Selling the Farm: Xenics Storm

Stage One: Humble Beginnings

Before the Korean scene became the powerhouse it is today, routinely sending their top teams to sweep through international competition at premiere tournaments, it was simply a budding region looking to find an identity next to the more developed European, North American and Chinese regions. The first few seasons of Champions, a tournament now considered the pinnacle of competition in League of Legends in Asia, were chock-full of teams from those more developed regions, hoping to wrangle in fans to see their favorite players come and play against their fledgling Korean players. In the midst of the early days of Korea’s scene, there was Xenics Storm. Built off the brand name of their coach Yellow, one of the country’s most legendary esport figures from the era when StarCraft: Brood War ruled the scene, they were one of the few Korean teams with an actual sponsor. While the real money waited in the wings to see if League of Legends would become a success in the country, Storm were essentially a big fish in a small pond. They had the ability to pick and choose the best players from solo queue without the looming fear of richer teams in the background. With that sponsor, they found success in the first season of Champions. Backed by a front line consisting of ManyReason, H0R0 and Impact (at the time a support player), Storm were able to work their way past Counter Logic Gaming in the first round group and make it all the way into the semifinals before losing to MiG Frost in a close 2-3 contest. Finishing in third place with a solid result against Team OP in the consolation match, it would be the farthest the Storm organization would ever go in Champions.

Stage Two: KeSPA Enters the Scene

What would happen over the next year would spell doom for Xenics. League of Legends soared to the top esport in South Korea, taking over PC Bangs and delivering high ratings on OGN. Storm performed admirably in the second Champions season, getting knocked out in the quarterfinals by the newly sponsored Azubu Blaze. By moving their star Jungler H0R0 over to a newly formed team known as Tempest, Storm’s talent pool was thinned out, leading them to fail to qualify for the third season of Champions. In the Korean qualifiers for the Season 2 World Championships, their glimmer of hope would be snuffed out by NaJin Sword, sweeping them from the competition. They would contend in NLB (the minor league of Champions) for the next few seasons, but two of their first homegrown talents had found already gone onto a bigger organization. Impact and H0R0 joined SK Telecom T1, a franchise that had been around for almost a decade. With the soaring popularity of League, sponsors such as KT, CJ Entus, and eventually Samsung entered the mix. Driving out amateur teams for the most part and being able to offer the best contracts against the smaller sponsored squads, Xenics had gone from a big fish in a small pond to barely being able to survive in the new shark-infested waters of Korea. Left with their first team smashed to the ground, the Xenics team had to build from the foundation up once more. Six months of searching for new prospects and creating a secondary team in Blast, the Xenics teams were finally rewarded at the end of 2013 with both their teams making it into Champions Summer 2013. With only ManyReason left from the original team, Xenics brought new stars to the foreground: the Kassadin specialist Coco, the Draven master Arrow, and the outrageously aggressive Jungler Daydream. Forced into the same group, Storm and Blast had disappointing seasons, both failing to make it out of the group stages.

Stage Three: Building a Winner

The Blast roster would splinter, veteran ManyReason retiring for military duties, Bang joining H0R0 on SK Telecom T1 S and their Support Boink moving to the Jin Air Stealths. Fortunately, the Storm lineup mostly stuck together for the next season of Champions except for their Top lane Ragan retiring and Daydream - seen as their primary playmaker - getting picked up by CJ Blaze to replace Helios. Showing their resilience once again in scouting, Storm introduced Swift as their new jungler, one of the best Lee Sin players in Korea, and GimGoon, a hyped top lane solo queue player that failed to qualify with his amateur team a season before. Armed with newly signed talent, Storm would finally find their identity in the 2013-2014 Winter season: all-out aggression. While most Korean teams favored objective control and late-game team fighting, this Storm team only knew how to fight early and often, never giving the other team room to breath. Heading into the season as a major underdog, they shocked everyone by upsetting three other KeSPA teams in their group (Frost and the two Jin Air teams) to get out in first place. They would falter in the quarterfinals against another young and up-and-coming squad, NaJin White Shield, but they made their mark in Champions. Storm were finally, after a year and a half of wallowing in the minors and seeing their former players sign and get poached by major teams, the new hot team on the scene. They were exciting to watch, centered around a one-two punch with Coco and Arrow, and were bringing a style to the Korean scene that paralleled more with the Chinese than it did with the upper echelon teams in Champions. Above all else, Xenics Storm knew how to find talent, bring them up the ranks and put them in the right spots to succeed. Then, once again, one by one they left. Arrow, the bloodthirsty ADC, was picked up by the KT Rolster Arrows. Coco and Swift were taken by Frost, the team that he had defeated the season before. For the umpteenth time in their history, Storm’s tower - one built with tireless scouting, working on building new players, and creating the best synergy - was destroyed by the wrecking ball known as KeSPA. More money, better housing, career stability and the chance to become a star to a bigger fan base. Even if Storm could offer a chance to compete for a title in a season or two, it didn’t matter; KeSPA teams saw the potential, swooped in and grabbed them as they entered their prime as players.

Stage Four: The Neverending Rebuild

Storm tried to rebuild the next season, picking up a new roster of amateur players and moving Ohq and Ink from Blast to make up for the lack of bottom lane on the squad, but it was no use. They were able to re-qualify for Champions after losing their entire team, but with the lack of time to practice between seasons and get a new team to gel together, Storm were bounced out quickly of the most recent Champions season, failing to win even a single game. Even after their disappointing season, the richer teams saw potential. Ohq, Blast and then Storm’s ADC, was promptly picked up by NaJin Black Sword in their search for a replacement for Pray. Vin was signed as he Falcons new Jungler, making it the third season in a row where Storm’s starting jungler was signed to a KeSPA team following their rookie season. Ink went over to the Stealths, and GimGoon, their former starting top lane, joined Ohq on Black Sword. Broken down before they could even get a chance to work together, Storm was eliminated in the most recent Champions qualifiers and sent back to NLB where they’ll play next season. Twenty-one players have come and gone from Storm over their lifespan. Impact, their inaugural support, went on to become a World Champion this past season. While their former players continue to improve, transcend into stardom and grab championships on their new teams, Storm will likely continue what they’ve always done. Search, find, and mold. It is unlikely that Storm as their own team will ever lift the Champions trophy, but the stars they build certainly have the chance to do so.

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