NaJin White Shield: The Maestros of the Rift
Riot·9/8/2014, 11:27:49 PM·1 votes·10,428 views
It’s the Spring of 2013. NaJin Shield, as always, are in a rut that they cannot find themselves out of. Their new mid laner, Save, a promising amateur they picked up from the Korean ladder wasn’t gelling with the team. Locodoco, the experienced AD Carry that played in the first grand finals of OGN Champions, was simply not able to keep up with the evolution of AD’s in Korea. Even Expession, the supposed star of the team, was plagued with the curse of never being able to show up when his team needed him the most.
As one of the oldest teams in Korean League of Legends history, Shield was no Frost. Throughout the team’s career they had tried new players, strategies, and ideas, but nothing changed -- they had never gone farther than the top eight of any Champions season. Overshadowed by their sister team Black Sword, winners of OGN Champions Winter 12-13, the future looked bleak for the broken, patched together Shield.
Here came the moment in White Shield’s history that would shape them forever. Either they could panic, stop the rebuilding project, and throw away the stuttering bot duo of Zefa and Gorilla, or they could believe in the rookies they drafted. They could hope that Ggoong, with his wealth of pro-gaming experience could grow in this new game and become a mechanical monster after picking up the nuances of map awareness and knowing his limits. And they could trust that Zefa and Gorilla, even with their limited champion pool and synergy, could slowly come together as a partnership and hold down the fort at the bottom of the map.
White Shield decided to stay the course, entering the 2014 season by keeping their Rookie 3. The only change came with the replacement of NoFe, who retired and was replaced veteran jungler Watch, who came over from Black Sword after a semifinal finish at Worlds. Placing their trust in three rookies, a newcomer who had already switched positions in his short career, and a old-timer with two World Finals appearances under his belt, White Shield looked towards 2014 as the year they’d finally flourish.
When other teams will use the support of super minions to rush down the Nexus, White Shield will play passive and work around the map when they have an inhib down. They’ll let the super minions do work on their own, pressuring other lanes and objectives themselves instead. While their Korean counterparts Blue will team fight you to death and win with flawless mechanical skill at the end of games, White Shield will suffocate you to death - sieging you in the bottom lane, letting Save run up the middle to take a tower, and having their super minions pressure down your Nexus turrets in the top lane.
For one, Watch came alive at the right time. Going to his third straight World Championship, Watch, who had been shaky for most of the year, decided that it was his team to bring his team to Worlds during the Regionals. Watch mainly plays two champions -- the spider lady and Lee Sin. While his Elise is something to be feared and banned against, his Lee Sin can be a mixed bag ranging from effective to downright awful.
Watch’s Lee Sin play during the Korean Regionals was the best Lee Sin he has ever played in his career. He was able to carry some games solely by himself and pick up kill after kill. Although he did mess up during the climactic game against SK Telecom T1 K, getting beat at the Baron by Faker’s Xerath, Watch was nearly flawless throughout the rest of the Regionals.
Next, Gorilla learned a new champion! One of the most limited Supports when it comes to champions, Gorilla is an interesting player. If you ever give him Thresh, you will be destroyed. But if you take it away from him, all he has left is an average Braum and a Sona that would get killed in the first ten seconds of the laning phase. Picking up Janna during the Korean Regionals, Gorilla now has a second go-to champion that he can take to Worlds and unleash on teams. The Janna pick also brings us to the third and biggest reason why White Shield is going to Worlds.
Ggoong’s meta is back. With Ahri and Zed now back in Ggoong’s arsenal, he now has two champions that must be feared by the opposing team. Ggoong is an assassin player and while he hasn’t shown most of his Yasuo play or ever been known as a Yasuo player, teams now have to scout for Ggoong before going into games - something that wasn’t happening during the Summer season of Champions. With Gorilla’s Janna in play, White Shield can now deploy the ‘Assassin Monsoon’ play style of Ggoong rushing in on his assassin of choice, doing damage, and then working back to Gorilla who will heal him up with Janna’s Monsoon.
