Tales from Relegation: The NA LCS Summer Promotion Conclusion
Riot·4/28/2015, 2:37:28 AM·0 votes·8,868 views
When the sun rose over Los Angeles Sunday morning, four North American teams had no idea what their future held. The only thing they knew for certain, is that they were riding into battle. If victorious, they would earn the right to play in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split, if not, their hopes of playing in the LCS would be put on hold for at least another split.
The 2015 NA LCS Summer Promotion Tournament did not disappoint. In a 3-1 victory over Winterfox, TDK became the second new squad to join the NA LCS for the upcoming Summer Split, the first being the NA LCS Challenger Series champions Enemy Esports. Earlier in the day, Team Dignitas managed to stave off disaster by defeating Team Fusion 3-2, holding onto their LCS spot by the skin of their teeth.
With a few weeks to prepare for the Summer Split, Dignitas will be looking to improve individually and gel as a team. For Kiwikid, that means "duoing with each other more, eating out more… going out and doing things. Sharing experiences other than League is really important." Building relationships on and off the Rift is vital for a team to succeed. The best teams always end up being a group of friends that love playing with each other, and pushing one another to get even better.
With a productive off-season we could see a much different Team Dignitas than the one we saw this past split. "We’re definitely focused," says Kiwikid, "we want top four."
According to Kez, TDK were able to adapt from game to game thanks to their deep champion pool, particularly in regards to their substitute mid-laner Alexey "Alex Ich" Ichetovkin. "We took Ziggs away from them in the third game," explains Kez, "We knew Ziggs was really good if they didn’t have an initiation tool, but if Alex couldn't play Ziggs then we couldn't do anything. We’d have to ban Ziggs, but that’s a waste on the ban card." Luckily for TDK, Alex Ich could play Ziggs, and he could play him well.
Veteran Alex Ich subbed for TDK sporadically during the 2015 NA Challenger Series Spring Split, after previously playing in Europe for teams such as Moscow Five, Gambit Gaming, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Even before joining the TDK lineup, Kez viewed Alex as a role model. "I looked up to Alex a lot, since he was on M5, he was a legend," Kez explains. As for the future of Team Dragon Knights, Alex Ich is only a temporary solution. "We have to look for a new mid-laner, and that’s going to be the priority."
While they can relish in their victory for moment, TDK know that an even greater challenge awaits."We have to work on a lot of stuff, champion pools, vision control, everything," says Kez. Improvement in these areas will take extensive VOD reviews, monitoring meta shifts and play styles in other regions, and most importantly practice.
With the Summer Split just around the corner, Kez is hyped. "I want to play against a lot of top teams, I want to play against C9, I want to play against TSM," he says, "I just want to play against them and learn a lot from them."
He’ll get his chance in a few short weeks, when the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split begins on May 30th. Stay tuned to Lolesports to find out who Team Dragon Knights will be facing in their LCS debut! In the meantime, relive all the excitement from the Spring Split on our spoiler-free VODs page.
Serenity Now
After taking the first two matches in this Best of 5, Dignitas slipped and Team Fusion were able to claw their way back to force Game 5. With the possibility of losing their LCS spot to a reverse sweep, Dignitas needed to focus. "You kinda have to cleanse yourself,” explains Dignitas’ support Alan "Kiwikid" Nguyen. "I said, man, if I lose here then I don’t really deserve to be in the LCS. Honestly I feel like my acceptance and admittance of, perhaps, not being good enough helped a lot. I feel like it really cooled me down, and it’s what I needed." These sort of "zen epiphanies" are few and far between says Kiwikid, but he made the most of this one. Kiwikid’s Alistar single-handedly turned the tides of a teamfight at Baron in the 35th minute of that final game by landing a five-man Pulverize onto Team Fusion. "When I got it I was like oh my god, did we just win? They were just all in the area and I felt my heart fleeting, it’s awesome," says Kiwikid. "I put in so many games of Alistar, and I’m just so happy that everything came to fruition." The hours Kiwikid spent on the Minotaur payed off, as Team Fusion consistently took Annie away from him in the ban phase. After his support Kennen proved equally deadly in Game 1, Fusion started to take that away as well. It is unusual for a support to receive two sniper bans, but with the playmaking potential that Kiwikid brings to his team, you can understand why Fusion wanted him on uneven footing. Now that the threat of relegation is gone, Dignitas can focus on fixing the problems that led them a heartbeat away from falling out of the NA LCS. For Kiwikid, that means working with Dignitas’ new jungler Andrew "Azingy" Zamarripa. "This guy is the most talented and [hardworking] person I’ve ever met," explains Kiwikid, "I just know he can be good." Azingy joined the Dignitas lineup in Week 6, and Kiwikid says that this Promotion Tournament provided Azingy with vital experience when it comes to performing under pressure. "Everything I’m doing right now is focusing on Azingy. I need him to be my companion. That’s the biggest and most important goal and objective that we need" says Kiwikid.
