Team Dignitas’ Redemption
Riot·5/20/2015, 12:37:31 AM·0 votes·8,615 views
The days of the Donger are long behind us.
The Team Dignitas we saw in the 2015 Spring Split was the image of a team in transition. Following the departure of Michael "Imaqtpie" Santana, Darshan "Zionspartan" Upadhyaya, and Alberto "Crumbzz" Rengifo; the team was searching for its new identity as they struggled to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive North American LCS. The new season brought new faces and fresh talent to the team in the form of Yo "Core JJ" Yong-in and Noh "Gamsu" Yeong-jin. With tempered expectations for this squad, Team Dignitas’ debut was an uphill battle.
With only a month left in the Split, the team picked up Sami "Rico" Harbi as their coach. His guidance came too late, as the team had already struggled through a rough season and there was little time to turn their record around. Going 6-12, the team slid into 9th Place and faced relegations in a disappointing conclusion to the Split.
With the battle to defend Team Dignitas’ LCS spot quickly approaching, Alan "KiWiWiD" Nguyen says that he wasn’t intimidated by the threat of being relegated. "My mentality was that there's no way I could lose this match, I'm just too good. There was never a point [where I felt like we might get relegated.]"
Winterfox chose to play their relegation series against Team Dragon Knights, leaving Team Dignitas to play against Team Fusion. After narrowly missing their opportunity to make it into the LCS in the 2015 NA LCS Expansion Tournament, Team Fusion was out for blood. Starting off the series with a 2-0 victory against Team Fusion, it seemed as though KiWiKiD was right in believing that the team had nothing to fear. Taking the next two games, Team Fusion showed that they weren’t going down without a fight. Coming down to the wire in Game 5, this was Team Dignitas’ last chance. With a miraculous headbutt-pulverize by KiWiKid, Dignitas took the final game in the series.
After defending their spot in the NA LCS, Dignitas has been given the opportunity to redeem themselves. They intend to do just that.
Tackling their troubles head on, the team is focusing on what remains their biggest weakness: communication. “We need to work on Core and Gamsu's English' comfortability,” says KiWiKiD. “That will help tremendously. We haven't scrimmed yet, but I sure hope it'll be fixed!”
Despite their diminishing language barrier, Core JJ feels very confident that Team Dignitas’ botlane duo has moved past the struggles of the last split. “KiWi and I believe that we can beat any teams' bot lane. During Spring Split, there were many things we were lacking -- whether it be as a team or individually. However, Summer Split is the last chance of qualifying for Worlds, so we are only focused on winning.” Core JJ intends to improve himself by going into the Summer Split with a more team-centric approach. “Rather than KiWi and I just destroying the other bot lanes, we want to work as a team team to beat other LCS teams.”
Seeking clearer direction, the team is turning to Team Dignitas’ veterans, KiWiKiD and veteran mid laner Shiphtur. “I would say we both play the leadership role,” says KiWiKiD. “Core, Gamsu, and Azingy follow our calls a lot more steadfastly than if the others had suggested the same thing.”
As a newcomer to the team, Core JJ agrees. “I really feel their veteran status during the games. When things things get difficult, they try to take care of us and help us not tilt. What we have to work on is for the other team members to learn this.”
With the team’s confidence in each other on the rise, they’re looking forward to proving their potential in the upcoming split. Core JJ thinks that the team will pull through stronger than before. “Last season, we learned a lot of our issues or problems by experiencing and going through trial and error. After fixing our issues/problems, all that's left to follow is our team becoming stronger.” With the 2015 Summer Split on the horizon, Core JJ believes that these offseason changes will set the team up for a major comeback, allowing them to soar to the top of their region. “Our goal is always to be in the top three and qualify for Worlds, and we don't see this as an unreachable goal.”
Team Dignitas will return on May 30th in their Summer debut versus Counter Logic Gaming. Tune into http://watch.na.lolesports.com/en_US to see the results of their offseason preparation as they battle to reclaim dominance.
Editor's Note: This article's original publication characterized the Fusion vs Dignitas Promotion Tournament match incorrectly. This has been corrected. We apologize for the mistake.
