When asked where they saw themselves finishing at the end of the 2015 North American LCS Spring Split, Gravity’s AD carry David ‘Cop’ Roberson and jungler Brandon ‘Saintvicious’ DiMarco answered simultaneously.
“First,” says Cop.
“Dead last,” throws in Saintvicious.
The pair of veterans showed off exactly what makes one of the newest LCS teams tick: talent, goofy jokes, and sarcasm. The team formerly known as Curse Academy is out there to win games by having a good time. “You can quote me on this,” says new owner Davis Vague. “We’re going to be the new Cloud9, in terms of the best friend squad.”
Veteran “leadership”
“My back and my hip hurt when I go into a game. Because I’m old as ****,” jokes Saintvicious, in his ever-present dry tone.
It’s true that Saintvicious has been around the professional League of Legends scene longer than just about anyone, so it makes sense that he would be a core member of the leadership on Gravity. Apparently, along with fellow veteran Cop, he leads by example. An extremely sarcastic example, to be sure.
“I’m excited to move in with my wonderful team, new owner Davis Vague, and my best friend Jake, who is our new manager. I can’t wait to practice on the Summoner’s Rift,” says Cop, voice dripping with fake enthusiasm, of how he plans to lead his team to victory.
Top laner Kevin ‘Hauntzer’ Yarnell jumps in to add, equally dry, “Cop has great shot-calling experience, and he’s been in the thick of it.”
Ever the translator of his team’s lunacy, manager Jake Fyfe makes sure to get at least one serious point across. “From a manager perspective, talking to Saint and Cop, they’ve been telling me a lot about how to deal with the break, things with Riot, how to deal with logistics, and working with a team in a house,” he says. “A lot of these guys haven’t been in that environment yet, with a coach and an analyst. It’s nice to hear from Saint and Cop about how those things will help going into the season.”
Getting to know one another
This roster has been together since September, but they’ve been playing largely online, and are only just moving into a proper gaming house in the next couple of weeks. As such, they’ll have to get to know one another on a much more personal level than before.
In fact, up until recently, many of them had never met in person. “I thought Hauntzer was a fat person,” laughs Saintvicious. “I saw his Twitter picture and he looked kind of fat, but he’s a small Asian boy. Hauntzer is a catfish.”
In more realistic ways, the squad is already working to meld together. “The main thing is that we’re moving to a house and practicing in a serious environment that we’ve never had before,” says Davis.
“Bunny’s mom is a very, very nice lady,” adds Jake. “I think on the first night [when we] move in, she offered to cook us all up a meal, so that we can all bond as friends like that.”
They may joke and mock each other quite a bit -- even in interviews with the writer of their profile on
Lolesports.com -- but it’s clear that they get along quite well. “We get hype on each other,” says Saint.
Just to make sure things don’t get too lovey-dovey, Cop throws in, “I hate everyone.”
Photo credit to ESL
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