How Turkey’s SuperMassive won our hearts

Riot·May 8, 2016·1 votes·13,313 views

Turkey's SuperMassive may have been the first team to bow out of the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational, but their impact on the tournament, and our audience, will last long after the curtain call here in Shanghai.

Even the Chinese audience cheered that little bit louder when the underdogs took to the stage, provided they weren’t playing against China’s own Royal Never Give Up. Everyone was eager to see what this freshman team with nothing to lose could prove against the regional giants that towered over them.

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SuperMassive's 1-9 results may not look good on paper -- but anyone watching their games would have seen a competitive team taking kills, pressing advantages, and proving that on a mechanical level they could compete with the best teams in the world.

The only thing that seemed to hamstring them was some poor decision making, but that’s something to be expected for team that’s only been playing together for five months. For SuperMassive’s ADC Achuu, it’s all a learning process.

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“I think the biggest gap in this tournament for us was our team play. It shows that we're a new team, only five months old," Achuu says. "So it's kind of hard for us to compete with the teams that are one, two, three years old like SKTelecom and CLG. They've been around a long time and have a lot of experience.”

For such a young team, they showed staggering improvement throughout MSI 2016 and even managed to take a thoroughly convincing win off North America's Counter Logic Gaming. During that game, the world saw why Dumbledoge should have Bard permabanned against him and how Achuu himself is a phenomenally gifted ADC -- especially for someone who only started playing professionally five months ago.

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“I became a pro five months ago. And I've slowly but surely improved my skill and mechanics throughout the Split," Achuu explains, going on to admit that he's had a "pretty good" tournament here at MSI. "My KDA's not so good, but at least I pulled off some good CS numbers and damage output during the games. So I'm fairly happy with my performance here.”

“I even took down CLG's MVP [Stixxay] quite convincingly in our first match, so hopefully they'll remember me in NA!”

SuperMassive have represented themselves, and Turkey, with pride. They took their defeats with grace and their victories with humility. They knew the odds were against them, but still stepped onto the stage here in Shanghai with confidence and smiles on their faces. They’re slowly changing what it means to be a Wildcard team -- so that next time they step out on the international stage (and there will be a next time) they’ll be looked at with the respect they earned here in Shanghai.

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“Even though we lost a lot of games, I don't really get frustrated about it," says Achuu. "I'm always leaving the stage with a smile, every time. I think it's a great experience, especially since even five months ago, I was the one watching this type of thing. Now I'm playing against them!”

Achuu continued, “I think for Worlds, or next year, if we stick as a team, we'll put up even a better fight than we did already.”

You can keep following the MSI journey here at Lolesports and show Turkey some love on twitter with #MSI2016.

11 Comments

EleshakaiMay 8, 20165 votes

I think we're only a year or so away from a time when coming from an IWC region isn't a matter of 'who can they take that single upset victory off of'... these regions are growing and while it's a long time before I think they'll start winning the whole thing, if ever... I wouldn't be surprised if we started seeing some of these teams make the bracket stage of events within the next few years.

coeurloyalMay 9, 20161 votes

Unfortunately, I have to disagree until some of these teams can work out a way to start scrimming with teams from major regions. Being in EU solo queue is great and all, but it doesn't give them the difficult team environment to test themselves against on a regular basis. The regions are just too isolated and the amount of talent too limited to warrant any real growth on a big stage.

Don't get me wrong; I really really liked this SUP at MSI, and I like most of their players individually. I was certainly cheering for them when they were against anybody but CLG. However, the lack of structured competition is far too lacking for an IWC team to have a realistic chance of pushing through to the bracket. There's just not enough talent to be pitted against each other within their respective regions; no conflict to beget growth.

EleshakaiMay 9, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Unfortunately, I have to disagree until some of these teams can work out a way to start scrimming with teams from major regions. Being in EU solo queue is great and all, but it doesn't give them the difficult team environment to test themselves against on a regular basis. The regions are just too isolated and the amount of talent too limited to warrant any real growth on a big stage.

Don't get me wrong; I really really liked this SUP at MSI, and I like most of their players individually. I was certainly cheering for them when they were against anybody but CLG. However, the lack of structured competition is far too lacking for an IWC team to have a realistic chance of pushing through to the bracket. There's just not enough talent to be pitted against each other within their respective regions; no conflict to beget growth.

That's why I don't think they'll ever be contenders to win... but I could absolutely see them reaching the bracket stage given the right group.

They're not going to be on par with the best of the best anytime soon, but it may not be long before they're not the worst of the best anymore ;)

AceOfEpixMay 8, 20161 votes

Dumbledoge > World

GoodwineMay 8, 20161 votes

You also have to consider that they don't have the best e-sports infrastructure, and yet they still showed some awesome games :o

OutlawHunterMay 8, 20161 votes

doesnt win mine

OG Frozen SaladMay 9, 20161 votes

Man the Uk team is so good :D Good Job UK! :D summoner 31

VictimENMay 9, 20161 votes

I have to agree with Eleshakai. Normally wildcard teams show some strong individual players and skirmish potential but generally fall apart later on in the game unless they can get a snowball rolling. While SuperMassive tended to fall behind later on, they didn't really seem to fall apart completely either. Also, they showed some strong play in most of their roles instead of relying on one standout player. They had far more close games than other wildcard teams IIRC. SM seemed legitimately good - while not generally as good as top teams from other regions, I don't think I'd be surprised to see them making playoff runs and having a chance at Worlds if they were an NA or EU team. Yeah, they're still behind, but only a few steps now - and gaining.

The most worrisome thing about them, is that despite how casters talk about how the big international tournaments are a great learning experience for IWC teams, we tend not to see repeat attendance from the same teams. I assume it's hard to keep a team together in areas without the full blown league structure - going back to seasons 1 and 2, while TSM, CLG, DIG and Curse stuck around, there were lots more teams that showed up for an MLG event or two and then fell apart. Let's hope SM can go the distance and show up at Worlds.

What The SephMay 9, 20161 votes

Both BKT and paiN Gaming have survived since 2012. KLG from Chile, KaBuM! in Brazil and DNG of Japan has been around since Season 3. But notably, these are all incredibly successful teams in their regions. Teams that are not highly successful tend to fall apart, in contrast to for example NA's current TLA. It would be relatively difficult to keep a team together in an IWC region consistently placing fourth whereas in a major region that is still a very respectable spot. Also to the point, remember that Taiwan was originally laughed at coming into Season 2 Worlds as an international wildcard and were not given the same standing as Korean and China who were like Taiwan, first time participants, but were acknowledged as major regions/contenders instead.