Without UZI: The State of Star Horn Royal Club
Riot·3/28/2015, 7:21:46 PM·0 votes·10,240 views
For the first time since their inception in 2012, Star Horn Royal Club takes on a regular season without their star AD carry, Jian “Uzi” Zihao. An integral part of Royal Club’s highest highs -- and lowest lows -- Uzi became the face of the franchise thanks to his impressive World Championship appearances. Entering the 2015 LPL Spring, Royal Club hoped to turn over a new page in their strategic playbook. However, nine weeks into the season, the team struggles to find an identity without Uzi.
They quickly did just that in their quarterfinal matchup against a familiar regional competitor, OMG. A crucial component of Royal’s success in both matches, Uzi dazzled his opponents and his audience with exceptional kiting ability on both Caitlyn and Vayne, immediately making a name for himself while showcasing Royal’s successful “raise the puppy” strategy. This protect the AD carry style of play gave Uzi the majority of Royal Club’s resources, turning him into a late game monster.
While Royal Club had spent the majority of Season 3 on the outside looking in at their major competitors -- invictus Gaming, Positive Energy, World Elite, and the seemingly unstoppable OMG -- they were firing on all cylinders at the World Championship, earning a 2-0 victory over OMG on the back of Uzi before defeating Fnatic 3-1 in the semifinals. Royal Club’s momentum was abruptly halted by a devastating finals sweep by SK Telecom T1 K, but the 16 year-old Uzi emerged as an international League of Legends household name, second only in fame to SK Telecom’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.
Uzi’s return to form, so to speak, progressed as the weeks passed by in 2014 LPL Summer. He began to showcase the same heights that he had achieved at Worlds in spite of his own inconsistency and frequent overextension from his jungler, inSec. This was aided heavily by his support, Zero, who existed to become Uzi’s shadow, offering all of his peel and crowd control to protect his carry and further aid him in dealing sustained damage on supports like Thresh, Nami, Janna, and Braum. Additionally corn, thanks in large part to his Orianna play, offered a secondary resource of peel and protection for Uzi. At the end of the season, Star Horn had squeezed into third place, then would go on to place second in the Chinese Regionals, losing 1-2 to EDward Gaming, but qualifying for a World Championship berth once more.
The 2014 World Championship iteration of Star Horn Royal Club combined Uzi’s carry potential with a more even gold distribution amongst his teammates, allowing more gold for corn and Cola. Uzi was still indubitably the carry of the team, receiving all of Star Horn’s peel and protection. Once again, Uzi was his best on the international stage, in spite of another lopsided finals loss, this time to Samsung Galaxy White.
Zero, in particular, looked lost, as there was no light for the peel-heavy support to shadow. He and inSec attempted two-man roams, which were initially successful in their first few games before opponents figured them out. The team lingered around sixth and seventh place for the first five weeks before sinking like a stone in the LPL standings. Star Horn’s team morale accompanied this descent, with players visibly upset as the losses mounted. Currently the team sits in the ninth place spot, just outside the coveted eighth place that will grant them a Playoff berth.
Light briefly shone through the clouds as NaMei made his triumphant return to the LPL on one of his signature champions, Jinx, in a 2-0 over Gamtee in Week 8. Unfortunately, at the end of the weekend, this still did not change Star Horn’s position in the standings. With NaMei, the team looks a bit more focused, specifically Zero, who has been granted a new purpose in life, protecting and peeling for an AD carry with far more defensive and precise positioning. Star Horn still suffers from a lack of cohesion overall, and the team has yet to find their identity, falling sloppily in Week 9 to the formerly last-place Team WE, fresh off of their surprising IEM Katowice performance.
It’s doubtful that Star Horn will be able to pull themselves together prior to the end of the season. With a recent leg injury to inSec, which may keep the jungler out of commission for a bit, another roster change looms on the horizon for the bedraggled team. With four LPL sets left, they will face Vici Gaming, Energy Pacemaker, Invictus Gaming, and Snake Esports. Their greatest hope to retain a spot in 2015 LPL Summer is to finish ninth or tenth in LPL Spring, thereby earning a higher seed in the promotional tournament.
Raising the “Mad Dog” of China
Established in October 2012, the first iteration Royal Club Huang Zu was comprised of the aforementioned Uzi, Liu “Lucky” Jun-jie, Pak Kan “Tabe” Wong, Liu “Warm” Yang, and Zhang “Mor” Hong-Wei. Quickly, though, Warm left and Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian was picked up prior to the start of the 2013 competitive season. Royal Club underwent a slew of roster changes throughout 2013 -- including Tabe’s first retirement in March and return to the team in May -- but Uzi remained a constant. Arriving at the Season 3 World Championship with Xiao “GodLike” Wang, Lucky, Lo “Wh1t3zZ” Pun Wai, Uzi, and Tabe, Royal Club looked to prove themselves internationally after winning the Season 3 China Regional Finals.
