Underdogs: Gravity
Riot·4/3/2015, 6:25:24 PM·0 votes·10,233 views
At the start of the season, no one was too concerned with Gravity. After entering the NA LCS through last year’s Expansion Tournament under the guise of Curse Academy, the younger brother to Team Curse switched management, picked up some leather jackets, and were rebranded as Gravity. Although their logo may have changed, the heart of the team remained the same, and the five players who worked their way into the NA LCS have now made it to the postseason.
Coming into Week 9 they were fated to play Team 8 in their final match. Like Gravity, Team 8 were a new team this season that had a pension for taking down top teams. Both squads lost their opening match of the weekend, which meant this showdown between two dark horses would decide who would secure the 5th place spot in the standings a guaranteed Quarterfinal berth. After losing the early game handily, Gravity gave a crash course on how to counter-snowball a game. They will now face off against Team Impulse in a Quarterfinal match that will decide who goes home, and who gets a chance to take on Team SoloMid in the Semifinals.
Gravity’s support and North American Thresh god, Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo, says, “Behind the scenes, really notable people are probably Saint and Cop because of how vocal they are when it comes to this has to be done, how do we improve it or get to that certain point?” AD carry David “Cop” Roberson and jungler Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco have nearly a decade of NA LCS experience between the two of them, and know what works on and off the Rift. Gravity’s combination of young talent and veteran status know-how is a blend all their own, and has enabled them to get better week after week.
For a team of five to improve as one, they must improve individually as well. “Personally I want to play as well as I can, prove that I’m really top three top [lane] players in NA,” says Hauntzer, “The thing I learned a lot this split was to play safe, play smart, and ward up. Not try to go for the really aggressive plays and not get behind for my team.”
While their steadfast commitment to self-improvement has been crucial to Gravity’s ability to secure a playoff berth, it’s the ease with which they address it that has and will continue to set them apart. “Some teams are really salty after games,” explains Bunny FuFuu, “I feel like that doesn’t really happen as much to us. We just focus on what went wrong, what we need to improve on.” As for the Gravity house, it’s “really stress free,” says Hauntzer, “It’s a really carefree environment. We play as a team, enjoy playing with each other, and we do good.”
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Gravity either. Though they have a lose as a team mentality, the losses still sting. “Our first loss to Winterfox when they had three subs,” recalls Hauntzer. “That really put us down.” That loss may have been exactly the welcoming Gravity needed, as they promptly won their next three matches and cruised to a 3-1 record in the first two weeks.
In true underdog fashion, Gravity proved that they can take down the best of them after beating the top two teams of the split, Team SoloMid and Cloud9. For both Hauntzer and Bunny Fufuu, it was their win over TSM that stands out. “For me the most memorable game would be the TSM game, just cause of our new Urgot pick where we were the first ones to do it,” says Bunny FuFuu. “I know Keane loves being the first to the punch. He lives for that.”
Keane’s unconventional champion pool is an advantage that few teams have, and Gravity have learned to embrace the bizarre and forge the meta themselves. “Before [Keane] would come up with a champion, and it’d be like ‘no Keane, you’re not gonna play that,’” Bunny FuFuu laughs. “Now we let him do his thing, and now that he has that kind of freedom he’s blossoming.”
When unconventional champions such as Urgot are a threat, it creates problems for the enemy team in the pick/ban phase. As they are less practiced at playing against an off-meta pick, the easy choice is to answer with a sniper-ban. In the three games following the win over TSM, the Headsman’s Pride was banned against Gravity twice. Should Team Impulse decide to follow suit, it will give Gravity a massive leg-up in the draft as that will enable another power pick to become available in the draft. As Joshua “Jatt” Leesman joked before Gravity’s Week 8 win over Team Dignitas, “When you ban Urgot you’ve already lost.”
For now, Gravity have only one thing on their minds: Team Impulse. Although they lost both of their head-to-head matches, this Playoff match will boil down to preparation. Unlike the regular season where teams have two opponents each weekend, teams in the Playoffs can focus all of their studying onto one team.
As opposed to last year, teams that have made the Playoffs are safe from relegation, but that is no excuse to rest easy in the eyes of BunnyFuFuu. “We’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing and see what we can actually accomplish, instead of just being complacent,” he says.
Before Gravity had secured their slot, Saintvicious already had one eye on possibility of the postseason. After the TSM match, he told the viewers, “I definitely want to play in playoffs because I think we’ve really turned around as a team and we’re working really well together, and we want to show the fans.”
Can Gravity join Team SoloMid in the Semifinals or will Team Impulse continue their late season surge? According to Saintvicious that won’t be the case, "We're going to win because we have heart!" he says.
