Back in Black: KaBuM! Black’s Unlikely Journey to CBLoL Playoffs
Riot·3/20/2015, 9:51:35 PM·0 votes·2,283 views
Few sports narratives are as tried and true as taking down a long-standing rival or, in the case of League of Legends esports, one’s sister team.
In today’s competitive landscape, sister teams are all but a thing of the past. With Korea and China buckling down on the rule prohibiting organizations from owning more than one team in a league, the last bastion of sister teams is located in Brazil. This year’s CBLoL 2015 hosted two sister teams: the former Brazilian Regional Champion KaBuM! e-Sports Orange and their new sister, KaBuM! e-Sports Black. As the season ground to its conclusion, only one KaBuM! team would make the playoffs.
After qualifying for CBLoL with a rotating roster, Black's players continued to shift throughout the offseason. Following a 2nd place finish in the Circuito Game7 tournament, both Shadow and ReSEt left KaBuM! Black, citing homesickness and visa issues respectively.
With AD carry Rodrigo “Digolera” Haddad swapped to KaBuM! Orange, rumors arose that KaBuM! was simply treating Black as a farm team for their more famous sister. However, for Black, the search for a new, cohesive unit was well underway.
“We had Skybart, Matsukaze, and me on the roster in the beginning,” Espeon explains. “And then we decided to go and look for mid and jungle players. We had three mid players trying out and three for jungle.”
Daniel “Danagorn” Drummond, formerly of the KaBuM! team that attended the Season 4 World Championship landed in the jungle spot, while an unknown Solo Queue player Bruno “Goku” Miyaguchi was chosen for the mid lane.
“He was the only player who watched the other games,” Espeon said of Goku. “When we were trying out other mids, I said that ‘You can spectate if you want’ and he was the only one who watched the games. I thought he [showed] more interest than others. That’s what we need, people who want to be good.”
As the season progressed, it also became clear that AD carry Pedro “Matsukaze” Gama was a standout not only on Black, but in CBLoL overall. The marksman was quickly recognized for his exemplary defensive positioning, including a penchant for not dying. Through the course of Black’s 15 matches, he died only 14 times, earning an impressive 0.93 death ratio.
“Matsu came [as the] the perfect player already," Espeon said of his laning partner. "He came in like a three-year pro player. He’s more professional than most players and he doesn’t get nervous.”
“Our choices [for players] were really good, I guess,” Espeon added with a laugh. “They are doing really well.”
The easiest way for Black to make up for the point deficit lay in sweeping their opponents 2-0, as CBLoL is played in sets of two and rewards three points for every 2-0 victory, but only one point to each team for a tie. At the beginning of the split, pressure was mounting for Black as they continuously tied their sets, slowly crawling up the standings.
"Knocking out Orange was pretty good," Espeon said of his team's victory after the match.
Now, with their ticket to the playoffs punched, KaBuM! e-Sports Black looks ahead to their Quarterfinal matchup against CNB e-Sports Club on March 21. They'll need to set the pace early and teamfight during their power spikes if they want to get the best of their calculated opponent.
To see how KaBuM! fares in the CBLoL Quarterfinals, head over to the Riot Games Brazil Twitchchannel on March 21.
Rebuilding a team their way
KaBuM! e-Sports Black was formed around the veteran support player Martin “Espeon” Gonçalves and the remnants of Team 58ers, including former KT Rolster Arrows jungler Won “ReSEt” Jun-ho and Solo Queue mid laner Lee “Shadow” Min-ho. Unlike their sister team, who had auto-qualified for the 2015 CBLoL season thanks to their strong finish in last year’s competition, Black had to fight their way through a grueling qualifier that began with over 400 teams, all dreaming of a spot.
After qualifying for CBLoL with a rotating roster, Black's players continued to shift throughout the offseason. Following a 2nd place finish in the Circuito Game7 tournament, both Shadow and ReSEt left KaBuM! Black, citing homesickness and visa issues respectively.
With AD carry Rodrigo “Digolera” Haddad swapped to KaBuM! Orange, rumors arose that KaBuM! was simply treating Black as a farm team for their more famous sister. However, for Black, the search for a new, cohesive unit was well underway.
“We had Skybart, Matsukaze, and me on the roster in the beginning,” Espeon explains. “And then we decided to go and look for mid and jungle players. We had three mid players trying out and three for jungle.”
Daniel “Danagorn” Drummond, formerly of the KaBuM! team that attended the Season 4 World Championship landed in the jungle spot, while an unknown Solo Queue player Bruno “Goku” Miyaguchi was chosen for the mid lane.
“He was the only player who watched the other games,” Espeon said of Goku. “When we were trying out other mids, I said that ‘You can spectate if you want’ and he was the only one who watched the games. I thought he [showed] more interest than others. That’s what we need, people who want to be good.”
