For the first time in history, the LCK (League of Legends Champions Korea) and LCP (League of Legends Championship Pacific) have introduced “Coach Comms,” a feature that will allow coaches to communicate with their team during tournament matches. Will the extra guidance allow some teams to thrive? Will it provide any unfair advantages?
The rules around Coach Comms in League of Legends
Have you ever seen “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Remember that lifeline option that let contestants phone a friend? That’s close to what we’re dealing with in LCK and LCP tournaments this season, rather than a full-on onslaught of coaching throughout a game.
Instead of having an open line of communication, coaches will be able to communicate with the players up to three times in each game, and they can only talk for 45 seconds during each of those instances. Although limited, it’s still more than before, when coaches could only talk to players ahead of a match.
Will Coach Comms make a difference?
During the initial implementation of Coach Comms, South Korean teams and their coaches weighed in on the new feature. The overall consensus is that Coach Comms could be helpful in specific circumstances, but may actually hinder the team.
KT Rolster’s Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong found comms to be “very useful” for instances when coaches want to make sure the players are sticking to a discussed plan. BNK FearX’s head coach Park “Edo” Jun-seok expressed similar sentiments, feeling like a coach could offer some quick insight on strategy if the team is beginning to show stress during chaotic moments.
However, a coach butting in at random mid-match could actually do more harm than good. Most high-level League of Legends teams have very quick and constant communication between teammates, and a coach suddenly cutting in could disrupt the flow of the team’s communication and possibly distract them from the strategy.
For this reason, a lot of the best teams in South Korea didn’t even try Coach Comms. League of Legends icon, T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok said during an interview following the LCK Cup that Coach Comms could possibly “point out things” that teams are missing, but “can also break the flow and make it harder to maintain focus”.
Teammate Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun had similar thoughts, stating that T1 doesn’t use Coach Comms since it could distract the players. In fact, some League of Legends fans believe that Coach Comms was added to help other teams compete with T1, which has some of the best shot callers in the entire esports scene.
It’s worth pointing out that this view is not universal – Hanwha Life Esports’ head coach Yoon “Homme” Sung-youn echoed T1’s thoughts, saying that adding one more voice to the mix could be a distraction.
At this point in Coach Comms’ implementation, it appears unlikely to make a real difference to such high-level teams. Coaches throwing out random plays or strategies mid-game could break the team’s concentration and cause them to panic during the pivot. However, Coach Comms could possibly be used to boost team morale or help with the mental side of the game, keeping players from feeling too much pressure or frustration.
For now, Riot Games wants to collect feedback from the LCK and LCP before it makes a decision on keeping Coach Comms in its esports tournaments. Until then, it seems T1 will continue its dominance in the region (and beyond). However, other LCK teams are showing they can keep up – even without the same level of communication – including Ddplus Kia (who beat T1 in the Split 1 Lower Bracket Semi-Finals match) and Gen.G Esports.
Faker noted that the T1 team made plenty of mistakes throughout Split 1; however, one aspect was solid: “Today, my mid–jungle synergy with Oner was good, and I think our communication and the way we managed the game flow were solid.”
The team’s communication remains consistent, even when matches aren’t going their way.
Keep in mind, though, that T1 often brings inconsistent showings in its own region. Oftentimes, T1 looks like it may finally be losing its edge, only to come out swinging later in the year when Worlds 2026 is looming.
Maybe T1 will consider implementing the Coach Comms feature after all.
