They ain’t easy: The rise of INTZ e-Sports in Brazil
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The major off-season storyline in Brazil was Vivo Fibra Keyd Stars’ acquistion of former CJ Entus players Kang “DayDream” Kyung-min and Kim “Emperor” Jin-hyun. Keyd Stars were expected to dominate early in the 2015 CBLoL First Stage, as they did in 2014 with Park “Winged” Tae-jin and An “SuNo” Sun-ho.
However, it has been INTZ e-Sports who have looked the strongest, fielding the most cohesive unit in the region. Even in their two losses, INTZ is a coordinated group, and their team synergy has made them the leader in the CBLoL standings, maintaining the top spot all four weeks of competitive play. Currently, INTZ sits in first place, tied with the aforementioned Keyd Stars, as the best team in Brazil.
Like many young teams, INTZ often struggled to maintain their early game lead past the 30 minute mark, but they showed synergy in teamfights. Yang’s teleports from the top lane set up effective flanks that INTZ was quick to capitalize on. The pieces were in place -- mechanical skill, communication -- but INTZ lacked an understanding of vision, wave management, and objective pressure. If they could snowball their lanes hard enough, they would win. If they could not, their opponents often overcame INTZ’s early advantages with smarter map movements and superior vision.
Their off-season was spent shoring up these weaknesses. A much improved INTZ appeared in the third-party Circuito Game7 tournament, sweeping KaBuM! e-Sports Black. They won with superior vision, taking advantage of then-KaBuM! Black jungler Won “ReSEt” Jun-ho’s oft-reckless aggression. In these matches, INTZ’s strategy was rudimentary but effective. Djoko played to his passive support style while INTZ dotted the map with ward coverage, lighting up the area around their next target objective.
“The best part is that we don’t know. We just played, and out of the blue we started winning games and we were just like [expletive], how are we winning against paiN and Keyd? We don’t know. We just did our thing by playing and practicing,” micaO says of INTZ’s rapid development prior to the 2015 CBLoL season.
“At first it was horrible,” Revolta says. “We had zero idea of what to do in the early game, we had a big problem with vision control and wave control. But after playing some scrims we talked and learned what we are able to do in each stages of the game. Changing a passive jungler for an aggressive one is just like changing the whole team.”
While they may have struggled with the roster change initially, Revolta’s presence on INTZ has catapulted the team to a new level of play. Instead of passively controlling the game from the jungle, Revolta moves swiftly across the map, favoring quick ganks.
“I'd say that we're actually aggressive, but we know when we need to just be passive and patient.” he says of INTZ’s new playstyle. “As a jungler, I try to be as smart as I can in the early game to let my lanes get pressure onto the enemy team, and making plays. I love making plays.”
As a playmaker, Revolta provides yet another strong early game presence that opponents must focus on shutting down, in addition to known carries Yang and micaO. Not to be outdone, Tockers, has stepped up with massive games on Azir and Kassadin, proving that he too is a formidable carry threat. Revolta’s up-tempo pace has also affected the bot lane of INTZ, with Jockster playing more aggressively, often leaving micaO to his own devices while roaming on Leona.
“Our teamwork and our capability to keep each other well, if someone makes a mistake, we make him feel well to get back to the game and win it.” Revolta says regarding INTZ’s ability to overcome tough losses.
“We are completely focused on our goals and we practice a lot, we have no problems between the players, we try to be as family as we can, and stuff like that to feel comfortable and do our job well.”
INTZ now looks forward to becoming the undisputed champion of Brazil.
“Our team goals for this year is Worlds, and to test ourselves on the Worlds level and fight for first place,” Revolta says.
More than halfway through the 2015 CBLoL regular season, INTZ’s play appears to only improve from week to week. This is tough news for their upcoming opponents, Dexterity Team, JAYOB e-Sports and KaBuM! e-Sports Black, who occupy the bottom three spots in the standings, hoping to take a game off of INTZ to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Strong Lanes and an Herbivore
In the team’s infancy, INTZ’s playstyle focused on their strong lanes. Their two carries, AD Micael “micaO” Rodrigues and top laner Felipe “Yang” Zhao, received the majority of jungle pressure from Thiago “Djokovic” Maia, snowballing their advantage into the late game. Support Luan “Jockster” Cardoso aided micaO in the bot lane, and Gabriel “Tockers” Claumann provided a steady presence in the mid lane, rarely hard-carrying games but always making a difference in teamfights. Djoko’s jungling on the whole was passive early, controlling the tempo of INTZ’s matches from the jungle through farming and vision, rather than a more aggressive, gank-heavy style. On champions like Nunu, or his pocket pick of Skarner, he provided support and peel for INTZ’s carries.