As the season progressed, it also became clear that AD carry Pedro “Matsukaze” Gama was a standout not only on Black, but in CBLoL overall. The marksman was quickly recognized for his exemplary defensive positioning, including a penchant for not dying. Through the course of Black’s 15 matches, he died only 14 times, earning an impressive 0.93 death ratio.
“Matsu came [as the] the perfect player already," Espeon said of his laning partner. "He came in like a three-year pro player. He’s more professional than most players and he doesn’t get nervous.”
“Our choices [for players] were really good, I guess,” Espeon added with a laugh. “They are doing really well.”
All for one and one for all
Due to their significant roster moves -- the only player remaining from the qualifying roster heading into the 2015 CBLoL season was Espeon -- Black was docked four points prior to the start of the season. In a league organized by a points system, with a maximum of three that could be earned in one week of play, it was large blow to the team. While Black had been aware of a looming penalty, and was ready to accept it, they hadn’t anticipated one so steep.
The easiest way for Black to make up for the point deficit lay in sweeping their opponents 2-0, as CBLoL is played in sets of two and rewards three points for every 2-0 victory, but only one point to each team for a tie. At the beginning of the split, pressure was mounting for Black as they continuously tied their sets, slowly crawling up the standings.
Team Kill
KaBuM! Black was able to dig themselves out of their hole in the first few weeks of CBLoL 2015 with a split against JAYOB in the first week and a sweep of Dexterity in the second. Heading into their third week with zero points, they split their set with paiN Gaming. The tie placed them in sixth place, which was dangerous since the two lowest ranked teams must compete against Challenger teams for a spot in the next split. “I think our playstyle right now is a double-edged sword," Espeon said of their tendency to tie. "Either we stomp or we get stomped. We are not good at losing, and we are really good when we are winning. We know how to play when we have a lead, but sometimes we throw because we are not as experienced as other teams.” Also hovering just outside of the danger zone was their experienced sister team, KaBuM! Orange. The stage was set for the two teams to meet in Week 4, with Black desperately needing the sweep. Black appeared shaky in the first game, showing a lack of coordination in teamfights that was uncharacteristic of the team. On the back of mid laner Thiago “TinOwns” Utino’s 7/1/13 Ahri and jungler Daniel “Dans” Dias’ best performance to date, Orange took a point from their sister team in a messy Game 1. Things continued to look bleak for Black in Game 2 until the nine-minute mark, when Espeon’s Janna turned a disadvantageous jungle skirmish into a triple-kill for top laner Mateus “SkyBart” Neves' Gnar. From that point on, Black took control of the game’s tempo, besting Orange to split the set 1-1.One KaBuM shall pass
As the sister teams prepared to go into their finals matches of the regular season, Orange had some last minute roster changes. With AD carry Rodrigo “Digolera” Haddad leaving the team, they swapped Dans back to his former position of support, while their support player Márco “Eryon” Reis moved to the ADC position. Solo queue player Bruno “bruNo” Oliveira took the role of jungler. Due to the late nature of these changes, they were penalized two points. With a new lineup of their own, JAYOB cut their teeth on the new KaBuM! Orange in the last set, managing to take one game. With Orange’s 1-1 split against JAYOB in the waning hours of CBLoL 2015’s first stage, and Black’s 0-2 loss to first-place INTZ e-Sports, the last and final Playoff spot came down to a tiebreaker between the two KaBuM! teams: Orange, the former International Wildcard winner, and Black who, for once and for all, aimed to shed their image as Orange’s shadow. The 47:57 minute game that followed showcased Black’s superior objective control and team fighting. They chose a double AD composition with Goku taking Corki mid and Matsukaze on Graves. This was supplemented by AP damage from SkyBart’s Rumble and Danagorn’s jungle Nidalee. In a patient and deliberate match, Black picked apart their sister team. The breaking point came around the 42 minute-mark, with an ill-fated Zenith Blade from Dans onto Danagorn under Black’s mid turret. This forced Orange’s top laner Pedro “LEP” Marcari to use Lulu’s Wild Growth onto Dans’ Leona, rather than one of his damage-dealing teammates. Espeon tanked Orange’s damage with Braum, while the poke from Goku and Danagorn on Corki and Nidalee respectively cleaned up the fight. Approximately six minutes later, Black emerged victorious, and was bound for the Quarterfinals.
"Knocking out Orange was pretty good," Espeon said of his team's victory after the match.
Now, with their ticket to the playoffs punched, KaBuM! e-Sports Black looks ahead to their Quarterfinal matchup against CNB e-Sports Club on March 21. They'll need to set the pace early and teamfight during their power spikes if they want to get the best of their calculated opponent.
To see how KaBuM! fares in the CBLoL Quarterfinals, head over to the Riot Games Brazil Twitchchannel on March 21.