMS Summer Split for the first time since 2015, they did not even qualify for the second stage and finished at a disastrous sixth spot in the regular season.
Their poor results were brought about by the departure of some key members during the 2018 off-season, when their support player Hu ��SwordArt�� Shuo-Chieh and mid-laner Huang ��Maple�� Yi-Tang left to continue their careers at Suning in the LPL. The Taiwanese team had already lost star jungler Hung ��Karsa�� Hao-Hsuan in late 2017.
After parting ways with Karsa, Maple and SwordArt, Flash Wolves were left without any real quality in their team. However, their roster issues were not the only thing that contributed to the team’s disbandment,
As already revealed in late September, the LMS and LST will merge to form the Pacific League Championship Series (PCS) in a bid to make the region more competitive on the global stage. However, financial restraints and lack of funding have taken a significant toll on teams and players from weaker leagues such as the LMS and OPL.
Flash Wolves’ venture into the competitive LoL scene started in April 2013, when yoe IRONMEN were formed by drafting nine players from the Taiwan eSports League Draft. Their first official tournament was the TeSL Professional Challenges in July the same year, where yoe IRONMEN placed dead-last with a 4-21 record.
Despite their dismissal results, the team was invited to the Season 3 Taiwan Regional Finals, where they went on to qualify for the playoffs. However, due to the departure of four members, yoe IRONMEN were unable to continue competing in the tournament and had to drop out.
In October 2013, yoe IRONMEN reformed their roster by signing the recently disbanded Gamania Bears and rebranded themselves as yoe Flash Wolves. They held onto that name until 2015, when they dropped the sponsorship and became known simply as Flash Wolves.
The same year, Flash Wolves participated at the LoL World Championship, where they went above and beyond all expectations. Seen by many analysts as one of the weakest teams at the tournament, Flash Wolves not only made it out of the group ahead of KOO Tigers, paiN Gaming and CLG, they also became the first team in two years to finish above a Korean team in the LoL Worlds group stage.
That run to the quarter-finals remains Flash Wolves’ biggest achievement on the international stage. Other notable results include their IEM Season 11 World Championship title, third-fourth finishes at MSI 2016, 2017 and 2018, and seven LMS titles, making Flash Wolves the most successful team in LoL Master Series history.
Historically the most dominant team in League of Legends esports, T1 are enduring a rather up and down season. After an excellent showing at the LCK Spring Split, the South Koreans did not perform as well as they had hoped at the Mid-Season Invitational, where they had to admit defeat to eventual champions G2 Esports (2-3) in the semi-finals.
Four weeks into the LCK Summer Split, SKT T1 sit in seventh place with a 3-5 record and 35% win rate. While they started their campaign with a win against Jin Air Green Wings (2-0), SKT found themselves kneeling down to Afreeca Freecs (1-2) only two days later. That marked the beginning of a horror run that saw the Asian giants enter week four with five consecutive defeats to their name. They found their rhythm with wins over KT Rolster (2-0) and Gen.G (2-0), but the bitter taste of that losing streak lingers still.
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Flash Wolves entered MSI 2019 with high hopes but failed to deliver, finishing the group stage in second-last place with only three wins. They defeated Phong Vu Buffalos (2-0) and even managed to grab a win from eventual finalists Team Liquid. So while Wolves ended up losing most of their matches, they left a mark nonetheless with some good performances against the better teams.
It is a similar story in the LMS Summer Split, where Wolves sit at the bottom of the table with a 1-5 record after three weeks. Although that looks like a dire form line, the truth is they have performed well but failed to close out matches.
Wolves played like champions in their most recent fixture against Alpha Esports, who had no answer to their opponents’ early aggression. In the match prior, however, the Taiwanese let a good lead slip in game one against Hong Kong Attitude and then conceded an ace in the 18th minute of game two to go down by a big margin.
SKT T1 vs Flash Wolves betting predictions
When SKT T1 and Flash Wolves met each other at MSI 2019, we saw a rather one-sided fixture that ended in favour of the Koreans. However, recent form suggests T1 will not have it so easy at Rift Rivals.
Flash Wolves do not have the best record either, but what they do have is the element of surprise. As a team that is known to approach games aggressively, they will try to grab an early lead against an SKT T1 side that prefers to open up late in the game. T1 are still favourites due to their star-filled roster and experience, but Wolves are not quite such underdogs as the odds suggest.
This one could go either way. SKT T1 might have a slight advantage, but the $4.00 odds on Flash Wolves are well worth the risk in a Bo1 match.
Prediction: Flash Wolves to win – $4.00 at GG Bet
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