They quickly did just that in their quarterfinal matchup against a familiar regional competitor, OMG. A crucial component of Royal’s success in both matches, Uzi dazzled his opponents and his audience with exceptional kiting ability on both Caitlyn and Vayne, immediately making a name for himself while showcasing Royal’s successful “raise the puppy” strategy. This protect the AD carry style of play gave Uzi the majority of Royal Club’s resources, turning him into a late game monster.
While Royal Club had spent the majority of Season 3 on the outside looking in at their major competitors -- invictus Gaming, Positive Energy, World Elite, and the seemingly unstoppable OMG -- they were firing on all cylinders at the World Championship, earning a 2-0 victory over OMG on the back of Uzi before defeating Fnatic 3-1 in the semifinals. Royal Club’s momentum was abruptly halted by a devastating finals sweep by SK Telecom T1 K, but the 16 year-old Uzi emerged as an international League of Legends household name, second only in fame to SK Telecom’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.
A Rocky Start and Triumphant Return
Following their humiliating defeat, Royal Club returned to China. Wh1t3zZ and Tabe retired, while Lucky left the team and GodLike migrated to North America with LMQ. Royal Club once again underwent significant roster moves to fill these vacancies, including mid lane Uzi for a stint. The team narrowly avoided auto-relegation in the 2014 LPL Spring Split, thanks to a late-season surge from jungler Wang “Kmi” Long-jie, and Uzi transitioning back into the AD carry role. Unwilling to continue as a husk of their former selves, the newly-renamed Star Horn Royal Club brought in jungler Choi “inSec” In-seok and support Yoon “Zero” Kyung-sup from the Korean KT Rolster organization, along with former kx.Cash top Jiang “Cola” Na and former Team King mid Lei “corn” Wen.
Uzi’s return to form, so to speak, progressed as the weeks passed by in 2014 LPL Summer. He began to showcase the same heights that he had achieved at Worlds in spite of his own inconsistency and frequent overextension from his jungler, inSec. This was aided heavily by his support, Zero, who existed to become Uzi’s shadow, offering all of his peel and crowd control to protect his carry and further aid him in dealing sustained damage on supports like Thresh, Nami, Janna, and Braum. Additionally corn, thanks in large part to his Orianna play, offered a secondary resource of peel and protection for Uzi. At the end of the season, Star Horn had squeezed into third place, then would go on to place second in the Chinese Regionals, losing 1-2 to EDward Gaming, but qualifying for a World Championship berth once more.
The 2014 World Championship iteration of Star Horn Royal Club combined Uzi’s carry potential with a more even gold distribution amongst his teammates, allowing more gold for corn and Cola. Uzi was still indubitably the carry of the team, receiving all of Star Horn’s peel and protection. Once again, Uzi was his best on the international stage, in spite of another lopsided finals loss, this time to Samsung Galaxy White.
A Royal Club Without Uzi
On December 11, 2014, Uzi announced that he would be leaving Star Horn Royal Club for the presumably greener pastures of OMG. For two years -- aside from a small and relatively unsuccessful tour of the mid lane -- every iteration of Royal Club had revolved around this one player, for better or for worse. First, Star Horn had to secure an AD carry. They picked up a fantastic one in the former EDG superstar Zhu “NaMei” Jia-wen. Due to contract deadlines and timing windows, NaMei unfortunately found himself benched for the majority of 2015 LPL Spring. This left Star Horn with the sub-optimal choices of Zhai “HYY” Wen-han and Wang “Wei” Huan-Wei. In spite of Uzi’s many strategic shortcomings -- recklessness and overaggressive positioning along with an over reliance on Star Horn’s resources -- the team looked completely lost with their AD subs.
Zero, in particular, looked lost, as there was no light for the peel-heavy support to shadow. He and inSec attempted two-man roams, which were initially successful in their first few games before opponents figured them out. The team lingered around sixth and seventh place for the first five weeks before sinking like a stone in the LPL standings. Star Horn’s team morale accompanied this descent, with players visibly upset as the losses mounted. Currently the team sits in the ninth place spot, just outside the coveted eighth place that will grant them a Playoff berth.
Light briefly shone through the clouds as NaMei made his triumphant return to the LPL on one of his signature champions, Jinx, in a 2-0 over Gamtee in Week 8. Unfortunately, at the end of the weekend, this still did not change Star Horn’s position in the standings. With NaMei, the team looks a bit more focused, specifically Zero, who has been granted a new purpose in life, protecting and peeling for an AD carry with far more defensive and precise positioning. Star Horn still suffers from a lack of cohesion overall, and the team has yet to find their identity, falling sloppily in Week 9 to the formerly last-place Team WE, fresh off of their surprising IEM Katowice performance.
It’s doubtful that Star Horn will be able to pull themselves together prior to the end of the season. With a recent leg injury to inSec, which may keep the jungler out of commission for a bit, another roster change looms on the horizon for the bedraggled team. With four LPL sets left, they will face Vici Gaming, Energy Pacemaker, Invictus Gaming, and Snake Esports. Their greatest hope to retain a spot in 2015 LPL Summer is to finish ninth or tenth in LPL Spring, thereby earning a higher seed in the promotional tournament.
