Aphromoo around the world

Riot·May 9, 2016·2 votes·13,995 views

We are now living in a world where professional gamers are accustomed to long flights, hotels, and competing on an international stage for the glory of not only their team, but also their region.

Very few people could have predicted the evolution of what five years ago was little more than a tiny venue, a jumble of cables, monitors, and teenage kids competing for a total prize pool of $99,500 to say they were the best in the world at something. Now, we’re looking down the barrel of sold out shows in iconic venues like Madison Square Garden, Wembley Arena, and Sangam Olympic Stadium, and the incorporation of national and regional flags into team logos and jerseys.

For Counter Logic Gaming’s support Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black, it’s now par for the course. Speaking with him, he doesn’t look jetlagged in the slightest -- even though he stepped off the plane from America to China less than 24 hours prior to this interview. He shrugs it off with a casual smile.

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“I’m used to it.”

Meanwhile, the rest of us are struggling to find coffee and a delivery system to tap it straight into our veins. His ability to take it all in stride says a lot about the growth of the sport and the growth of Aphromoo in his journey competing in professional League of Legends. It’s a journey that's seen him play in Korea, Europe, China, and all across North America.

At the start of his career, it was back and forth across North America, competing in a swath of local tournaments. These were back in the days of MLG, IPL, and various other tournaments that populated pro gaming calendars. Though America is only so big. As the sport grew along with Aphromoo’s star, distant shores would beckon.

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“Ever since I’ve become more and more involved in League of Legends and wanted to win more intensely, I’ve traveled a lot more. You travel a lot more when you start wanting to win -- and actually do win.”

“It’s something you don’t really get to have when you’re losing -- I figured that out at the beginning of my career," explains Aphromoo. "It’s pretty cool. You get to see diverse cultures of other countries and all that.”

Performing internationally hasn’t traditionally been a strong suit for Aphromoo and the rest of CLG. Their last international tournament was IEM Katowice, which they stepped into coming off the back of their two biggest wins in the 2016 NA LCS Spring Split against Immortals and Cloud9. Things didn’t turn out as planned -- but according to Aphromoo, it was a great learning experience.

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“What we learned from IEM Katowice was that we respected other teams a little bit too much and were afraid to do certain things in the game. Whatever it was, outside pressure or just nerves in the game caused us to not play the way that we do.”

As to how they were adapting to MSI, that came down to a new team motto that they took from a dance group called “Kinjaz” of all places. Even if the source of the motto might be a little obtuse, it doesn’t change the sentiment or the wisdom behind it.

“Respect all, fear none.”

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It’s a fitting ideology for the team representing North America. It seems to perfectly tie up where they’ve come from, where they are now, and their hopes for NA at MSI 2016. After all, that’s what MSI is about. You are not your team. You are your region and you’re fighting for a coveted top four seed at Worlds.

“Representing North America is pretty cool. A lot of people from back home are going to pay pretty close attention to how well you do representing North America. If you play bad, it will be the same old NA can’t do anything at international tournaments.”

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With a confident grin, he adds “but MSI is going to be pretty fruitful for NA as a whole.”

To catch up with Aphromoo and see more about his journey through MSI 2016 and beyond, follow him on Twitter.

12 Comments

Ravens6969May 9, 201613 votes

CLG: the Cinderella story. A team and a region completely disrespected for years. Now they come up with two of the best comeback wins in the history of league of legends. Against SKT and RNG. Claim the number 2 record, with a chance to win it all. So proud to represent the NA icon for myself. Remember the name boys. Because NA is not done. CLG has taken down the kings. We have slain the Dragons. Put the wolves in their place. Were gonna beat them again and on to the final round where CLG will hope to finish the job. Are the warriors finally poised for victory???? Hell yes!

MeilinIIMay 9, 20166 votes

I will be immensely proud even if they finish 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. No one coming into this would have expected NA to play to the standards of Asia. If we put up a fight in the Bo5 and take it to a full 5 matches, I'll be proud of my boys. #CLGFIGHTING baby!

BerryhillMay 11, 20162 votes

The best teams from each region are at this tournament, and we've beaten all of them at least once. Unless you're MonteCristo or Thoorin, you can say CLG has earned their keep as a top team right now. We'll see how BO5's play out, but you can't ignore that they went 7-3 against the best teams in the world.

MeilinIIMay 9, 20167 votes

I'm so glad to see Aphro and the rest of CLG killing it at MSI. I've been rooting for CLG for over a year now and it's amazing how fast they've grown this split.

Parrot TrooperMay 10, 20166 votes

Who needs Trump when we've got CLG? Make NA great again boys! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

lIlIIlllI IlIllIMay 10, 20166 votes

It's pretty sad to see that not many people from NA put the NA msi summoners icon. Because in the end, even though they are not your favorite team, they represent our region. I'm thankful that they finally shut down the "EU is better than NA" thing. They have change the people's perception towards NA. The best of all they show the value of Teamwork, patience and respect that win the game.

Smart KittyMay 10, 20164 votes

More of my NA friends have KR icons than the NA ones. Traitors >.>

CuII The MeekMay 13, 20161 votes

HeHe thats me xD, but still as much as I have supported SKT since they started and am a die hard TSM fan in NA Ive gotta respect all that CLG has done at MSI and the very impressive performance that they have put in, Gonna be super pumped to see a CLG vs SKT final if they beat the flash wolves, that would be a great series.

Smart KittyMay 14, 20161 votes

{quoted}

HeHe thats me xD, but still as much as I have supported SKT since they started and am a die hard TSM fan in NA Ive gotta respect all that CLG has done at MSI and the very impressive performance that they have put in, Gonna be super pumped to see a CLG vs SKT final if they beat the flash wolves, that would be a great series.

Well it's fine and dandy if you've been a fan of SKT or whatever other non-na team since startup if you wanna support them. I mean, my favorite team was CLG.EU, and I supported that team all the way until froggen and nyph stopped playing for Elements. I still love froggen so I try to become and fan of whatever team he ends up on, which right now is echo fox (though CLG will be my favorite NA team for a long time). I was even a big SSW fan b4 they ran through season 4 worlds, but I only learned of the korean scene after S3 worlds, so I can't say I was one of those true fans who supported them from startup. I just fell in love with their bot lane, and soon became a fan of the rest of the team.

The thing is with my friends, I was a fan of Huya/GE/Rox ever since I heard their lineup would have Pray returning, with his partner being gorilla. I had only known one of them to be a Tigers fan before this season, but when Tigers was steamrolling Korea, I suddenly saw 6 or 7 Rox Tigers emblems outta of nowhere, and I know a few of them had SKT T1 logos last year. I know they weren't fans, they just bandwagoned on to who they thought was currently the best team in the world.