The final days before Worlds - Samsung White and Royal Club
Riot·10/24/2014, 2:42:23 PM·0 votes·7,782 views
Jian ‘Uzi’ Zihao picks at his fingernails, his easy smile telling the world that the habit isn’t so much nerves, but rather something his hands do when not occupied with a mouse and keyboard. He’s relaxed, even two nights before he steps onto the 2014 World Championship stage as the leader of the decided underdogs Star Horn Royal Club (SHRC). Mid-sentence, he stops to make obscene gestures at passing friends.
Meanwhile, Samsung White's (SSW) Se-hyeong ‘Mata’ Cho sits with his knees towards Seung-bin ‘imp’ Gu, despite the pair being separated by a translator. imp leans back on the couch, mind clearly on the games to come. As imp speaks, Mata looks at him protectively, a true support to his AD carry. imp doesn’t look at anyone in particular as he focuses on his own thoughts. There is an air of nerves.
These are the stars of the two best League of Legends teams in the world.
Sitting in a hotel in the middle of downtown Seoul, South Korea, it’s hard not to draw a parallel to where these two teams were at the beginning of the season.
Samsung White was pure, cocky potential. They had just come off of the most disappointing loss of the team's history, not even making it out of the Group Stages at Worlds 2013, a direct result of their own arrogant play. Where can a team as sure of themselves as White go when it’s been so decisively proven that they’re not the best in the world?
The question weighed heavily on their bottom lane duo, specifically. “When I entered the spring split, I was very demotivated,” says imp. “Personality wise, skill wise, I felt I was very immature at that point.”
And it showed. Their play was over-emotional. They took fights they shouldn’t have, expecting to win because they simply thought they were better. When they didn’t, motivation was lost, and so were more games.
With two days until the Grand Finals, imp and Mata look shaken. Rumors float around that imp is having trouble sleeping under the pressure of their return to the Worlds stage, while Mata is said to be ill. Those old emotions seemed to be flowing through them, and they looked to jeopardize their shot at the Summoner’s Cup.
Uzi, on the other hand, is all smiles. A man who, at the beginning of this season, found himself with a whole new roster now sits as the only player in League of Legends history to make it to the Grand Finals twice. In stark contrast to his soon-to-be lane opponents, he seems unaffected by the pressure.
That ease of mind may come from his experience early in the season, where things did not look good for the newly reformed Royal Club. “We did not want to cooperate,” he says of their early struggles with the language barrier between himself and his two new Korean teammates Choi "inSec" In-seok and Yoon "Zero" Kyung-sup. “We tried to use the Smart Ping system, but no one listened.”
As the season wore on, however, they grew together as a squad. “We know each other now,” he says with a small laugh. It seems he knew to stick with it, despite their struggles in the first LPL split. “Communication isn’t something you can solve overnight, it’s a very long process… There was potential in our team, and that’s what kept us going.”
For SHRC, the key to unlocking that potential was rather specific; they worked on communication while simultaneously focusing on vision control. As always, Uzi knew to stay positive. “We weren’t the worst, but we weren’t the best. We focused, and we overcame [our] problems.”
With that newfound focus, their moods improved. And they began to win.
Sitting nearby, mid laner Lei "Corn" Wen chimes in, “The turning point is when we won a spot in the Final by beating OMG. We beat them 2-0, and that let us know that we were good enough to come to the Final.”
As the pair looks forward to the Worlds Final, they seem fully aware that their strength lies in positive momentum. “It would be really good for us to win the first game,” says Uzi. “But if we don’t, we’ll have to change our thoughts either onstage or backstage, and adjust our mood so that we can face the next game.”
On the other hand, for Samsung White, the path was less clear.
“When we got Pawn as our new mid laner, we knew that this was a new team, and we have to start all over again,” Mata says. “Even though our coach Homme helped us out a lot in [Champions] Winter, he was even more helpful when we needed to practice [with the new squad]. I think at that point, our luck began to change.”
With all the talent on White, imp said, there’s no reason they wouldn’t eventually have become one of the best teams in the world.
“Looper should be considered a perfect top laner,” he says. “He can play so many champions, but he just needs time to practice and overcome the pressure. Dandy has always been considered to be a top-rated jungler, but he had issues with [former White mid laner] Dade. Just communication issues. Pawn just needed time, as he was considered a newcomer to the scene. As for us [imp and Mata], around [Champions] Summer, we started to get things together as a bot lane duo.”
