Hey Legends, this is 🐤Quacky. Back with another exciting episode. In our last ep.0, we explained about playtypes, and today we’re going to dive a bit deeper into one of those types: Skirmishing.

Skirmishing is all about those small-scale clashes where two or more players bump into each other and duke it out for a bit. These skirmishes are most common during the early laning phase and can take many forms, like ganking, tower diving, roaming, and 2v2 situations in the bot lane.

Since these situations pop up during the early laning phase, they're often kicked off by the jungler. The jungler is the strategist of the early game, after all. They've got to keep an eye on their teammates' lanes, plan out their ganks, and control objectives to give their team the upper hand. If you're a jungler, or if you're a fan of a jungler, you might want to start a collection of Skirmish cards from LCK junglers.

Speaking of junglers, I've picked out a card featuring a ganking scene from the jungler known as the "Pathing Magician," BRO's UmTi.

True to his nickname, UmTi from BRO was able to read KDF's bot lane situation and ward placement, and cleverly used their blind spots to his advantage. He made a daring move, flashing over from the dragon pit, catching KDF's bot lane off guard and cutting off their escape. Using Maokai jungle's reliable crowd control and Q ability (Bramble Smash) to interrupt dashes, he calmly stopped TaeYoon's Zeri's E ability (Flame Chompers!) who didn't have a cleanse spell, and landed his root with W ability (Twisted Advance), pulling off a successful gank.

Next up, I've got a few skirmish cards from the SATURDAY SHOWDOWN T1 vs DK match, which determined the sole leader of the second week.

This match was a nail-biter, with two strong contenders for the Spring Season championship going head-to-head. The match went to three sets, with multiple reversals of fortune that kept fans on the edge of their seats.

The final set was a fiery one right from the start. The bot lane compositions of both teams were crucial in this match. DK picked a safe yet high-value bot lane combination of Zeri-Lulu, while T1’s bot lane duo countered with the strong laning champion Draven and the first ever LCK support Kalista.

The bot lane duo of T1, needing to gain an early advantage and snowball, initiated aggressive trades from level 1. However, the savvy jungler Canyon from DK, anticipating this, attempted a level 2 gank right after his red buff, successfully taking down Gumayusi and giving DK's bot lane an early boost.

With the Zeri-Lulu combo gaining an early advantage and accelerating their growth, the only way for T1's bot lane to turn the tables was to win a 2v2 skirmish. However, having already lost the initiative and being behind in items, it was a tough task for even the powerful Draven-Kalista combo to defeat DK's bot lane on their own.

At this point, Faker's Kassadin, with the help of Oner's gank, hit level 6 first in mid and roamed bot, securing a triple kill. This gave T1's bot lane a slight experience advantage, allowing them to hit level 6 first and opening up the possibility of turning the tide in the bot lane.

At the 8-minute mark, DK's bot lane duo had 3 kills, 2 deaths, 3 assists, and a heal spell, while T1's bot lane duo had 0 kills, 2 deaths, and 4 assists. Despite being at a disadvantage, the bot lane duo of T1, knowing they could hit level 6 first due to their experience advantage, initiated a 2v2 skirmish as soon as they leveled up.

Gumayusi, transformed into a critter by Lulu's W ability (Whimsy), was not only dealing less damage but was also at risk of being one-sidedly attacked. However, Keria's Kalista covered this crisis with her ultimate ability, while Gumayusi's Draven jumped directly onto Zeri, successfully landing a knock-up. He then quickly created distance with Flash and executed Zeri with his ultimate ability, managing to kill Lulu as well, who hadn't yet reached level 6. With their ultimate abilities and a narrow victory in the 2v2 skirmish, T1 was able to quickly snowball the game, ultimately securing the victory and rising to the top of the standings in the second week.

That's all for our EP.1 highlight selection and review of the Skirmish play type. In EP.2, we'll be focusing on the highlight selection and review of the Solo Kill play type, the crown jewel of laning and a symbol of dominance. We hope you'll stay tuned!

KEEP IT LEGENDARY, everyone!
🐤Quacky