White Shield, behind their mastery of the minions and map itself, are a team focused on their solo lanes. Zefa and Watch can carry themselves at times, but if White Shield want to be the 2014 World Champion, it will be Save and Ggoong who lead them to victory. Through Ggoong’s assassins and Save’s variety of carry champions, White Shield’s solo lanes closely work together to lead their team to victory.
No one at the 2014 World Championships plays quite like White Shield. Call them eccentric or unorthodox, but don’t be surprised if you see them taking teams to the 68 minute mark, picking fights in the middle of the map while super minions crash down on the enemy’s base. It’s these tactics that have the Maestros of the Rift securing victories.
Rebuilding the Shield
Following a thrashing by Faker’s SK Telecom T1 K in Champions Spring of 2013, Shield decided to do a full rebuilding project. Taking Save, who while struggling in the mid lane had shown glimpses of potential, and putting him in the top lane, they hoped he could thrive in his new role with former starter Expession going to Black Sword. Pushing their veteran ADC and Support combo into a substitution role, Shield brought in two rookies, Zefa and Gorilla, from solo queue to bolster their failing bottom lane. Finally, their third rookie was Ggoong, a former Brood War professional gamer from Samsung who had transitioned into League of Legends and was placed in Save’s old spot as the starting mid laner. At first, the team was a mess. Gorilla had a kiddie-sized champion pool, only really mastering Sona and Thresh. Zefa, try as hard as he could, would fall behind early in lane and mess up in positioning during team fights. And Ggoong, the most hyped of the ‘Rookie 3’ from White Shield, had the Brood War-taught mechanical skill to hold his own against some of the best players in Korea, but his lackluster decision-making and shallow champion pool had him being bullied by players with years more experience and knowledge. NoFe, the only player on the team that had been playing professionally for more than a year, and Save were the strengths of the team during their first season. Save, who had languished in the middle lane, found new life in the top lane, bringing mages from his old position and mixing them into the meta’s tank/utility top-lane champions. The new White Shield did well enough to make the quarterfinals for the second straight season, but didn’t have the coordination or influence in the mid lane to go any further -- getting steamrolled and shut out by CJ Entus Frost in the Summer 2013 season.
Here came the moment in White Shield’s history that would shape them forever. Either they could panic, stop the rebuilding project, and throw away the stuttering bot duo of Zefa and Gorilla, or they could believe in the rookies they drafted. They could hope that Ggoong, with his wealth of pro-gaming experience could grow in this new game and become a mechanical monster after picking up the nuances of map awareness and knowing his limits. And they could trust that Zefa and Gorilla, even with their limited champion pool and synergy, could slowly come together as a partnership and hold down the fort at the bottom of the map.
White Shield decided to stay the course, entering the 2014 season by keeping their Rookie 3. The only change came with the replacement of NoFe, who retired and was replaced veteran jungler Watch, who came over from Black Sword after a semifinal finish at Worlds. Placing their trust in three rookies, a newcomer who had already switched positions in his short career, and a old-timer with two World Finals appearances under his belt, White Shield looked towards 2014 as the year they’d finally flourish.
Orchestrating the Map
The map, to most, is just a playground to fight, show off their skills individually, and eventually take objectives and win the game. To White Shield, the map and everything on it is a sixth man that helps them win the game. From controlling minion waves to the monsters across the jungle, White Shield will use their surroundings to help them win the game. When it’s fifty minutes into the game, they’ll dance around Baron, getting one of their players to push a wave of minions into an inhibitor turret and make you choose: either give White Shield a Baron, or let Save and his minion comrades break into your base and wreck havoc.