Will they pull it off? Find out for yourself by watching this weekends Quarterfinal matches on LoLesports.com and if you missed any of this seasons epic matches, they are featured on our spoiler-free VODs page.
Wints wants to follow every Sonic Wave he lands, which is why he loves having a Thresh on his team. If you’re tired of him feeding let him know on Twitter.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The biker gang of the NA LCS may look tough, but it’s their easy-going and laid back approach that may be the key to their success. Goals are important, but unrealistic expectations add unnecessary pressure which can backfire. Rather than set benchmarks for the future, these guys focus on the now. “We didn’t really have any goals”, explains Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell, “we just play our game.”
Gravity’s support and North American Thresh god, Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo, says, “Behind the scenes, really notable people are probably Saint and Cop because of how vocal they are when it comes to this has to be done, how do we improve it or get to that certain point?” AD carry David “Cop” Roberson and jungler Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco have nearly a decade of NA LCS experience between the two of them, and know what works on and off the Rift. Gravity’s combination of young talent and veteran status know-how is a blend all their own, and has enabled them to get better week after week.
For a team of five to improve as one, they must improve individually as well. “Personally I want to play as well as I can, prove that I’m really top three top [lane] players in NA,” says Hauntzer, “The thing I learned a lot this split was to play safe, play smart, and ward up. Not try to go for the really aggressive plays and not get behind for my team.”
While their steadfast commitment to self-improvement has been crucial to Gravity’s ability to secure a playoff berth, it’s the ease with which they address it that has and will continue to set them apart. “Some teams are really salty after games,” explains Bunny FuFuu, “I feel like that doesn’t really happen as much to us. We just focus on what went wrong, what we need to improve on.” As for the Gravity house, it’s “really stress free,” says Hauntzer, “It’s a really carefree environment. We play as a team, enjoy playing with each other, and we do good.”
The Long and Winding Road
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Gravity either. Though they have a lose as a team mentality, the losses still sting. “Our first loss to Winterfox when they had three subs,” recalls Hauntzer. “That really put us down.” That loss may have been exactly the welcoming Gravity needed, as they promptly won their next three matches and cruised to a 3-1 record in the first two weeks.
In true underdog fashion, Gravity proved that they can take down the best of them after beating the top two teams of the split, Team SoloMid and Cloud9. For both Hauntzer and Bunny Fufuu, it was their win over TSM that stands out. “For me the most memorable game would be the TSM game, just cause of our new Urgot pick where we were the first ones to do it,” says Bunny FuFuu. “I know Keane loves being the first to the punch. He lives for that.”
Keane’s unconventional champion pool is an advantage that few teams have, and Gravity have learned to embrace the bizarre and forge the meta themselves. “Before [Keane] would come up with a champion, and it’d be like ‘no Keane, you’re not gonna play that,’” Bunny FuFuu laughs. “Now we let him do his thing, and now that he has that kind of freedom he’s blossoming.”
When unconventional champions such as Urgot are a threat, it creates problems for the enemy team in the pick/ban phase. As they are less practiced at playing against an off-meta pick, the easy choice is to answer with a sniper-ban. In the three games following the win over TSM, the Headsman’s Pride was banned against Gravity twice. Should Team Impulse decide to follow suit, it will give Gravity a massive leg-up in the draft as that will enable another power pick to become available in the draft. As Joshua “Jatt” Leesman joked before Gravity’s Week 8 win over Team Dignitas, “When you ban Urgot you’ve already lost.”
One week, One Team
For now, Gravity have only one thing on their minds: Team Impulse. Although they lost both of their head-to-head matches, this Playoff match will boil down to preparation. Unlike the regular season where teams have two opponents each weekend, teams in the Playoffs can focus all of their studying onto one team.
As opposed to last year, teams that have made the Playoffs are safe from relegation, but that is no excuse to rest easy in the eyes of BunnyFuFuu. “We’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing and see what we can actually accomplish, instead of just being complacent,” he says.
Before Gravity had secured their slot, Saintvicious already had one eye on possibility of the postseason. After the TSM match, he told the viewers, “I definitely want to play in playoffs because I think we’ve really turned around as a team and we’re working really well together, and we want to show the fans.”
Can Gravity join Team SoloMid in the Semifinals or will Team Impulse continue their late season surge? According to Saintvicious that won’t be the case, "We're going to win because we have heart!" he says.
Will they pull it off? Find out for yourself by watching this weekends Quarterfinal matches on LoLesports.com and if you missed any of this seasons epic matches, they are featured on our spoiler-free VODs page.
Wints wants to follow every Sonic Wave he lands, which is why he loves having a Thresh on his team. If you’re tired of him feeding let him know on Twitter.
