Fight of their lives: The 2015 NA LCS Summer Promotion Tournament
Riot·4/24/2015, 11:18:57 PM·0 votes·18,577 views
As the hype surrounding the NA LCS Championship weekend starts to die down, many teams will take a much deserved break from the excitement of the LCS before they begin preparing once again for the road to come. Four teams, however, had no time to take part in the end of season festivities. For them, the fight for survival was right around the corner. Tucked away in their respective gaming houses and away from the chanting crowds, cosplayers, and parties, they prepared for the fight of their lives.
For Team Dignitas and Winterfox, they enter the 2015 NA LCS Summer Promotion Tournament on the ropes. Team Dignitas finished in 9th Place during the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split while Winterfox finished 8th. As such, they both face relegation, and will have to fight for their right to play in the upcoming NA LCS Summer Split.
On the other side of the Rift will be Team Dragon Knights (TDK) and Fusion Gaming, two teams who battled their way through the NA Challenger Series with one goal on their minds: LCS Promotion.
Team Dignitas may have finished just one rung above last place this season, but their win percentage places them closer to the middle of the pack than the bottom. With a win/loss record of 6-12, they were only three wins shy of Team Liquid, who ended up finishing in 3rd Place after beating Team Impulse in the NA LCS Spring Playoffs. In fact, Team Dignitas were responsible for halting Impulse’s impressive late-season 5-0 win streak thanks, in part, to a fantastic 1-0-8 performance on Zac by jungler Andrew “Azingy” Zamarripa in the last week of the split.
Azingy has only been on Team Dignitas’ starting roster since Week 6 of this past split, meaning he has a total of eight competitive matches as the team’s jungler. The jury is still out on whether or not this Solo Queue titan can translate his talent into effectiveness competitively. Given that he is the third jungler Team Dignitas has had this split, this will be the most pressure he’s played under in his career.
How Azingy will respond to this pressure is the most unknown factor going into this matchup says Team Fusion AD carry Zachary “Nientonsoh” Malhas of his opponent. “Its hard to say how people like Azingy would react when they’re under a lot of pressure, because he’s so new to the competitive environment,” says Nientonsoh, “some people flourish with pressure and some people crumble.”
The pressure involved with such a high-stakes tournament is not something that Nientonsoh is stressing over. “Personally, I play my best under pressure” he says. As for his outlook going into series against Team Dignitas, he's not too worried. “I’m feeling pretty confident. I think the team is feeling confident as well.”
The key to their confidence lies in the preparation they’ve had leading up to the series. With nearly three weeks to get ready for one opponent, both teams have had to balance studying their enemy while remaining flexible to the evolving meta. “A lot can change in two or three weeks,” explains Nientonsoh, “It's really hard to judge what they think is strong. We mostly need to focus on ourselves and try to watch out for some things that were really strong for them throughout the season.”
Fusion may have a slight edge here, as they have more information to comb through then Team Dignitas does. “We know more about them and how they play, because there are more games to look at and versus better competition,” says Nientonsoh. That being said, information is not quite as valuable as experience. “They’ve gotten a lot better practice during the season than we did,” explains Nientonsoh. “Its much better to play against really strong teams throughout the season.”
Winterfox had their choice between TDK and Fusion, and they chose TDK despite the fact that TDK finished above Fusion in the Challenger Series standings. “Fusion looked stronger in the games we saw,” explains Winterfox mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park.
Yet it was TDK who beat Fusion in the Challenger Series Semifinals on their road to the Finals against Enemy Esports. TDK fell short in the Finals showdown, though, and Enemy Esports went on to become the first Challenger Series team to achieve NA LCS promotion this year. Luckily for TDK, they’ve got one more shot to make it happen. “After we lost to Enemy we kind of got demoralized” says TDK jungler Kevin “Kez” Jeon, “but it’s a lot more hopeful right now.”
TDK are aiming to capitalize on this second chance, but they will be facing a Winterfox team that has no intention of giving up their NA LCS spot. After a season full of ups and downs, Winterfox acquired Tristan “ElderPeko” Young as their new head coach in Week 8 of the 2015 Spring Split. “He’s been helping us improve as a team, mostly in terms of communication and making sure we’re all on the same page regarding decisions made in-game,” says Pobelter.
As for the pressure leading up to the match, Pobelter shakes it off. “I’m a relegation veteran, so I’m not too worried,” he jokes.
The proposition of taking on a NA LCS team doesn’t intimidate Kez though, “I don’t think the disparity between the bottom tier LCS teams and the top tier Challenger teams is that much different right now,” he says.