When other teams will use the support of super minions to rush down the Nexus, White Shield will play passive and work around the map when they have an inhib down. They’ll let the super minions do work on their own, pressuring other lanes and objectives themselves instead. While their Korean counterparts Blue will team fight you to death and win with flawless mechanical skill at the end of games, White Shield will suffocate you to death - sieging you in the bottom lane, letting Save run up the middle to take a tower, and having their super minions pressure down your Nexus turrets in the top lane.
Solo Lane Heroes
The way White Shield plays has led them to their first World Championship berth. After clawing their way to the semifinals in the Winter 2014 season, beating Xenics Storm before losing to Samsung White, they finally broke through during the Spring season. With the minions playing as their sixth man, their siege comp and map movement working to perfection, and Save becoming one of the best top laners in the world with his variety of carry champions, White Shield looked unstoppable heading into the finals of OGN Champions Spring 2014. However, Samsung Blue deterred them in the finals, using their ability to adapt quicker to new patches to their advantage and capitalizing on Save’s uncharacteristically bad games on Ryze. OGN Champions Summer 2014 was a forgettable one for Shield. With Ggoong hamstrung in the mid lane by an unfavorable meta, all the pressure went to Save to be the one to carry White Shield to victory. Other teams recognized the weakness, and Save was kept down during their games. It brought the team to an average group stage and a tough quarterfinal match against the KT Arrows. White Shield was able to put up a good fight, taking two victories, but fell in the Blind Pick match that had once been a hallmark of the team. With a devastating loss to Blue in the finals and a roller-coaster Summer season, how did White Shield come alive during the Korean Regionals, go 9-1 against the other three qualified teams, and stomp their way to the World Championships?
For one, Watch came alive at the right time. Going to his third straight World Championship, Watch, who had been shaky for most of the year, decided that it was his team to bring his team to Worlds during the Regionals. Watch mainly plays two champions -- the spider lady and Lee Sin. While his Elise is something to be feared and banned against, his Lee Sin can be a mixed bag ranging from effective to downright awful.
Watch’s Lee Sin play during the Korean Regionals was the best Lee Sin he has ever played in his career. He was able to carry some games solely by himself and pick up kill after kill. Although he did mess up during the climactic game against SK Telecom T1 K, getting beat at the Baron by Faker’s Xerath, Watch was nearly flawless throughout the rest of the Regionals.
Next, Gorilla learned a new champion! One of the most limited Supports when it comes to champions, Gorilla is an interesting player. If you ever give him Thresh, you will be destroyed. But if you take it away from him, all he has left is an average Braum and a Sona that would get killed in the first ten seconds of the laning phase. Picking up Janna during the Korean Regionals, Gorilla now has a second go-to champion that he can take to Worlds and unleash on teams. The Janna pick also brings us to the third and biggest reason why White Shield is going to Worlds.
Ggoong’s meta is back. With Ahri and Zed now back in Ggoong’s arsenal, he now has two champions that must be feared by the opposing team. Ggoong is an assassin player and while he hasn’t shown most of his Yasuo play or ever been known as a Yasuo player, teams now have to scout for Ggoong before going into games - something that wasn’t happening during the Summer season of Champions. With Gorilla’s Janna in play, White Shield can now deploy the ‘Assassin Monsoon’ play style of Ggoong rushing in on his assassin of choice, doing damage, and then working back to Gorilla who will heal him up with Janna’s Monsoon.
White Shield, behind their mastery of the minions and map itself, are a team focused on their solo lanes. Zefa and Watch can carry themselves at times, but if White Shield want to be the 2014 World Champion, it will be Save and Ggoong who lead them to victory. Through Ggoong’s assassins and Save’s variety of carry champions, White Shield’s solo lanes closely work together to lead their team to victory.
No one at the 2014 World Championships plays quite like White Shield. Call them eccentric or unorthodox, but don’t be surprised if you see them taking teams to the 68 minute mark, picking fights in the middle of the map while super minions crash down on the enemy’s base. It’s these tactics that have the Maestros of the Rift securing victories.