The drive to practice came not only from a desire to get to Worlds, but imp’s personal desire to take down his rivals. “After I lost to Samsung Blue twice in a row, I thought that I really needed to practice, and that’s when I started getting better.”
“All of our players were top skill level in the world, but we just didn’t know how to play as a team. At some point, we just started to click,” he said.
However, it’s unclear, in this moment, if the pair are on the same page. Mata reaches across the couch, lightly patting imp’s knee. The Korean AD carry doesn’t respond, mind perhaps swimming in strategies, scrims, and practice.
It’s October 18, the day before the Grand Final is set to begin. The stage in the Seoul World Cup Stadium is nearly complete. Those backstage scramble to run the final cables, test pyrotechnics, and rehearse for the upcoming festivities. Anticipation weighs heavy.
Uzi, uncharacteristically, is silent and sullen. He stands before his position in Royal Club’s row of computers, contemplating. The Summoner’s Cup sits on the stage, watching over everything as the Chinese ADC prepares himself. Standing on the enormous stage has changed him for a moment. For once, he seems nervous.
To his right, imp and Mata seem to have recovered from their dark moment from the days before. They laugh and prod at each other like loving brothers. This is the good side of being an emotional group; when they’re on, they’re on. They skip and run over the stage, even taking a moment -- famously -- for imp to roll around in the World Cup grass. Their signature confidence is on full display.
However, they know that positivity won’t last. “It’s really really hard, almost impossible, to stay at the top,” says Mata, sitting back at his hotel. “After a team wins a big tournament like the World Championship, it’s really hard to not lose motivation. Where do you go? We might say in interviews that we’re going to practice really hard to stay in that position, and we’re going to come back to Worlds. Honestly, I think it’s impossible for a team to win two World Championships in a row… I worry about losing motivation.”
For now, though, the title of World Champions was theirs for the taking.
Even when Star Horn Royal Club was decimated by Samsung White in the first game of the Grand Finals, Uzi was smiling. The grin was an admission that, in that stadium, they felt outclassed by their Korean opponents -- and perhaps always had. He just wanted to play the game.
They lost Game 2, albeit in less decisive fashion.
They took Game 3 to the roars of White’s hometown crowd.
They lost the World Championship.
As White raised the Summoner’s Cup in victory, Uzi walked backstage, lagging just behind the rest of his team. Later, he was seen smiling again. This time, though, it was one of defiance. He had led two different Royal Club teams to the World Championship tournament. He could do it again.
White’s darkest moments
Sitting in a hotel in the middle of downtown Seoul, South Korea, it’s hard not to draw a parallel to where these two teams were at the beginning of the season.
Samsung White was pure, cocky potential. They had just come off of the most disappointing loss of the team's history, not even making it out of the Group Stages at Worlds 2013, a direct result of their own arrogant play. Where can a team as sure of themselves as White go when it’s been so decisively proven that they’re not the best in the world?
The question weighed heavily on their bottom lane duo, specifically. “When I entered the spring split, I was very demotivated,” says imp. “Personality wise, skill wise, I felt I was very immature at that point.”
And it showed. Their play was over-emotional. They took fights they shouldn’t have, expecting to win because they simply thought they were better. When they didn’t, motivation was lost, and so were more games.
With two days until the Grand Finals, imp and Mata look shaken. Rumors float around that imp is having trouble sleeping under the pressure of their return to the Worlds stage, while Mata is said to be ill. Those old emotions seemed to be flowing through them, and they looked to jeopardize their shot at the Summoner’s Cup.
Uzi shines through
Uzi, on the other hand, is all smiles. A man who, at the beginning of this season, found himself with a whole new roster now sits as the only player in League of Legends history to make it to the Grand Finals twice. In stark contrast to his soon-to-be lane opponents, he seems unaffected by the pressure.
That ease of mind may come from his experience early in the season, where things did not look good for the newly reformed Royal Club. “We did not want to cooperate,” he says of their early struggles with the language barrier between himself and his two new Korean teammates Choi "inSec" In-seok and Yoon "Zero" Kyung-sup. “We tried to use the Smart Ping system, but no one listened.”
