Gearing for battle: NaJin e-mFire
Riot·11/10/2014, 9:08:13 PM·0 votes·5,080 views
If there’s one thing NaJin e-mFire is known for internationally, it is their incredible ability to sneak through to the World Championship every single year. True to form, NaJin White Shield tore through the Korea Regional Finals, dispatching such monsters as the KT Arrows and SK Telecom T1 K. They would go on to play their worst tournament of the year at the World Championship, falling in the Quarterfinals to Chinese powerhouse OMG.
Much like many other Korean organizations, NaJin is entering a stage of rebuilding. Instead of fielding Black Sword and White Shield as they have for the last three years, they will return to their roots as NaJin e-mFire and maintain a single ten-man roster. The question now: what will it take for NaJin to conquer Korea?
Following KeSPA’s announcement of the restructuring of Korean teams, Sword’s Lee “Lee” Ho-jin, Lee “kurO” Seo-haeng and Kim “Guger” Do-yeop elected to not renew their contracts, along with Shield’s Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon.
It's unknown if these four players are seeking careers overseas, looking for spots on other Korean teams, or simply retiring. However, the active Twitter presence of GorillA would suggest that he is still interested in playing competitively.
With MakNooN’s incredibly strong performances, NaJin’s head coach Park “Reach” Jung-suk (of StarCraft fame) considered it wasteful to simply release him from the roster. As such, NaJin Sword was born -- a handpicked team that was built around MakNooN’s monstrous and unpredictable top lane play. The original NaJin e-mFire became NaJin Shield, and since then, the two teams have always had opposite playstyles.
The more aggressive Sword only has three members remaining in Duke, Ohq and Cain, while Save, Watch, Ggoong and Zefa still remain on Shield. As these rosters combine, the most important consideration for Reach and his coaching staff will be the overall playstyle that NaJin e-mFire will adopt. Will we see the explosive dives of Sword in the new e-mFire roster, or will the low-risk style of Shield emerge?
Jungler Cho “Watch” Jae-gol is the only current member of NaJin to have played on both rosters, and is by far the most experienced member of the organization, having attended three World Championships. With the departure of Sword’s Lee, Watch’s spot on the new roster may well be the only certainty. His success on both Sword and Shield are a testament to not only his ability as a jungler, but his adaptability as a player.
Watch’s carnivorous play served two different functions during his tenure on Sword and Shield. Initially recruited by MakNooN for his ferocious jungle ganks and his constant visits to the top lane, Watch’s high-octane style created space for MakNooN to wreak havoc, and catapulted Sword through to the midgame. This trend continued even after MakNooN left the team, as Watch’s frequent roaming complemented the Teleport use of MakNooN’s successors, Gu “Expession” Bon-taek and Lee “Duke” Ho-seong.
On Shield, however, Watch transitioned from an enabling role into a playmaking role. Along with GorillA, Watch was responsible for initiating aggression in the early game in order to keep Shield afloat, as monstrous solo laners Baek “Save” Young-jin and Yu “Ggoong” Byeong-jun amassed farm. Yet, Watch appears slightly uncomfortable in this role. Shield’s losses at Worlds came from poor early games that snowballed into devastating losses, and Watch’s role in this failure cannot be overlooked.
The Roster
Top: Duke, Save Jungle: Lee (left), Watch Mid: kurO (left), Ggoong AD Carry: Ohq, Zefa, Guger (left) Support: Cain, GorillA (left), Pure
Following KeSPA’s announcement of the restructuring of Korean teams, Sword’s Lee “Lee” Ho-jin, Lee “kurO” Seo-haeng and Kim “Guger” Do-yeop elected to not renew their contracts, along with Shield’s Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon.
It's unknown if these four players are seeking careers overseas, looking for spots on other Korean teams, or simply retiring. However, the active Twitter presence of GorillA would suggest that he is still interested in playing competitively.
Sword and Shield
Newer fans of the NaJin teams may be surprised to hear that Sword and Shield were not always separate teams. The teams now known as NaJin Black Sword and NaJin White Shield began as an amateur team known as Extreme Dive Gaming, led by the top lane maverick (and current Fusion Gaming top laner) Yoon “MakNooN” Ha-yoon. After obtaining a sponsorship from NaJin Industries and playing under the e-mFire banner, it soon became clear that MakNooN’s unhinged playstyle was at odds with the rest of the team’s more controlled style.
With MakNooN’s incredibly strong performances, NaJin’s head coach Park “Reach” Jung-suk (of StarCraft fame) considered it wasteful to simply release him from the roster. As such, NaJin Sword was born -- a handpicked team that was built around MakNooN’s monstrous and unpredictable top lane play. The original NaJin e-mFire became NaJin Shield, and since then, the two teams have always had opposite playstyles.
The more aggressive Sword only has three members remaining in Duke, Ohq and Cain, while Save, Watch, Ggoong and Zefa still remain on Shield. As these rosters combine, the most important consideration for Reach and his coaching staff will be the overall playstyle that NaJin e-mFire will adopt. Will we see the explosive dives of Sword in the new e-mFire roster, or will the low-risk style of Shield emerge?
The Watchman
Jungler Cho “Watch” Jae-gol is the only current member of NaJin to have played on both rosters, and is by far the most experienced member of the organization, having attended three World Championships. With the departure of Sword’s Lee, Watch’s spot on the new roster may well be the only certainty. His success on both Sword and Shield are a testament to not only his ability as a jungler, but his adaptability as a player.
Watch’s carnivorous play served two different functions during his tenure on Sword and Shield. Initially recruited by MakNooN for his ferocious jungle ganks and his constant visits to the top lane, Watch’s high-octane style created space for MakNooN to wreak havoc, and catapulted Sword through to the midgame. This trend continued even after MakNooN left the team, as Watch’s frequent roaming complemented the Teleport use of MakNooN’s successors, Gu “Expession” Bon-taek and Lee “Duke” Ho-seong.
On Shield, however, Watch transitioned from an enabling role into a playmaking role. Along with GorillA, Watch was responsible for initiating aggression in the early game in order to keep Shield afloat, as monstrous solo laners Baek “Save” Young-jin and Yu “Ggoong” Byeong-jun amassed farm. Yet, Watch appears slightly uncomfortable in this role. Shield’s losses at Worlds came from poor early games that snowballed into devastating losses, and Watch’s role in this failure cannot be overlooked.
