Uzi’s Calm Before the Semifinal
Riot·10/10/2014, 11:00:16 PM·0 votes·13,773 views
It has been a hard year for Star Horn Royal Club’s (SHRC) Jian “Uzi” Zihao. By the looks of the team’s League of Legends 2014 World Championship Semifinal competition, it’s only going to get tougher. SHRC must face a rejuvenated OMG, who knocked NaJin White Shield from the tournament, and there's a lot on the line. If SHRC wins, Uzi becomes the only player in Worlds history to reprise an appearance in the Finals. We had a chance to chat with him about his upcoming challenge.
In the offseason when the team was rebranded, fresh talent joined the roster including Korean players Choi “inSec” Inseok and Yoon “Zero” Kyungsup. This new lineup climbed the LPL ranks slowly at first, but ultimately secured the second seed for China for the 2014 World Championship.
Even with talented players to complement Uzi, there was still a lot riding on his shoulders. Many fans have fixated on Uzi’s performance as the hard carry for the team. To an extent, Uzi feels the heat. “I do feel a little pressure because I'm afraid I might make mistakes and won't meet expectations,” he told Lolesports.
At Worlds, it seems Uzi has felt this pressure very intensely. After the fourth game of the series between Star Horn Royal Club and first seed Chinese team Edward Gaming, Uzi was seen sitting separately from his team with tears in his eyes. When we asked him how he managed to cope and come out the next game swinging to carry the set, he said, “I knew that if I didn't gather my thoughts and keep calm then I'd probably lose the next game.”
Even so, Uzi has a lot of faith in his teammates. “I know they will help me because in the past games, in LPL, some of the games I didn't perform very well. But they were able to step up and help me win," he explains. This isn’t an understatement. Earlier on in LPL Summer, SHRC looked much more out of synch and Uzi would occasionally over-extend without backup. Getting caught out set the team behind, but in some cases, top laner, Jiang “Cola” Na, could carry games on Jax or mid laner, Lei “corn” Wen, would come through on Fizz or Orianna.
All told, OMG and SHRC have played 16 maps against each other in LPL this summer alone, and they’re still dead-even. The most terrifying pressure point comes from the fact that OMG won two Best of 5s against SHRC without OMG’s strong new support, Hu “Cloud” Zhenwei, on the roster.
Despite all this, Uzi is nearly unconcerned. “Personally, I don't feel the pressure from them. OMG has become a more stable team because of Cloud, and he's been playing Janna for a lot of the games. That makes the team more stable,” he said.
Uzi’s main worry is OMG’s impressive top laner, Gao “Gogoing” Diping, who had two powerful Ryze performances against NaJin White Shield. “I think Gogoing is a very strong player with a really deep champion pool, so that will be a huge concern going into champion select,” Uzi explained.
This is unsurprising since SHRC has expended the majority of their bans on Gogoing when the teams have met in the past. Uzi went on to specify that both Ryze and Janna will be contested picks in the series. “Our top laner is a very good Ryze player as well,” Uzi said, and he assured us that the team would try to secure Janna as a pick for Zero.
UZI’S JOURNEY
Earlier this year, Royal Club went through multiple changes. Notably, Uzi began the season in the mid lane. When the team started to falter, he returned to the bottom lane as an explosive AD carry. Despite renewed efforts, Royal Club narrowly avoided relegation by securing sixth place. After continuous roster shuffling in the offseason and LPL Spring, Royal Club Huang Zhu rebranded as Star Horn Royal Club. Through it all, Uzi remained the only permanent fixture.
In the offseason when the team was rebranded, fresh talent joined the roster including Korean players Choi “inSec” Inseok and Yoon “Zero” Kyungsup. This new lineup climbed the LPL ranks slowly at first, but ultimately secured the second seed for China for the 2014 World Championship.
Even with talented players to complement Uzi, there was still a lot riding on his shoulders. Many fans have fixated on Uzi’s performance as the hard carry for the team. To an extent, Uzi feels the heat. “I do feel a little pressure because I'm afraid I might make mistakes and won't meet expectations,” he told Lolesports.
At Worlds, it seems Uzi has felt this pressure very intensely. After the fourth game of the series between Star Horn Royal Club and first seed Chinese team Edward Gaming, Uzi was seen sitting separately from his team with tears in his eyes. When we asked him how he managed to cope and come out the next game swinging to carry the set, he said, “I knew that if I didn't gather my thoughts and keep calm then I'd probably lose the next game.”
Even so, Uzi has a lot of faith in his teammates. “I know they will help me because in the past games, in LPL, some of the games I didn't perform very well. But they were able to step up and help me win," he explains. This isn’t an understatement. Earlier on in LPL Summer, SHRC looked much more out of synch and Uzi would occasionally over-extend without backup. Getting caught out set the team behind, but in some cases, top laner, Jiang “Cola” Na, could carry games on Jax or mid laner, Lei “corn” Wen, would come through on Fizz or Orianna.
THE OMG MATCH
OMG and SHRC have played more professional maps against each other this summer than any other LPL teams. In the regular season, both teams took 2-0 victories over each other on separate occasions when they met in Best of 2s. In the Playoffs, however, OMG won two Best of 5s against Star Horn Royal Club that extended to the full five games. SHRC only managed to secure second seed for China at Worlds by 2-0’ing OMG in the Regional Qualifiers.
All told, OMG and SHRC have played 16 maps against each other in LPL this summer alone, and they’re still dead-even. The most terrifying pressure point comes from the fact that OMG won two Best of 5s against SHRC without OMG’s strong new support, Hu “Cloud” Zhenwei, on the roster.
Despite all this, Uzi is nearly unconcerned. “Personally, I don't feel the pressure from them. OMG has become a more stable team because of Cloud, and he's been playing Janna for a lot of the games. That makes the team more stable,” he said.
Uzi’s main worry is OMG’s impressive top laner, Gao “Gogoing” Diping, who had two powerful Ryze performances against NaJin White Shield. “I think Gogoing is a very strong player with a really deep champion pool, so that will be a huge concern going into champion select,” Uzi explained.
This is unsurprising since SHRC has expended the majority of their bans on Gogoing when the teams have met in the past. Uzi went on to specify that both Ryze and Janna will be contested picks in the series. “Our top laner is a very good Ryze player as well,” Uzi said, and he assured us that the team would try to secure Janna as a pick for Zero.
Let's go.