As the season wore on, however, they grew together as a squad. “We know each other now,” he says with a small laugh. It seems he knew to stick with it, despite their struggles in the first LPL split. “Communication isn’t something you can solve overnight, it’s a very long process… There was potential in our team, and that’s what kept us going.”
The path
For SHRC, the key to unlocking that potential was rather specific; they worked on communication while simultaneously focusing on vision control. As always, Uzi knew to stay positive. “We weren’t the worst, but we weren’t the best. We focused, and we overcame [our] problems.”
With that newfound focus, their moods improved. And they began to win.
Sitting nearby, mid laner Lei "Corn" Wen chimes in, “The turning point is when we won a spot in the Final by beating OMG. We beat them 2-0, and that let us know that we were good enough to come to the Final.”
As the pair looks forward to the Worlds Final, they seem fully aware that their strength lies in positive momentum. “It would be really good for us to win the first game,” says Uzi. “But if we don’t, we’ll have to change our thoughts either onstage or backstage, and adjust our mood so that we can face the next game.”
Theirs to lose
On the other hand, for Samsung White, the path was less clear.
“When we got Pawn as our new mid laner, we knew that this was a new team, and we have to start all over again,” Mata says. “Even though our coach Homme helped us out a lot in [Champions] Winter, he was even more helpful when we needed to practice [with the new squad]. I think at that point, our luck began to change.”
With all the talent on White, imp said, there’s no reason they wouldn’t eventually have become one of the best teams in the world.
“Looper should be considered a perfect top laner,” he says. “He can play so many champions, but he just needs time to practice and overcome the pressure. Dandy has always been considered to be a top-rated jungler, but he had issues with [former White mid laner] Dade. Just communication issues. Pawn just needed time, as he was considered a newcomer to the scene. As for us [imp and Mata], around [Champions] Summer, we started to get things together as a bot lane duo.”
The drive to practice came not only from a desire to get to Worlds, but imp’s personal desire to take down his rivals. “After I lost to Samsung Blue twice in a row, I thought that I really needed to practice, and that’s when I started getting better.”
“All of our players were top skill level in the world, but we just didn’t know how to play as a team. At some point, we just started to click,” he said.
However, it’s unclear, in this moment, if the pair are on the same page. Mata reaches across the couch, lightly patting imp’s knee. The Korean AD carry doesn’t respond, mind perhaps swimming in strategies, scrims, and practice.
The day before
It’s October 18, the day before the Grand Final is set to begin. The stage in the Seoul World Cup Stadium is nearly complete. Those backstage scramble to run the final cables, test pyrotechnics, and rehearse for the upcoming festivities. Anticipation weighs heavy.
Uzi, uncharacteristically, is silent and sullen. He stands before his position in Royal Club’s row of computers, contemplating. The Summoner’s Cup sits on the stage, watching over everything as the Chinese ADC prepares himself. Standing on the enormous stage has changed him for a moment. For once, he seems nervous.
To his right, imp and Mata seem to have recovered from their dark moment from the days before. They laugh and prod at each other like loving brothers. This is the good side of being an emotional group; when they’re on, they’re on. They skip and run over the stage, even taking a moment -- famously -- for imp to roll around in the World Cup grass. Their signature confidence is on full display.
However, they know that positivity won’t last. “It’s really really hard, almost impossible, to stay at the top,” says Mata, sitting back at his hotel. “After a team wins a big tournament like the World Championship, it’s really hard to not lose motivation. Where do you go? We might say in interviews that we’re going to practice really hard to stay in that position, and we’re going to come back to Worlds. Honestly, I think it’s impossible for a team to win two World Championships in a row… I worry about losing motivation.”
For now, though, the title of World Champions was theirs for the taking.
The Grand Finals
Even when Star Horn Royal Club was decimated by Samsung White in the first game of the Grand Finals, Uzi was smiling. The grin was an admission that, in that stadium, they felt outclassed by their Korean opponents -- and perhaps always had. He just wanted to play the game.
They lost Game 2, albeit in less decisive fashion.
They took Game 3 to the roars of White’s hometown crowd.
They lost the World Championship.
As White raised the Summoner’s Cup in victory, Uzi walked backstage, lagging just behind the rest of his team. Later, he was seen smiling again. This time, though, it was one of defiance. He had led two different Royal Club teams to the World Championship tournament. He could do it again.
