Waiting for Chawy
Riot·7/17/2014, 12:56:01 AM·0 votes·4,311 views
Wong "Chawy" Xing Lei's acquisition by the Taipei Assassins caught the Southeast Asian scene by surprise. The former Singapore Sentinels ace had been publicly disaffected by his ex-team's lack of GPL success and multiple World Championship qualification failures, but few could have predicted that he would leave his homeland as a result. Chawy’s acquisition by his former rivals represents one of the vanishingly few inter-regional exchanges in Southeast Asia, and is testament to his perceived value and prominence in the scene.
Three months after the fact, Chawy’s seemingly disappeared into the island’s overgrown jungles. With him not seen in the front lines of the GPL, what has Chawy been doing all this time, and what are the team's plans for him?
According to Chawy, Coach Sim has told the team that he considers the mid role to be their weakest position – with or without their new ace. What could've been a rivalry between Chawy and current starter Morning is instead a mutual effort to repair that weakness. Said Chawy, "After all, we're still on the same team. We want the best for the team. So, sometimes, when he's training with them, I'll watch him play and help him improve. We still try to help each other."
“He makes it so that we're really focused on training. There was this time when I was just using my phone and he said 'no, no, no – you're not supposed to use your phone during training time.' So the training is much more focused than before."
LONG-TERM PLANNING
Mostly, Chawy's been grinding. "For now, they [Coach Sim Sung-Soo] actually set a target for me," said Chawy, when asked about when he was due to return to the front lines. He has orders from above to sharpen himself as much as possible. "So I have to hit that target before I start playing the game – Korean Challenger top 50. In two weeks." He's now at Diamond 1, and the road to the top is long. "It's quite hard to climb up. I was 90+ yesterday, then I lost 20 in a row. To be honest, it was quite bad luck, because I kept getting trolled. There's quite a few trolls in Korea, and it depends quite a lot on whether they're on your team or your opponent's." “They kind of hate foreigners,” he adds. “They're quite racist, so if they know you're foreigner, they'll most probably troll you. But things are fine right now, because I changed my name to a Korean name.” Along with Chawy, the Assassins also acquired former Najin emFire coach Sim Sung-soo. Having a leader with direct experience with the Korean league's a major step up, competitively, but it doesn't come cheap – beyond the monetary costs, there's the impact it has on team schedule, and the increased rigors of practice and focus the team is now committed to.
According to Chawy, Coach Sim has told the team that he considers the mid role to be their weakest position – with or without their new ace. What could've been a rivalry between Chawy and current starter Morning is instead a mutual effort to repair that weakness. Said Chawy, "After all, we're still on the same team. We want the best for the team. So, sometimes, when he's training with them, I'll watch him play and help him improve. We still try to help each other."
VANTAGE POINT
Chawy might be the only Southeast Asian pro player to have first-hand experience with three different gaming cultures, and it’s a position that affords him a better understanding of their relative strengths and weaknesses than most. For instance, though both Singapore and Taiwan have mandatory military service, Taiwan’s is greatly scaled back and comparatively lax, allowing the players on the major Taiwanese teams to focus solely on esports. Back on the Singapore Sentinels, Chawy was the only full-time player – and he wasn't terribly surprised when they were knocked out of relegations. "Actually, I still follow the scene. I watched them get knocked out of TLC recently, and I think they're not too serious with their training. As a Singaporean, some of them have to serve the National Service, some of them are waiting for NS, most of them are doing part-time studies and work. I don't blame them – they can't take it too seriously; they're not fully committed. So that's the reason they're not winning anymore." The differences in social obligation between Taiwan and the rest of the GPL might be responsible for the sheer disparity in capability, as Taiwan’s full-time teams have dominated the circuit for three years running. But if Chawy suffers from any sort of culture shock, it isn’t from his new Taiwanese environment, but the Korean influence. The Assassins’ new coach’s brought an OGN Champions team’s level of dedication that stands in sharp contrast to his experiences back home. "We used to have working hours of 9 a day, 5 days a week, but now it's 14 hours a day. We used to have Monday, Tuesday off, but now it's uncertain. So any day we can have off, and any day can have training, so we're on standby 24/7,” said Chawy, breaking down the team’s weekly regimen. The practice environment espoused by his new coach isn’t just a matter of scrimming more often either, but a much more formal and dedicated internal culture as well.
“He makes it so that we're really focused on training. There was this time when I was just using my phone and he said 'no, no, no – you're not supposed to use your phone during training time.' So the training is much more focused than before."
