Why People Love Gigabyte Marines and Problems with Worlds

The most watched game from group stage at Worlds 2017 has been the FNC vs. GAM opener. And the competition doesn’t even come close. Why? Because it was by far the most entertaining.

Up to the point that this game was played, the meta had been solved. Have a tank top, utility jungler, wave control mid, late game carry marksman, and an ardent censer. If you deviated from any one of these, your chances at winning go way down unless your opponent matches or you outclass your opponents.

And then came GAM, a team from an “emerging region” who chose to run Galio top, Nocturne jungle, Kassadin mid, Tristana bot, with Lulu support. Things that instantly stand out. Galio top, isn’t he better mid? Nocturne jungle, what’s a Nocturne again? Kassadin mid, doesn’t he just lose lane? Question marks on team comp all around. At least they picked a meta bot lane. Oh wait, heal ignite Lulu? Support forgot to change summoners, gg.

On paper, this game looks like it’s only going in one direction, towards GAM’s nexus. Then in game, more question marks appear. A lane swap in this meta? Don’t you know that top turret has extra armor against champions pre-5 minutes? Double jungle? Don’t you know that they took out shared experience like last season? And the results followed. Yep, first blood for FNC in bot lane against that level 1 Galio “top lane.”

But just a few minutes later, all of these question marks turned into exclamation marks. Levi with 3 kills bot lane after hitting level 6 at 5 minutes! Lulu with the heal absorbs an extra turret shot after No-way kills the level 1 Soaz top lane! GAM takes first turret!

Did you know that turrets other than bot have extra armor pre-5? Did you know jungle camps don’t share xp? Did you know there’s something called a meta? Gam’s response: Yes, yes we do. That’s why we’re playing this our way.

More amazing plays, mistakes, and surprises continued throughout the game. Watch the replay again and again. You won’t regret it. And in the end it finished with a memorable NoWay Almost-Penta! Unfortunately Optimus said “No Way!”

Ok how did GAM win? Cheese sure, but they also came with a strategy and the execution to back it up. But are they as good as the other teams? The results say apparently not. They didn’t make it out of groups. Heck, the results say they’re not even as good as Albus Nox Luna from last year.

We all remember ANX, Likkrit with the Brand in a similar ranged support meta a year ago. It was fun to watch them “break” the Karma Zyra meta with their Brand support and Anivia mid. They had nice combos, good teamwork, and were definitely a world class team. They were the last of the Wild Card teams.

Now we know them as “Teams from Emerging Regions.” We have to be politically correct. Be professional. Repeat after me, “They are not Wild Cards. They are Teams from Emerging Regions.” Now watch GAM’s play again. That definitely looks “Wild” to me, even more so than ANX I’d say. You never know what they’ll do next! If ANX broke the meta, GAM destroyed it and threw it into the incinerator.

“Wild Card” has been used as a derogatory term. But remember, most “Teams from Emerging Regions” embraced this term. These teams create story lines whenever they challenge a top tier team. GAM did it again this year. But I think they took it one step further. They challenged the world. No they challenged Riot.

GAM’s games are entertaining to watch not because the teams playing are the best, or there’s something on the line, or there’s a massive rivalry. They’re interesting because they’re different. GAM has easily played the most unique champions in the tournament, albeit to varying degrees of success. But that doesn’t matter, they’re making this interesting in an unchanging Worlds meta.

Remember Likkrit’s Brand? How about the M.F. support? They broke the meta and solo queue. They were different picks. They were fun to watch. They were memorable.

It is sad that GAM did not make it to knockouts. Not because they should have or anything, but because we missed out on so many more interesting games to be had. The only team comparable to GAM at this year’s worlds was Europe’s Misfits who outdid all expectations with Ignar’s Blitzcrank and fervor Leona.

GAM won the hearts of many fans from their run at MSI 2017. Their unique playstyle was exciting to watch and was the reason many had their eyes on them during Worlds 2017. That and Coach Tinikun’s promise of cheese, and lots of it. Boy did he deliver!

Sure you can look back and say they only won because of cheese. Actually Tinikun would agree with you. He even said himself that his players could not match those at the world stage. But if you’re lane swapping, you don’t need to match their skill!

GAM came and played their own style. Riot must be happy about that. After all World’s is a place to see the metas from regions around the world clashing together. GAM brought theirs. But what about the others?