Tough Times
Team Dignitas' struggles began early on, with language barriers dividing the team’s communication. "Coming over to America provided an opportunity to play in a better environment and also learn English," says Core JJ. "At first, my English wasn't great. This made it difficult to adjust." Gamsu shared similar problems, also hailing from Korea and not having a firm grasp on the English language yet. Needing time to adjust to this obstacle as a team, this made the early weeks of the Spring Split especially tough. Team Dignitas had to overcome another hurdle in Week 2 when Crumbzz left the team. Amidst the chaos of playing without a coach, Team Dignitas juggled from one jungler to the next. After experimenting with Stephen “CloudNguyen” Nguyen for several weeks, the team ultimately settled on Andrew "Azingy" Zamarripa in Week 6 and decided to keep him on the permanent roster.
With only a month left in the Split, the team picked up Sami "Rico" Harbi as their coach. His guidance came too late, as the team had already struggled through a rough season and there was little time to turn their record around. Going 6-12, the team slid into 9th Place and faced relegations in a disappointing conclusion to the Split.
With the battle to defend Team Dignitas’ LCS spot quickly approaching, Alan "KiWiWiD" Nguyen says that he wasn’t intimidated by the threat of being relegated. "My mentality was that there's no way I could lose this match, I'm just too good. There was never a point [where I felt like we might get relegated.]"
Winterfox chose to play their relegation series against Team Dragon Knights, leaving Team Dignitas to play against Team Fusion. After narrowly missing their opportunity to make it into the LCS in the 2015 NA LCS Expansion Tournament, Team Fusion was out for blood. Starting off the series with a 2-0 victory against Team Fusion, it seemed as though KiWiKiD was right in believing that the team had nothing to fear. Taking the next two games, Team Fusion showed that they weren’t going down without a fight. Coming down to the wire in Game 5, this was Team Dignitas’ last chance. With a miraculous headbutt-pulverize by KiWiKid, Dignitas took the final game in the series.
After defending their spot in the NA LCS, Dignitas has been given the opportunity to redeem themselves. They intend to do just that.
From the Ashes
Team Dignitas is choosing to believe in their potential and will keep the same roster going into the Summer Split. KiWiKiD says that, "There was no question [about switching up the roster,] and we decided to stick with it because we believe we can get to Worlds with it. That's all that matters." In preparation for the coming split, Team Dignitas’ manager Michael “Odee” O’Dell says that the team is taking some time to themselves to recharge. “The guys have had a break and got some R&R. The Koreans flew home also. During the offseason, the guys have been in Solo Queue and [their coach] Rico gave them some tasks to do whilst practicing.”
Tackling their troubles head on, the team is focusing on what remains their biggest weakness: communication. “We need to work on Core and Gamsu's English' comfortability,” says KiWiKiD. “That will help tremendously. We haven't scrimmed yet, but I sure hope it'll be fixed!”
Despite their diminishing language barrier, Core JJ feels very confident that Team Dignitas’ botlane duo has moved past the struggles of the last split. “KiWi and I believe that we can beat any teams' bot lane. During Spring Split, there were many things we were lacking -- whether it be as a team or individually. However, Summer Split is the last chance of qualifying for Worlds, so we are only focused on winning.” Core JJ intends to improve himself by going into the Summer Split with a more team-centric approach. “Rather than KiWi and I just destroying the other bot lanes, we want to work as a team team to beat other LCS teams.”
Seeking clearer direction, the team is turning to Team Dignitas’ veterans, KiWiKiD and veteran mid laner Shiphtur. “I would say we both play the leadership role,” says KiWiKiD. “Core, Gamsu, and Azingy follow our calls a lot more steadfastly than if the others had suggested the same thing.”
As a newcomer to the team, Core JJ agrees. “I really feel their veteran status during the games. When things things get difficult, they try to take care of us and help us not tilt. What we have to work on is for the other team members to learn this.”
With the team’s confidence in each other on the rise, they’re looking forward to proving their potential in the upcoming split. Core JJ thinks that the team will pull through stronger than before. “Last season, we learned a lot of our issues or problems by experiencing and going through trial and error. After fixing our issues/problems, all that's left to follow is our team becoming stronger.” With the 2015 Summer Split on the horizon, Core JJ believes that these offseason changes will set the team up for a major comeback, allowing them to soar to the top of their region. “Our goal is always to be in the top three and qualify for Worlds, and we don't see this as an unreachable goal.”
Team Dignitas will return on May 30th in their Summer debut versus Counter Logic Gaming. Tune into http://watch.na.lolesports.com/en_US to see the results of their offseason preparation as they battle to reclaim dominance.
Editor's Note: This article's original publication characterized the Fusion vs Dignitas Promotion Tournament match incorrectly. This has been corrected. We apologize for the mistake.
