The lights in the sky are Keyd Stars
Riot·2/26/2015, 7:44:03 PM·0 votes·4,350 views
Placing Keyd Stars at the top of the Brazilian region has always been foremost in Edu Kim's mind. Last year, Kim chose to import two Korean players in the team’s rebranding from Keyd Team to Keyd Stars, a move that led them to win CBLoL 2014.
Yet their dominating regular season performance did not get Keyd Stars to where they wanted to go: The 2014 World Championship. Keyd’s dream of competing internationally was dashed by KaBuM! e-Sports in the Brazilian Regional Qualifier.
With playoffs fast approaching in Brazil’s first-ever offline regular season, Keyd is now in a similar position as they were in 2014: at the top of the leaderboard with two Korean imports rounding out their roster. This year, they are tied for first place with INTZ e-Sports, and the Brazilian scene as a whole looks far stronger.
In their 2014 revamp, Keyd Stars brought in former NaJin Black Sword jungler Park "Winged" Tae-jin and Quantic Gaming’s An "SuNo" Sun-ho to Brazil. Thanks to a widespread lack of macro knowledge and map control from their opponents, Keyd stormed through CBLoL 2014. They began the season on a 6-0 win streak and lost only three games during the round robin stage.
Keyd’s dominance came on the back of Winged. Able to apply pressure, dictate the tempo of the game, and punish opponents in ways they didn’t know existed, Winged breathed life into the jungle position in Brazil. With Winged controlling their matches so efficiently, Keyd was a shoo-in for the International Wildcard spot that provided Brazil’s only means of representation at the World Championship.
What Keyd had overlooked was that the rest of the region was slowly catching on to their more macro-focused playstyle. Losing to a fourth place KaBuM! e-Sports team in the Regional Qualifier was certainly not in Keyd Stars’ plans, especially on the heels of such a commanding regular season performance.
Following their Semifinal loss, Winged and SuNo left the team and Keyd acquired former CNB e-Sports stars Murilo "takeshi" Alves and Gabriel "Revolta" Henud. Continuously shuffling their roster -- including a brief stint in the jungle from AD carry main Felipe "brTT" Gonçalves -- Keyd spent their offseason trying out new things, having already qualified for the 2015 season.
Revolta and brTT both eventually left Keyd, landing on INTZ e-Sports and paiN Gaming respectively, leaving holes in Keyd’s roster at the jungle and AD carry positions. On Dec. 10, 2014, Keyd announced their latest acquisitions: former CJ Entus Blaze jungler Kang "DayDream" Kyung-min, and AD carry Kim "Emperor" Jin-hyun. The two were expected to lead Keyd Stars through another dominant season in Brazil, with similar World Championship hopes that the team had with Winged and SuNo.
"Winged and Suno were the first ones, so we had a little bit of 'awe' and maybe a little shock too," Team support player and captain Caio "Loop" Almeida said. "Compared to Daydream and Emperor, as soon as we started practicing it was just a matter of getting better instead of adjusting to cultural differences and language barriers."
However, even with this easier integration of their imported players, Keyd has not commandeered the region in 2015 as they did in 2015. Loop attributes this to overall growth within Brazilian LoL esports.
"In early 2014 we had a clear lead in terms of preparation and individual skills, now that's not true as teams got really better and way more professional as well. We have to take care with every team in CBLoL as everyone's striving to get better."
Keyd Stars is a team determined to be the best in Brazil. Tied for first place with INTZ e-Sports is surely not where Keyd imagined themselves to be after six weeks. In spite of qualifying for the playoff semifinal -- earning a first round bye -- Takeshi expressed Keyd’s fervent desire to be number one, stating that they had slipped a bit in splitting their sets with INTZ and paiN Gaming.
"We have huge standards for ourselves," Loop reiterated. "We don't get satisfied with less than perfect results."
While this iteration of Keyd has failed to annihilate their competition like their 2014 counterparts, there is no doubt that they are an extremely formidable team. Currently, Keyd Stars now prepares for their final set against Dexterity on March 1. They will then turn their attention to the CBLoL 2015 first split Semifinals, where the overall competitive experience of Keyd will likely shine.
"I think this lineup just shouts experience," Loop said. "All members have been through so much and so many situations that most players haven't been through. Takeshi participated in two CBLoL Finals and Emperor and Daydream have a lot in terms of international experience, having participated in Champions Korea and WCG."