Well, sure I guess you could say so. This team is strong early. This team is strong late. This is a team fighting team. This is a macro team. But oh wait, they all use the same champions.

Riot released the last few patches before Worlds 2017 to balance champions in order to invite players to play more champions and play to their style. Apparently everyone’s style is a late game scaling, team fighting comp. That nerf to Ardent Censer, yeah it’s still OP. Those midlane nerfs, great you got more champions than before, but where are the pocket picks? Where is A Sol (not Jensen’s) and Crown’s Victor? The most interesting thing I saw was a Lucian mid, and that still didn’t win the game. I’ve only been playing league for 2 seasons now, but I remember watching NA LCS in Spring 2016. At the time it was a tank meta. Then Riot moved away from that. It was interesting. Worlds 2016 was very interesting perhaps because I was watching it for the first time. But here we are again, the tank meta, just with different tanks.

I’ve only been around for a short time, but even I know this is boring to watch. There was a reason for nerfing those tanks. I also know that there was an era of lane swaps and that it was also boring to watch. Before I was introduced to league, the double jungle was a thing, but Riot got rid of that too. Riot tends to change things because things get too stationary. That was the whole point of their Drake and Herald changes.

When you take off the name tags of the players and teams, you feel like you’re watching the same game over and over again. But then there is GAM. Even with name tags off, you know it’s them. Who else would use such an outdated strategy and team comp? They came and went with style. Sure they will be disappointed, but they made history.

There is a series on theScore esports’s YouTube channel titled “Iconic Esports Moments.” On it you can find many turning points in esports history. For example we now call teams outside of the major 5 regions, “Teams from Emerging Regions” rather than “Wild Cards.” This is a sign of respect that they have gained. For instance Kabum’s one win and ANX’s quarterfinal run are in this series. It was iconic in that they won as underdogs, as no names. They earned respect for Wild Card Regions.

I believe that GAM’s run, though not the best by a team outside the Big 5, is iconic. Not because they earned respect, which they did but so too did others before them, but because they refused to play the “meta.” There was no change in the meta at Worlds 2017, but in the future, I hope teams can stop being meta slaves. You’re winning, your fans are winning (unless you’re NA or EDG), but fans of League are losing. Show them a game of GAM’s. This is how you play to win and have FUN!!

Remember scumbag Optimus who stole NoWay’s Penta? Don’t worry. In his interview, Levi said he would have too. NoWay surely knows this and accepts that, otherwise he’d never have stayed with the team. I mean think about when you play with a premade, or not even: Someone gets a Quadra. I’m sure everyone at some point has thought about taking the Penta if not actually doing so. Why? Because it’s fun! That is the half of League that is missing at this year’s Worlds.

I believe one of Riot’s goals when they introduced the elemental drakes was to make each game feel unique. Right now it doesn’t feel that way. I watch the games and go, “Hmm. I think I’ve seen that a million times.”

A message to Riot:

You’re right that we don’t like having a champ dominate play, or be so oppressive. Perhaps there is not an OP champ, but there are certainly tier lists in champs. There has only been one style at Worlds this year due to this tier list. And that is no fun to watch.

Sure in our solo queue, there are more champs to play. But that is because we can take more risks. We don’t have millions of dollars on the line. We don’t have a fan base to please. But the teams at Worlds do. They can’t play “off meta” and risk losing. GAM is an exception because they felt that this was their best chance and that they had nothing to lose.

If you have nothing to lose, you risk nothing.

I’m not saying take away the prize money, nor am I saying offer incentives for innovative styles. But there needs to be some encouragement to develop an identity. Otherwise all the teams look the same.

At international competitions like this especially, there is regional pride. At previous Worlds there have been regional metas clashing before coming to a single worldwide meta. At Worlds 2017, there has been only one meta.

If you’re going to have only one meta, could it at least not be have tanks and a hyper-carry and farm for late? Could it be at least one that is more dynamic? Because believe me, I’d rather watch a 30 minute game that is “dynamic” rather than a static hour long game.

Aspiring Writer and League Enthusiast,

• Beasty Sea

To the reader: If you’re reading this and agree, up-vote this so we can get Riot’s attention : ) If not, leave a comment. Should be great fuel for a discussion.