Like many young teams, INTZ often struggled to maintain their early game lead past the 30 minute mark, but they showed synergy in teamfights. Yang’s teleports from the top lane set up effective flanks that INTZ was quick to capitalize on. The pieces were in place -- mechanical skill, communication -- but INTZ lacked an understanding of vision, wave management, and objective pressure. If they could snowball their lanes hard enough, they would win. If they could not, their opponents often overcame INTZ’s early advantages with smarter map movements and superior vision.
Their off-season was spent shoring up these weaknesses. A much improved INTZ appeared in the third-party Circuito Game7 tournament, sweeping KaBuM! e-Sports Black. They won with superior vision, taking advantage of then-KaBuM! Black jungler Won “ReSEt” Jun-ho’s oft-reckless aggression. In these matches, INTZ’s strategy was rudimentary but effective. Djoko played to his passive support style while INTZ dotted the map with ward coverage, lighting up the area around their next target objective.
“The best part is that we don’t know. We just played, and out of the blue we started winning games and we were just like [expletive], how are we winning against paiN and Keyd? We don’t know. We just did our thing by playing and practicing,” micaO says of INTZ’s rapid development prior to the 2015 CBLoL season.
Herbivore to a Carnivore: The Arrival of Revolta
The Circuito Game7 Finals marked INTZ’s last match with Djoko, who stepped down from the team, allowing Gabriel “Revolta” Henud to step into the role. The former jungler of Keyd Team and CNB e-Sports, Revolta’s style was completely different from Djoko’s, and required an adjustment period for the team.
“At first it was horrible,” Revolta says. “We had zero idea of what to do in the early game, we had a big problem with vision control and wave control. But after playing some scrims we talked and learned what we are able to do in each stages of the game. Changing a passive jungler for an aggressive one is just like changing the whole team.”
While they may have struggled with the roster change initially, Revolta’s presence on INTZ has catapulted the team to a new level of play. Instead of passively controlling the game from the jungle, Revolta moves swiftly across the map, favoring quick ganks.
“I'd say that we're actually aggressive, but we know when we need to just be passive and patient.” he says of INTZ’s new playstyle. “As a jungler, I try to be as smart as I can in the early game to let my lanes get pressure onto the enemy team, and making plays. I love making plays.”
As a playmaker, Revolta provides yet another strong early game presence that opponents must focus on shutting down, in addition to known carries Yang and micaO. Not to be outdone, Tockers, has stepped up with massive games on Azir and Kassadin, proving that he too is a formidable carry threat. Revolta’s up-tempo pace has also affected the bot lane of INTZ, with Jockster playing more aggressively, often leaving micaO to his own devices while roaming on Leona.
Dream About the Future
While INTZ has improved together, they retain a few of their old weaknesses, primarily in their late-game shot-calling. In their exhausting CBLoL Week 3 hour-long match against Keyd Stars, INTZ was out-maneuvered late, thanks to a lack of vision and inability to engage on their opponent, even with engage tools from Revolta’s Pantheon and Yang’s Lissandra. The silver lining found in these matches was the way that INTZ regrouped to come back and take the next game, proving their mental fortitude.
“Our teamwork and our capability to keep each other well, if someone makes a mistake, we make him feel well to get back to the game and win it.” Revolta says regarding INTZ’s ability to overcome tough losses.
“We are completely focused on our goals and we practice a lot, we have no problems between the players, we try to be as family as we can, and stuff like that to feel comfortable and do our job well.”
INTZ now looks forward to becoming the undisputed champion of Brazil.
“Our team goals for this year is Worlds, and to test ourselves on the Worlds level and fight for first place,” Revolta says.
More than halfway through the 2015 CBLoL regular season, INTZ’s play appears to only improve from week to week. This is tough news for their upcoming opponents, Dexterity Team, JAYOB e-Sports and KaBuM! e-Sports Black, who occupy the bottom three spots in the standings, hoping to take a game off of INTZ to keep their playoff hopes alive.