As Keyd’s shotcaller, Loop recognizes the problems that lack of communication can cause, and strives to unify their roster by using simple English throughout the game so all team members understand his calls. With each passing week Keyd looks more synchronized, a scary prospect for their playoff opponents. In 2015, Keyd Stars may not have the same commanding lead over Brazil that they had last year. But even with the region on the rise, the stars, and their desire to be the best, is still well within their reach.
Complete Domination
In their 2014 revamp, Keyd Stars brought in former NaJin Black Sword jungler Park "Winged" Tae-jin and Quantic Gaming’s An "SuNo" Sun-ho to Brazil. Thanks to a widespread lack of macro knowledge and map control from their opponents, Keyd stormed through CBLoL 2014. They began the season on a 6-0 win streak and lost only three games during the round robin stage.
Keyd’s dominance came on the back of Winged. Able to apply pressure, dictate the tempo of the game, and punish opponents in ways they didn’t know existed, Winged breathed life into the jungle position in Brazil. With Winged controlling their matches so efficiently, Keyd was a shoo-in for the International Wildcard spot that provided Brazil’s only means of representation at the World Championship.
What Keyd had overlooked was that the rest of the region was slowly catching on to their more macro-focused playstyle. Losing to a fourth place KaBuM! e-Sports team in the Regional Qualifier was certainly not in Keyd Stars’ plans, especially on the heels of such a commanding regular season performance.
Following their Semifinal loss, Winged and SuNo left the team and Keyd acquired former CNB e-Sports stars Murilo "takeshi" Alves and Gabriel "Revolta" Henud. Continuously shuffling their roster -- including a brief stint in the jungle from AD carry main Felipe "brTT" Gonçalves -- Keyd spent their offseason trying out new things, having already qualified for the 2015 season.
Just A Little Bit of History Repeating?
Revolta and brTT both eventually left Keyd, landing on INTZ e-Sports and paiN Gaming respectively, leaving holes in Keyd’s roster at the jungle and AD carry positions. On Dec. 10, 2014, Keyd announced their latest acquisitions: former CJ Entus Blaze jungler Kang "DayDream" Kyung-min, and AD carry Kim "Emperor" Jin-hyun. The two were expected to lead Keyd Stars through another dominant season in Brazil, with similar World Championship hopes that the team had with Winged and SuNo.
"Winged and Suno were the first ones, so we had a little bit of 'awe' and maybe a little shock too," Team support player and captain Caio "Loop" Almeida said. "Compared to Daydream and Emperor, as soon as we started practicing it was just a matter of getting better instead of adjusting to cultural differences and language barriers."
However, even with this easier integration of their imported players, Keyd has not commandeered the region in 2015 as they did in 2015. Loop attributes this to overall growth within Brazilian LoL esports.
"In early 2014 we had a clear lead in terms of preparation and individual skills, now that's not true as teams got really better and way more professional as well. We have to take care with every team in CBLoL as everyone's striving to get better."
Keyd Stars is a team determined to be the best in Brazil. Tied for first place with INTZ e-Sports is surely not where Keyd imagined themselves to be after six weeks. In spite of qualifying for the playoff semifinal -- earning a first round bye -- Takeshi expressed Keyd’s fervent desire to be number one, stating that they had slipped a bit in splitting their sets with INTZ and paiN Gaming.
"We have huge standards for ourselves," Loop reiterated. "We don't get satisfied with less than perfect results."
A Future Written in the Stars
While this iteration of Keyd has failed to annihilate their competition like their 2014 counterparts, there is no doubt that they are an extremely formidable team. Currently, Keyd Stars now prepares for their final set against Dexterity on March 1. They will then turn their attention to the CBLoL 2015 first split Semifinals, where the overall competitive experience of Keyd will likely shine.
"I think this lineup just shouts experience," Loop said. "All members have been through so much and so many situations that most players haven't been through. Takeshi participated in two CBLoL Finals and Emperor and Daydream have a lot in terms of international experience, having participated in Champions Korea and WCG."
As Keyd’s shotcaller, Loop recognizes the problems that lack of communication can cause, and strives to unify their roster by using simple English throughout the game so all team members understand his calls. With each passing week Keyd looks more synchronized, a scary prospect for their playoff opponents. In 2015, Keyd Stars may not have the same commanding lead over Brazil that they had last year. But even with the region on the rise, the stars, and their desire to be the best, is still well within their reach.
