Have Korean teams ever invented anything?

Or do they just copy from Western teams and run it better?

I've seen this claim a few times but I don't follow enough pro play to get it.

In particular I would appreciate if anyone can post some detailed evidence (tourney / match links).

Thanks and have a great day!

Nano- Symmetra Pre-Rework

Is there evidence they copied western teams’ play?

penda [#3]

Is there evidence they copied western teams’ play?

I think a better word than "copied" would be popularized. AFAIK dive wasn't huge in Korea until Rouge used it in APEX. Though APEX was the only tournament I watched in Korea, so take that with a grain of salt.

One thing to note is that Pros of any region will eventually all end up using what would be considered the optimal meta with some variations so the notion that one region is "copying" another is a bit odd.

As far as I can see from watching EU/NA, CN and KR, it seems that KR is typically slower to adopt "new metas" if they're not forced to. One possibility is that they're unwilling to use it in tournament play until they're confident that they can be as effective as possible on them.

It's hard to say without access to scrim data on all regions simultaneously to see who is using what. The question of if they've ever come up with their own thing or if they've just been copying other regions is a bit of an odd one in and of itself since in the end it doesn't really matter.

KuroiRyuu9625 [#5]

One thing to note is that Pros of any region will eventually all end up using what would be considered the optimal meta with some variations so the notion that one region is "copying" another is a bit odd.

As far as I can see from watching EU/NA, CN and KR, it seems that KR is typically slower to adopt "new metas" if they're not forced to. One possibility is that they're unwilling to use it in tournament play until they're confident that they can be as effective as possible on them.

It's hard to say without access to scrim data on all regions simultaneously to see who is using what. The question of if they've ever come up with their own thing or if they've just been copying other regions is a bit of an odd one in and of itself since in the end it doesn't really matter.

Any details on this?

it seems that KR is typically slower to adopt "new metas" if they're not forced to

the meta athena mei strats

why do u need to invent something when u just pick the best heroes in the game ???

Koreans invented many tweaks and variations on "dive", which is such a broad category that it should be divided up and the innovators given their due. Also, they p much innovated in the apex S1 playoffs as fast as nV, just a couple steps behind on execution and coordination.

Plasma [#4]

I think a better word than "copied" would be popularized. AFAIK dive wasn't huge in Korea until Rouge used it in APEX. Though APEX was the only tournament I watched in Korea, so take that with a grain of salt.

Actually, by the time Rogue got to APEX S3 the Korean Scene had already tried and pretty much discarded triple DPS dive in favor of D.Va, and for a while at that. It's one of the reasons they were able to handle Rogue relatively easily even though they were a great team.

Those also happened to be the future winner and runners-up of the tournament so that's another big factor.

Plasma [#4]

I think a better word than "copied" would be popularized. AFAIK dive wasn't huge in Korea until Rouge used it in APEX. Though APEX was the only tournament I watched in Korea, so take that with a grain of salt.

Dive was popular even in apex season 2. Most teams were using it then.

Thanks for the responses!

Since no one has posted any detailed evidence or explanations either way, I'll disregard the statements I linked to (as well as all other sweeping generalizations about "regional meta dynamics") for now.