Is Kez right? Can we expect these and future Challenger Series teams to start nipping at the heels of their LCS big-brothers? We’ll find out just how close the gap really is when these four teams hit the Rift this Sunday, April 26th, to decide who will earn the right to call the NA LCS studios in Santa Monica their stomping ground for the Summer Split.
To catch up on all the action from the 2015 Spring Split head on over to our spoiler-free VODs page.
Team Dignitas vs. Fusion
Team Dignitas may have finished just one rung above last place this season, but their win percentage places them closer to the middle of the pack than the bottom. With a win/loss record of 6-12, they were only three wins shy of Team Liquid, who ended up finishing in 3rd Place after beating Team Impulse in the NA LCS Spring Playoffs. In fact, Team Dignitas were responsible for halting Impulse’s impressive late-season 5-0 win streak thanks, in part, to a fantastic 1-0-8 performance on Zac by jungler Andrew “Azingy” Zamarripa in the last week of the split.
Azingy has only been on Team Dignitas’ starting roster since Week 6 of this past split, meaning he has a total of eight competitive matches as the team’s jungler. The jury is still out on whether or not this Solo Queue titan can translate his talent into effectiveness competitively. Given that he is the third jungler Team Dignitas has had this split, this will be the most pressure he’s played under in his career.
How Azingy will respond to this pressure is the most unknown factor going into this matchup says Team Fusion AD carry Zachary “Nientonsoh” Malhas of his opponent. “Its hard to say how people like Azingy would react when they’re under a lot of pressure, because he’s so new to the competitive environment,” says Nientonsoh, “some people flourish with pressure and some people crumble.”
The pressure involved with such a high-stakes tournament is not something that Nientonsoh is stressing over. “Personally, I play my best under pressure” he says. As for his outlook going into series against Team Dignitas, he's not too worried. “I’m feeling pretty confident. I think the team is feeling confident as well.”
The key to their confidence lies in the preparation they’ve had leading up to the series. With nearly three weeks to get ready for one opponent, both teams have had to balance studying their enemy while remaining flexible to the evolving meta. “A lot can change in two or three weeks,” explains Nientonsoh, “It's really hard to judge what they think is strong. We mostly need to focus on ourselves and try to watch out for some things that were really strong for them throughout the season.”
Fusion may have a slight edge here, as they have more information to comb through then Team Dignitas does. “We know more about them and how they play, because there are more games to look at and versus better competition,” says Nientonsoh. That being said, information is not quite as valuable as experience. “They’ve gotten a lot better practice during the season than we did,” explains Nientonsoh. “Its much better to play against really strong teams throughout the season.”
Winterfox vs. TDK
Winterfox had their choice between TDK and Fusion, and they chose TDK despite the fact that TDK finished above Fusion in the Challenger Series standings. “Fusion looked stronger in the games we saw,” explains Winterfox mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park.
Yet it was TDK who beat Fusion in the Challenger Series Semifinals on their road to the Finals against Enemy Esports. TDK fell short in the Finals showdown, though, and Enemy Esports went on to become the first Challenger Series team to achieve NA LCS promotion this year. Luckily for TDK, they’ve got one more shot to make it happen. “After we lost to Enemy we kind of got demoralized” says TDK jungler Kevin “Kez” Jeon, “but it’s a lot more hopeful right now.”
TDK are aiming to capitalize on this second chance, but they will be facing a Winterfox team that has no intention of giving up their NA LCS spot. After a season full of ups and downs, Winterfox acquired Tristan “ElderPeko” Young as their new head coach in Week 8 of the 2015 Spring Split. “He’s been helping us improve as a team, mostly in terms of communication and making sure we’re all on the same page regarding decisions made in-game,” says Pobelter.
As for the pressure leading up to the match, Pobelter shakes it off. “I’m a relegation veteran, so I’m not too worried,” he jokes.
The proposition of taking on a NA LCS team doesn’t intimidate Kez though, “I don’t think the disparity between the bottom tier LCS teams and the top tier Challenger teams is that much different right now,” he says.
Is Kez right? Can we expect these and future Challenger Series teams to start nipping at the heels of their LCS big-brothers? We’ll find out just how close the gap really is when these four teams hit the Rift this Sunday, April 26th, to decide who will earn the right to call the NA LCS studios in Santa Monica their stomping ground for the Summer Split.
To catch up on all the action from the 2015 Spring Split head on over to our spoiler-free VODs page.
