PSA: Don't forget to ban Akali on Ranked Games

On June 25th (KST), in the match between Jin Air Green Wings and Samsung Galaxy, Akali made her comeback to LCK after 989 days of absence through JAG Iksoo "Ikssu" Jeon in the second game of the match. Not only Ikssu's Akali allowed JAG to take the match to Game 3, but she also gave Ikssu the first Pentakill of the split.

Although the match eventually ended in SSG's favor, SSG was still not happy about how Game 2 turned out, and they mostly blamed their own mistakes for Akali thriving in the game.

In the press interview after the match, Ambition identified what they should've done to stop Akali from wrecking havoc. "I wasn't sure about the matchups, but CuVee was sure that he could counter her with Kled. The laning phase went well, but I think we eventually lost because I couldn't keep him from being ganked that cost us the first turret and wasted away a teleport to the bot lane."

Edgar, SSG's head coach, expressed a similar opinion during the interview with OGN. "I knew [Ikssu] played it a lot in the ranked games. I thought Kled would have been enough to stop her, but I think it was more about our mistake costing us the game rather than Akali being a clutch pick. We've actually went over this during practice, but... I don't think we've shown everything that we could."

Nonetheless, Korean fans went wild over the summer split's first pentakill being scored by Akali at hands of Ikssu.

Some found it amusing that SSG's mid Fiora was largely forgotten, but the most of the fans were just thrilled at the idea of non-meta champion dominating an LCK game. "This is the first time that I actually screamed during an LCK match." "Congratulations for Pentakill!" "You have to do a Nurse Akali cosplay!" "Remember SSG picking Akali back in the Worlds? Karma finally caught up."

More level headed responses were there too, "Akali is actually the best champion to score a pentakill with in that situation." "If CuVee went with Fiora on the top lane, the game could have been worse for SSG. Akali is really a difficult opponent to lane against as Fiora."

One thing is for sure though. Ranked games will be full of top lane Akalis. Borrowing a phrase from a Korean player - "Don't forget to ban Akali in Ranked Games!"