YellOwStaR continues Fnatic's dominance in Week 1
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After an impressive showing at the Mid-Season Invitational, Fnatic's team captain Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim had only 10 days of rest before embarking on his young team's next goal of winning the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split.
"MSI was an amazing experience for our team," says YellOwStaR, "But it left us less than a week to practice with our new AD carry," he told Lolesports, referring to the return of Martin "Rekkles" Larsson, the young, talented ADC who took a Split away from Fnatic before returning to his former squad.
Familiar with the EU LCS stage and his lane partner, Rekkles had a fantastic Week 1 showing on Ashe, going 14-1-15 with a 29 KDA. While he looks to be back in prime form, YellOwStaR admits the ADC had some butterflies heading into the first game.
"He was confident about his gameplay, but extremely nervous at the same time, as he had a lot of pressure to perform due to our recent success. A lot of eyes were on him and after the first match, which heavily went into our favor. I can tell that he was relieved."
That first match was against EU Spring Split Finalists, Unicorns of Love. "I really liked the fact that we managed to control the game against UOL," YellOwStaR says, explaining how Fnatic was able to keep the Unicorns in check by lane swapping. "They had the intention to annoy our mid laner with their support roaming very early in the game. But knowing them, it was predictable, and we avoided it."
He continues, "In the previous Split they were the only team we had a negative score against, due to the massive fights happening around the map."
With these two team-fighting powerhouses, massive brawls weren't in short supply in the EU LCS Summer Split's opening match, either. The first and most important according to YellOwStaR was the early tower dive in the top lane where he, jungler Kim "Reignover" Ui-jin, and top laner Seong "Huni" Hoon Heo joined Rekkles to take out UOL's Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek and Tamás "Vizicsacsi" Kiss. The dive gave them a huge advantage that was never dropped. "Considering that we had swapped our ADC, our communication and teamplay were on point there!"
But it was on Day 2 against SK Gaming, who recently picked up a former AD carry of their own in Adrian "CandyPanda" Wübbelmann, that the French support pulled off his personal play of the Week. "My favorite play was the four-man knock up with Alistar vs. SK," says Fnatic's shotcaller. "[The play] clearly put us back in a good situation during the game, even though we were going slowly but surely towards the victory."
"But from my point of view, everyone is improving game after game in different aspects," he continues, reiterating on how Fnatic's working on controlling their aggressiveness and being more patient with their plays. They've learned to only take fights that they're sure to win. And for the adaptive YellOwStaR? He's personally playing smarter, always waiting for the best timing to cast his spells. "Knowing that the really good teams will punish any single mistake we have during the game can be really scary and game changing!"
Sure, YellOwStaR and his teammates are critical of their performance, but that doesn't mean they aren't enjoying one another's company. As the self-proclaimed big brother his teammates can rely on, he's particularly happy with the return of his bottom lane partner, as he feels Rekkles' mindset and work ethic work great with the team's overall chemistry.
"Since we have been together, we have never fought. We can easily distinguish the work mode and the more relaxed one when we are not practicing, which allows us to maintain a lot of respect between each other."
"But at the same time, everyone is just so happy and willing to keep the good atmosphere which make things really easy to deal with," says YellOwStaR. "Living in such a good mood will bring you a smile any time!"
Fnatic's positive outlook is certainly one of their strengths, but they'll need to put their practice in play to defeat upcoming opponents ROCCAT and Gambit Gaming in Week 2 of the EU LCS. But YellOwStaR seems to have things under control. "I don't think I need to motivate my teammates," he says. "Just look after them, care about them, be here when they need help. The biggest issue in my opinion is to control their emotions in game, whenever it happens, and remind them that it shouldn't happen in order to reach our best conditions to succeed."
Tune in to Lolesports this Thursday and Friday to watch Fnatic and YellOwStaR face off against ROCCAT and Gambit Gaming.
Leah Jackson is a web content editor at Lolesports. Her favorite champion is currently Gnar! Shugi Shugi! Feel free to follow her on Twitter for esports banter and corgi pictures.
The Big 2-0
That first match was against EU Spring Split Finalists, Unicorns of Love. "I really liked the fact that we managed to control the game against UOL," YellOwStaR says, explaining how Fnatic was able to keep the Unicorns in check by lane swapping. "They had the intention to annoy our mid laner with their support roaming very early in the game. But knowing them, it was predictable, and we avoided it."
He continues, "In the previous Split they were the only team we had a negative score against, due to the massive fights happening around the map."
With these two team-fighting powerhouses, massive brawls weren't in short supply in the EU LCS Summer Split's opening match, either. The first and most important according to YellOwStaR was the early tower dive in the top lane where he, jungler Kim "Reignover" Ui-jin, and top laner Seong "Huni" Hoon Heo joined Rekkles to take out UOL's Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek and Tamás "Vizicsacsi" Kiss. The dive gave them a huge advantage that was never dropped. "Considering that we had swapped our ADC, our communication and teamplay were on point there!"
But it was on Day 2 against SK Gaming, who recently picked up a former AD carry of their own in Adrian "CandyPanda" Wübbelmann, that the French support pulled off his personal play of the Week. "My favorite play was the four-man knock up with Alistar vs. SK," says Fnatic's shotcaller. "[The play] clearly put us back in a good situation during the game, even though we were going slowly but surely towards the victory."
Critical Thinking
Despite Fnatic's perfect record in the 2015 Summer Split so far, YellOwStaR's quick to temper expectations. "Looking at the games, we seemed a bit shaky in the early game against SK. But we will make sure, and I'm confident that we will, work to be more consistent in the future." "After talking to each other, everyone agreed that we have a lot to learn and room to improve, whether individually or as a team." He explains how, on Fnatic, every member is extremely self critical. "That being said, even if a member has a worse game from one to another, we are a team, and we are here to back each other up."
"But from my point of view, everyone is improving game after game in different aspects," he continues, reiterating on how Fnatic's working on controlling their aggressiveness and being more patient with their plays. They've learned to only take fights that they're sure to win. And for the adaptive YellOwStaR? He's personally playing smarter, always waiting for the best timing to cast his spells. "Knowing that the really good teams will punish any single mistake we have during the game can be really scary and game changing!"
Brotherly Love
Sure, YellOwStaR and his teammates are critical of their performance, but that doesn't mean they aren't enjoying one another's company. As the self-proclaimed big brother his teammates can rely on, he's particularly happy with the return of his bottom lane partner, as he feels Rekkles' mindset and work ethic work great with the team's overall chemistry.
"Since we have been together, we have never fought. We can easily distinguish the work mode and the more relaxed one when we are not practicing, which allows us to maintain a lot of respect between each other."
"But at the same time, everyone is just so happy and willing to keep the good atmosphere which make things really easy to deal with," says YellOwStaR. "Living in such a good mood will bring you a smile any time!"
Fnatic's positive outlook is certainly one of their strengths, but they'll need to put their practice in play to defeat upcoming opponents ROCCAT and Gambit Gaming in Week 2 of the EU LCS. But YellOwStaR seems to have things under control. "I don't think I need to motivate my teammates," he says. "Just look after them, care about them, be here when they need help. The biggest issue in my opinion is to control their emotions in game, whenever it happens, and remind them that it shouldn't happen in order to reach our best conditions to succeed."
Tune in to Lolesports this Thursday and Friday to watch Fnatic and YellOwStaR face off against ROCCAT and Gambit Gaming.
Leah Jackson is a web content editor at Lolesports. Her favorite champion is currently Gnar! Shugi Shugi! Feel free to follow her on Twitter for esports banter and corgi pictures.
