uLoL Spotlight: University of Toronto

Currently sitting on top of the Eastern qualifier with 19 points, Toronto only dropped one game during the Campus Series regular season to Temple University, with a final record of 13-1.

While their domination of the Eastern qualifiers will most certainly garner them respect back home, it's their preparedness, team mentality, and organization that will set the uLoL team standard for years to come.

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More than a club

The team has been around for five years according to Toronto’s manager Reiyyan Nizami who also added  "In our first year or so, we weren't really focused on the esports team because we wanted to get settled in and get recognized as a club.” Five years is substantial, especially when you consider that household names like TSM and Counter Logic Gaming have only been around for six.

In 2013, Reiyyan took the reigns of the club. "We had an okay team," he explains, "however we lacked motivation as there weren't any big tournaments to play. This all changed with the addition of the NACC." After that, the club started to build the foundations of the team we have today.

"We ran more tryouts and really picked players who fit well together," says Reiyyan. The current Toronto roster is a result of tryouts like those, and they've been tearing up the Rift as a five-man squad for six months now. Two of those players, AD carry Kevin "Aceyy" Ma and mid-laner James "jhEEsh" Swann, have been playing with each other going on two years.

While it certainly takes talent and drive to make the team in the first place, it's the relationships that have developed between all the players that have held them together. "This is something a lot of teams lack," explains Reiyyan, "a group of five challengers isn't a team, but five friends make a team, and we're all friends." The Toronto team is more like a family than an esports team; they have organized social events and spend casual time together, even if League of Legends isn't on the schedule.

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Semi-pro

One of the most impressive aspects of this team is their organization's structure. "We have a manager, a coach, and an analyst to help us with things outside the game such as pick/ban, team comps, and [with] research on other teams," says Aceyy. That support staff isn't just for show either, they have had a real, meaningful impact on the team's ability to perform. "They have been extremely helpful in teaching us how to play the game in a macro sense," explains jhEEsh, "through their instruction we have all become smarter players."

It often takes outside observation and a different perspective to highlight mistakes so that they can be addressed. For example, Toronto’s weakness was their thirst for aggression. "We used to have no idea how to pick engages and fights," says Aceyy. "We would start a team fight in their side of the jungle while bot lane is taking dragon or another objective on the other side of the map. We've toned down our hyphy plays a lot and know when to disengage from a bad fight."

With the right people behind them taking care of pre-match research, draft phase prep, and macro analysis, the players themselves are free to get busy working on their mechanics. Like many players, they look to the best in the world for inspiration. "Bang and Deft would be the two ADC mains that I learn from the most," explains Aceyy. "I literally just watch how they manipulate the wave, when they go in for a trade, and when someone ends up killing them I ask myself 'What was the mistake that caused them to die?' If you put yourself in the mindset of how they play, you will eventually adapt to how they play as well and hopefully become as good as them."

When asked about their playstyle, Toronto was pretty tight lipped. "We adapt to the meta, so anything you are seeing in professional play, chances are we are capable of playing it as well," says jhEEsh, "We also have our own pocket picks and comps that we feel could work well in certain situations." Reiyyan laughs in agreement, "We're the 'fill' team," he says.

Missed any of the games? Catch up with all the action on the uLoLYouTube page. Interested in start your own uLoL club or keeping up with playoffs? Check out the official uLoL site for all the info you need!