How Gate's NA LCS doors were opened
"I never thought I'd be here," said Austin "Gate" Yu after his second week playing for Team Impulse in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split.
After signing on as a substitute, Gate was unexpectedly thrust into the LCS spotlight after Team Impulse support player Adrian "Adrian" Ma stepped down in Week 8. After helping secure a win in his first week, he then had to fill in the mid lane when mid laner Xian "XiaoWeiXiao" Yu was suspended for Elo boosting.
It most definitely hasn't been an easy start to Gate's NA LCS rookie season.
But so far, he's been undaunted, helping secure Team Impulse 3rd place in the Summer Playoffs with a 2-1 finish. As Gate tells us, he won't let the weight of his new position hold him back. He's been waiting his whole career for this chance.
Ups and Downs
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Gate's competitive League debut was in the Challenger Series as the mid laner for Final Five. His team qualified for the 2014 Spring Expansion Tournament and though they played well, Gate’s LCS endeavors were shot down by Team Coast in the offline tournament. The loss was heartbreaking, and things only got worse when the team would perform below standards and completely miss the 2015 Summer Promotion Tournament the following split.
But Gate pressed on and continued to enjoy League of Legends regardless of his team's shortcomings. What he didn't know was that simply playing games on the Rift would give rise to an even bigger, and rather unexpected, opportunity.
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"I played a lot of Solo Queue, and the Team Impulse guys really liked me," Gate recalls. "I remember I played against Rush, XiaoWeiXiao, and Impact a lot. They thought it would be a good idea to give me a try out, for the support role."
Gate was surprised at the proposition of getting a tryout for Team Impulse's support role despite having 'mid laner' all over his resume. "I played support in Solo Queue as kind of a secondary role. I didn't think I was that great at it," he says. "But tryouts went really well. They decided to pick me up right before the roster lock."
Though Gate was now a member of Team Impulse, he was not guaranteed playing time -- after all, Adrian was still the starter. But in Week 8, Gate was propelled into the starting lineup when Adrian stepped down from the starting roster. In his first appearance in the NA LCS, he helped cap off Team Impulse's eighth consecutive victory in their win over Team Dragon Knights.
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"The ironic part is the person that wanted me the most was XiaoWeiXiao. He insisted on having me on the team." Unfortunately, XiaoWeiXiao would be forced to drop from the line-up in Week 9, and Gate would be given a new offer: a chance to replace him as Team Impulse's mid laner on the big stage.
"Filling in for XiaoWeiXiao, initially to me seemed like a big task," he says. "I couldn't really imagine myself doing it."
But rather than crumble, he made the most of the unlikely opportunity.
Opening the Gates
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Week 9 was tough for Impulse and that’s not just because they’d be without their star mid laner. Two top teams in the standings, Gravity and Team Liquid, stood in the path of the all-important first round Playoffs bye. Gate had fought some formidable opponents before, but none quite like these.
"I think most people would feel a lot of pressure," Gate says, thinking about his first NA LCS matches. "I was accepting the fact we might not win."
But all the way through, Gate would gain confidence from his teammates, who backed him up and made sure he felt right at home. "My teammates have been really supportive," Gate says. "They say, ‘Just try your best, it doesn't matter if we win or lose.' So I'm like sweet, not that much pressure."
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And it worked. Gate played like he'd always been a part of Impulse in his victories versus Gravity, following Impact and Rush's leads rather than trying to be a superstar. "[Against Gravity] I didn't feel pressure to do anything," he continued. "I played my role as best as I could. Some small mistakes, but overall we won those games and I thought everyone played well together. There was good communication, especially in team fights."
Still, Gate played solid games of his own. He earned a combined 10/2/20 KDA on Azir and Orianna in his two victories against Gravity. However, the young mid laner did run into some trouble against Team Liquid when matched up against Jae-hun "FeniX" Kim's Azir. The early game showed a huge discrepancy in experience between the two players and proved Gate has a ton of room to grow.
"I didn't think too much about who we were playing against," Gate recalls. "I'm just happy to be here."
Moving forward
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But the Split isn’t entirely over and now it’s do-or-die in the Playoffs for young Gate and Team Impulse. "We just need to play a little more together," he says. "I don't think it's going to be difficult to do well in the Playoffs. We just need a little bit of practice."
In the meantime, Gate is going to take the time to really get to know his teammates and put the unit above his own self.
"I think one benefit into coming in later is I'm really motivated to try my best." Gate says. "I'm going to try to be as flexible as possible. Most importantly, I'm going to try to be a good teammate. I'll just try to improve the team as a whole, rather than just myself. Of course, I'll focus my individual play, but it's not the most important thing to me right now."
It’s great when players are given opportunities to show their worth. But will Gate continue to perform with the extra time he's had with Team Impulse? Find out when Impulse plays Team Dignitas on August 8 in the 2015 NA Summer Split Quarterfinals, right here on Lolesports!