With a few weeks to prepare for the Summer Split, Dignitas will be looking to improve individually and gel as a team. For Kiwikid, that means "duoing with each other more, eating out more… going out and doing things. Sharing experiences other than League is really important." Building relationships on and off the Rift is vital for a team to succeed. The best teams always end up being a group of friends that love playing with each other, and pushing one another to get even better.
With a productive off-season we could see a much different Team Dignitas than the one we saw this past split. "We’re definitely focused," says Kiwikid, "we want top four."
Round Two
Team Dragon Knights didn’t have the luxury for waiting for a third time’s the charm scenario -- it was make or break against Team Winterfox. After losing to Enemy Esports in the 2015 NA Challenger Series, their aspirations of joining the NA LCS started to drift further out of reach, and the stress mounted. "It’s a lot of pressure because everyone wants to get into the LCS," said TDK jungler Kevin "Kez" Jeon ahead of today’s series. "After we lost to Enemy, when teams lose its kind of devastating and all, but it’s a lot more hopeful right now. It feels a lot better to have a second chance." After taking Game 1 Team Dragon Knights lost the second match, surrendering to Winterfox in the 33rd minute. "When we lost the second game, we weren’t really nervous or devastated. We knew why we lost, and we fixed it in the picks and bans in the next game," says Kez. "We lost because we didn’t have an initiation tool for Ziggs, and Ziggs just whittled us down."
According to Kez, TDK were able to adapt from game to game thanks to their deep champion pool, particularly in regards to their substitute mid-laner Alexey "Alex Ich" Ichetovkin. "We took Ziggs away from them in the third game," explains Kez, "We knew Ziggs was really good if they didn’t have an initiation tool, but if Alex couldn't play Ziggs then we couldn't do anything. We’d have to ban Ziggs, but that’s a waste on the ban card." Luckily for TDK, Alex Ich could play Ziggs, and he could play him well.
Veteran Alex Ich subbed for TDK sporadically during the 2015 NA Challenger Series Spring Split, after previously playing in Europe for teams such as Moscow Five, Gambit Gaming, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Even before joining the TDK lineup, Kez viewed Alex as a role model. "I looked up to Alex a lot, since he was on M5, he was a legend," Kez explains. As for the future of Team Dragon Knights, Alex Ich is only a temporary solution. "We have to look for a new mid-laner, and that’s going to be the priority."
While they can relish in their victory for moment, TDK know that an even greater challenge awaits."We have to work on a lot of stuff, champion pools, vision control, everything," says Kez. Improvement in these areas will take extensive VOD reviews, monitoring meta shifts and play styles in other regions, and most importantly practice.
With the Summer Split just around the corner, Kez is hyped. "I want to play against a lot of top teams, I want to play against C9, I want to play against TSM," he says, "I just want to play against them and learn a lot from them."
He’ll get his chance in a few short weeks, when the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split begins on May 30th. Stay tuned to Lolesports to find out who Team Dragon Knights will be facing in their LCS debut! In the meantime, relive all the excitement from the Spring Split on our spoiler-free VODs page.
