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Echo Fox: An Undeserved Tragedy

E Man forever·7/24/2019, 5:10:02 PM·15 votes·8,412 views

With the liquidation of Echo Fox all but confirmed, let’s look back at what was and what went wrong.

In order to understand this Shakespearean tragedy, load onto the Rift and travel back in time to the back end of the year 2015. A time when Dyrus just retired and Team Liquid were the ultimate underachievers and always finished 4th. Around this time, former NBA Lakers player Rick Fox noticed how much his son was into League of Legends. This sparked a dream he would do anything to achieve. Along the way he would also become a Lucian one-trick stuck in the doldrums of Elo-Hell.

He got his roster into the 2016 Spring Split. While there was promise, they lacked a true star besides Froggen. They went a below average 6-12 record, narrowly dodging relegations.

Sure they were stuck in mediocrity in Spring, but you have something to build off of for the summer right? 0-1. 0-3. 1-5. 1-10. 1-17. I mean you at least survived relegation.

This pattern of underachieving and/or mediocrity was a constant for any iteration of the squad.

From 2017 onwards, Echo Fox would show flashes of potential at the beginning of most split’s (mainly the spring) and then fall off a cliff.

With franchising in 2018 Echo Fox needed investors and shareholders to pay for the expensive entry fees. One of these shareholders would be the demise of this organization.

Despite Froggen taking a hiatus for 2018. Fox was undeterred to achieve his dream. He revamped the roster with fresh talent and star power with Dardoch, Fenix, and Altec. The big prize however was Huni who, while volatile, gave Echo Fox a threat that needed to be kept in check or else he would take over games. This was the year the squad went all in.

At the start of the Spring Split this squad was performing as well as if not better than advertised dominating the likes of C9 and TSM. Towards the end of the split, cracks started to show in their foundations and had to settle for the consolation of a disappointing 3rd place.

This lead to an even more disappointing summer split with constant roster shuffles. Damonte was probably not experienced enough on the big stage and Lost was only a threat on Varus.

TSM became their boogeymen as they ended both their summer playoff run and Worlds aspirations with painful defeats in both series. With each game you could see the life of Echo Fox die in real time as they went from being cocky to going into desperation mode faster than the average Immortals game length.

Huni had enough of the situation and signed with Clutch Gaming leaving the 2019 squad to be much weaker.

This year’s Spring Split Echo Fox lost in the playoffs to you guessed it TSM. Not only did they punch you in the mouth, but they also broke your back, ripped your soul out, salted the Earth so nothing ever grows, and banished you to the shadow realm.

What you thought I was being sarcastic, they’re 3-11 right now and represents the implosion that is going on inside Echo Fox itself right now.

I recommend you play this for the tragedy you’re about to read.

https://m.youtube.com/watchv=YAIb3lqWBIU&list=PLoEIZ4ULmT4bDlL46WHIRt02cQLKzMSab&index=29

On April 19th this year, one Echo Fox shareholder by the name of Amit Raizada sent racist remarks and threats to Rick Fox and his family via email.

The League responded to this event on May 15 by giving Echo Fox an ultimatum. Expunge your shareholder within 60 days or face disciplinary action.

The shareholder refused to budge and there was nothing Echo Fox can do. Rubbing salt in the wound wound be an understatement. This was spraying the wound with military pepper spray. Raizada was single handedly killing Echo Fox.

Rick Fox had enough of the situation and decided to pull the plug. He now has to look to sell the team before next Monday. Let’s see who’s interested. Stan Kroenke?!! Why him! Have you seen this man’s history. This was the guy who screwed over St. Louis and forced several homeowners in Texas to move out.

You know who I feel bad for the most. Both Rick Fox and the players. Fox because he got both racially attacked and is losing everything he built. For the players, nobody wanted this. All the imploding did was loom over the squad’s heads like a storm cloud. Who knows what will happen to them next season. This organization was built on a dream, a passion project, a vision of the future. And all the world did was snuff out that ember of hope with a tsunami of controversy with no hope to stop it.

We’ll always remember you Echo Fox.

22 Comments

KFCeytron7/24/2019, 8:18:37 PM3 votes

After choosing to destroy the company he works for rather than simply sell some shares, I'm guessing that guy will probably never work in the industry again, or at least nothing with any actual responsibility.

E Man forever8/1/2019, 10:32:24 PM2 votes

What have I done.

https://media.tenor.com/images/276eb7185f4f8a167cd1be58f6a1ff53/tenor.gif

I mean, I posted this knowing that opinions would be split. So

[sg-zephyr]

MessyStuff7/24/2019, 6:34:49 PM1 votes

I mean I actually don't get how they can't expunge the shareholder, don't they hold the rights(I'm actually asking)?

Power Cosmic7/24/2019, 6:54:55 PM1 votes

Not a tragedy just a business decision. There will be more stories like this to come bc there are limited avenues for income for businesses like Echo Fox. They can take cuts from streamers, youtube, apparell doesnt provide much, sponsors are there (sometimes) if you are extremely established, but the upfront cost is quite massive.

The best thing mid-range groups like this can do for business is cut cost and help new games develop by getting stakes in them and lending their brands and expertise to give viability. Therefore they would have a stake in a new esports game growing and would grow along with it which would be great for everyone. RIght now it is just buy an extremely expensive LCS spot and hope something happens. It would be better for teams to do thorough due diligence and buy a X% stakes in a new Esports games to help them prosper and then prosper a long with it. Too bad old out of touch people run things in today's new world.

ChompyWulf7/25/2019, 5:19:42 PM1 votes

An uninformed and shallow opinion.

First, anyone with knowledge of the NFL knew that the Rams were not being supported by either a fanbase or government in St. Louis. The city wouldn't help enough with tax cuts or contributing to a new stadium that was needed. The fans didn't care about the Rams, more fans of baseball in that city. So Kroenke made the leap to LA and it's been a huge splash for them that is great for the franchise brand. (Furthermore, Riot still has to approve this. They could potentially screw EF over, deny this deal, and just take a low-ball franchise buy in, which means EF only gets a small cut of that and not their over-inflated 30million deal.)

Second, screw Rick Fox. If he really had a dream, it's either a pretty weak dream or a pretty weak will if he's letting a minority owner saying some mean things chase him away. Related to that, how stupid can you be to not background check potential investors? Amit Raizada has been involved in at least a couple harassment cases before this. Why take money from a volitile individual and let him own a slice of what you helped create? Finally, screw this dude for feeling like mean words should be a crime. Grow some skin and balls, speech is free in America and you should know that by now. If you want censorship, go back to Canada. Finally, this whole staredown started because of his weak willed memo announcing him quitting. I wouldn't be surprised if he leaked it himself.

Third, blame Riot for sticking their noses into an internal team matter with the nuclear threat of canceling their license, especially since over the last year all the toxic stories coming out of Riot show just how bad their own leadership is. This is a stupid situation Riot made so much worse.

The ones to pity are the players. Their season is basically dead and their contracts are ticking down. They could be cut if the Kroenke deal goes through, or be without a team if Riot denies it.