Summit’s High Percentage of Team’s Deaths That Mattered

Its year four of Park “Summit” Woo-tae.

Four years.

A player commonly projected for a breakout season in Korea has yet to overcome the high expectations he presented for himself after his rookie year. From nearly making it to Worlds to two relatively disappointing seasons, there’s been a lot to digest regarding his level play. But the world is still optimistic. More specifically, Cloud9 is betting on him to reach a new level in his game.

Should we still be expecting something greater from him after three years?

There’s the argument that an old dog can learn new tricks. In the summer of 2021, Summit did something pretty impressive. He managed to put together a 10-3 record on Gnar in the regular season. That is impressive in its own right for a team 26-21 during the summer split. It is even more impressive when it comes with the understanding that prior to this point in time, he had 6 wins, 11 losses on the champion — compromised mostly of his 5-9 record on Gnar in the 2021 spring split.

Summit has been protected a fair amount for most of his career. SANDBOX weren’t necessarily a great team — they were just okay. Because of their status as mostly being compromised of young talent, there was a sense of understanding regarding their early mishaps. Despite attempts being made to bolster the roster around a player perceived to be a fledging star, it never came about. 2020 would be a disaster for the team — with the increased expectations after their 2019 and the return of Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun to the LCK. The team would attempt to find the right formula — making several roster changes and nothing really came of it. In fact, Summit was the only player to never be subbed out on SANDBOX during his time with the organization. Every other role saw a mid-season adjustment.

But Summit would produce statistics that would make the case for why he should stay. During his career, he has averaged laning leads, has been involved with kills and puts out respectable damage per minute numbers.

Yet, we overlook some of the more concerning statistics.

For example, Summit had the most deaths among top-laners in the LCK for the 2021 summer split (148). This was also the second most among all participants in the LCK — although he did play a total of 47 games. Raw number statistics don’t necessarily play well — given the fact that there is a variance in games play. But it sets the stage for the more surprising statistic: a 26.1% of his team’s overall deaths. This is the second highest among all participants in the LCK — second behind fellow top-laners. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha.

Its a statistic that compliments narratives incredibly well. There’s one narrative that his team sucked and he would be on the receiving end of a ton of focus. But there’s also the narrative that a player can be making a ton of errors.

That’s the narrative we’re going to talk about.

At best, Summit has a Damian Lillard vibe to him. There’s a lot of great qualities to his game, great moments to define him. But he isn’t necessarily someone you can list as a centerpiece or shouldn’t necessarily built around. He’s more of a complimentary piece that is still talented. He can be a great statistic guy but the statistics can be relatively meaningless or vacuous — even on a night where he can drop 50+ points and put the Blazers on his back. You think you want him to be the star, but in reality, you don’t.

You like the thought of Summit to be the star carry but in practice, he’s probably meant to be the second or third best player on your team.

In the summer split, Summit ranked sixth among LCK top laners in damage per minute (470). Despite participating in 65.2% of his teams kills — fourth highest among LCK top laners — he wasn’t necessarily a big player in terms of damage output. He would rank in the middle of the pack regarding average damage per team fight. Summit also wasn’t a standout in lane. Despite ranking in the top half of the pack in jungle presence among top laners, he only managed to average minor leads.

It has been a theme throughout his career. There isn’t a ton of deviation in the statistics.

But again, this isn’t really a bad thing. Any player that is averaging positive laning numbers is deserving of a spot in professional League of Legends. We’re just talking about potential.

Cloud9’s head coach Nick “LS” De Cesare would deliver a tweet speaking on how people are underestimating Summit is. And from the statistics, it is difficult to tell where that breakthrough will be.

And remembering some of his moments in professional play, it is tough to see elementary mistakes this far along in his career. Mistakes like getting caught out, attempting to turn things around by wasting his flash and his ultimate in Game 3 of the Summer Playoffs quarterfinals. Or mistakes like miscommunicating with his team and giving over shutdown gold to GenG. Or a missed ultimate in a critical late-game team fight.

When thinking about his performance in wins versus losses, it becomes more evident he’s built to have a lesser role. He’s able to coast by in the mid-to-late game if there is comfort in the early game. He doesn’t have to do as much.

Which is why the optimism around Cloud9 makes sense. He’s joining a situation where he’s arguably not going to have to be the best player on the roster. Would it be nice if he is? Sure. But the attention is going to focus on how well the mid and the marksman can live up to expectations.

Its kind of a sweet deal. 

However, it does beg the question regarding the value in bringing in someone like Summit. Not only is Summit taking up an import slot, there’s the financial cost. Cloud9 and company will find out relatively early if the value is needed. With so many moving pieces with the organization, so many questions, it makes them one of the most interesting stories for the 2022 year. Its also what makes one of the more complicated stories in 2022.

If Summit can simply hold his own, he’s golden. Cloud9 simply needs him to just not die in the top lane, rotate for fights and throw down some decent skill shots. But those aren’t the expectations. Building him as a star signing, building him up to show the world something different — it doesn’t help. And especially for a player that hasn’t necessarily answered the call to action, it feels like a stretch.

But maybe, just maybe, the Cult of LS Kool-Aid can solve all issues.

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