Meet the fans as Worlds 2015 goes to Paris
The French phrase “esprit de corps” refers to a spirit of comradeship among members of a group. But with the Group Stage of the 2015 World Championship coming to Paris, you could easily swap out the “esprit” for “esport”. The crowd sang as one, cheered as one and showed its pride for the French pros with unified chants of support.
The first week of Group Stage action for Worlds 2015 brought with it a host of unexpected twists. Origen silencing doubters after practically backdooring Worlds via the European gauntlet and then going undefeated in its first three games. The great fall of China’s LGD Gaming. The seventh-place NA LCS team Cloud9 floating high atop Group C with a 3-0 record, even managing kick the mighty Fnatic down the basement stairs. We walked around the Dock Pullman venue in Paris on the morning of Day 2 to catch up with some of the fans in attendance to see how they were enjoying themselves.
ROAD WARRIORS
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A pair of French summoners “Grumpy V” (pictured at right) and “Lee Sin HD” (in the blue hoodie) lingered in front of the venue, enjoying a bit of extra sunshine before heading inside to catch the first match of the day, SKTelecom T1 vs Edward Gaming. They’d made a six-hour road trip the previous day from a small town in the South of France to get to Paris for the Worlds 2015 Group Stage.
“We were hyped to come here,” says Grumpy V. "I’ve never been in Paris so it’s great, even for French people to get to come to Paris and see the town and the event. We’re so happy that we get to meet the players we’ve watched for a few years on TV, so it’s just great. And meeting a French player [like Paul “SoaZ” Boyer or Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim] is even better. This is our very first League event.”
What’s Grumpy V looking forward to most about Day 2? “Today’s game with Origen vs TSM,” he says, “Because this guy over there is a TSM fan and I hate him for that. Because I hate them. But it’s fun.
Lee Sin HD defends himself by assuring me that he started following TSM because of fellow European Bjergsen, yet he still thinks Origen will come out on top in the matchup. Like any good instigator would, we try to goad the pair into placing a wager on the matchup. “It could take place during the game, I don’t know. He’ll have to write SoaZ on his face [if Origen wins],” says Grumpy V. “SoaZ Baguette,” counters Lee Sin HD, laughing. “Very important, because we’re French,” says Grumpy V in perfect deadpan.
HOARSE OF COURSE
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Inside the lobby of the Dock Pullman we find a local Parisian, who goes by “Ykkokoro” in League, cosplaying as Dragon Fist Lee Sin. Despite being in the extreme minority amidst a sea of Fnatic fans, he’s staying true to his cosplay as a supporter of one of the most favoured Chinese teams in the tournament. He’s holding a homemade sign containing the cheer “EDG Fighting”.
“I am for EDG,” says Ykkokoro. “That was not my favourite Chinese team at the beginning but since I’ve seen them play at MSI against SKT, they really impressed me. I think they have a great shot at winning Worlds this year, they’re doing really well. Their first match against SKT, this will show us if they have the real potential.”
He’s attending multiple days of the Group Stage and, despite it only being Day 2, his voice sounds hoarse. “I was screaming every day so that’s why I can’t really talk anymore,” he says, “but I’m going to scream again and again for EDG today too.”
And what moment made him scream the loudest? “I think the moment I screamed the loudest was the quadrakill from xPeke, that was really amazing. I really didn’t expect Origen to win that game [against LDG]. When you see imp 4/0, it seemed like the game was almost over. Then the magic happened and wow! The whole crowd cheering for Origen, it was so amazing.”
NO PAIN NO GAME
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Though the crowd is predominantly French, we notice an attendee walking around draped in a Brazilian flag. “Rafael Frozen”, as he’s called in-game, has flown in from Madrid for the Group Stage to cheer for Brazilian Wild Card team paiN Gaming. But he’s not just excited about seeing the Brazilians compete.
“My friends want to see EDG vs SKT,” he says, “but for me personally, I’m not really excited about games between the Asian teams. I actually prefer North America and LCS Europe. I hate the Asian teams because they always win, they’re too strong. What I wish most is that any team that is not Asian to win because the Asian teams have been in power for too long. I want to see Fnatic, the hope of Europe, to get to the finals and win. But I would love to see SKT vs Fnatic in the final, it would be perfect.”
If a western team in the final is his primary wish, second on the list just might be the on-time arrival of his flight home. He’ll be cutting it close. “I bought a ticket that gets back to Madrid in 8h 30m,” he says, “and I have to be into work at 9h so if the flight delays even by minutes, it’s going to fuck me over. But it’s totally worth it. I don’t know when I will be able to see Worlds again.”
VIVE LA REIGNOVER
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If you go to any pro League of Legends tournament in Europe, you can expect to see Fnatic’s fanbase out in force. The team is a runaway favourite, and especially so in Paris due to the team’s captain and support player YellOwStaR being a Frenchman himself. But when we find “Snykyz” in the crowd, it’s clear that, based on apparel alone, he’s making a convincing sartorial case for being Fnatic’s #1 fan. He’s especially proud of his jacket which bears the name of Fnatic’s jungler Yeu-jin “Reignover” Kim, whom he met over the summer while attending the EU LCS in Berlin.
Snykyz slips into fond reverie, saying, “When I met [Reignover] in Berlin, I said, ‘hey man, you’re the best jungler, you’re a monster, that’s your new nickname from me. And mark my words I will be here in Paris when you will be at Worlds. I will be supporting you’. And IzPAH, Fnatic’s manager said ‘you are the best fan we’ve got and I will remember you”. And that’s why he gave me this jacket. When he gave me that, I thought, oh my god, I thought, did he really do this?! That’s why I’m here, I will support them with all my heart and hope they win the final.”
When asked for his opinion of Fnatic’s opening game, he gushes, “I was really proud because it was a really clean game, only one or two kills for IG, zero towers, no dragons, no Barons. I was so happy because all the analysts were saying [Fnatic’s chance of winning] was 50/50, and I was like, no, it’s 100% Fnatic and I was right.”
This isn’t Snykyz’s first major League of Legends tournament in Paris. He attended All-Stars 2014 and loved the atmosphere. “When finally I learned that part of Worlds would be in Paris,” he says, “I thought to myself, one time, one life, I think there will be no Worlds in Paris or Europe for three or four years I think so I was like, it’s a good chance to go there. I’m from Paris, I will go there, I will support my team again so I’m really happy.”
As if Fnatic didn’t have enough incentive to turn things around and come roaring back in Week 2 of the Group Stage, they can also know that Snykyz is watching, and cheering, and wearing the colour orange to signify that everything is going to be K. In fact, he was immortalized doing just that, as later in the day, he appeared in the lower left-hand crowd inset of the broadcast screaming and pointing excitedly at the Fnatic logo on his cap.
