Porpoise and Team 8 look to bounce back
Riot·2/23/2015, 2:05:18 AM·0 votes·4,763 views
Three weeks into the Spring Split of the 2015 NA LCS season, Team 8 was 3-3. "We wanted to keep the 1-1 going as a joke," laughs Braeden "Porpoise" Schwark. Happy with their spot in the middle of the ranks, they continued their aggressivef playmaking style.
But then, they went 0-2 in Week 4, dropping games to both Team Liquid and Team Dignitas. It was time to improve. "It's a rude awakening to go 0-2, and we're working on a lot of problems to get some 2-0 weeks to get back on track."
After the tough week, they began looking for the roots of their problems, albeit with higher spirits than one would expect from a struggling squad. "We all just realized we're not consistent enough, and we needed to go back to the drawing board," says Porpoise. "Brick by brick, we need to work on things. That's what we did for the entire week, a training montage kind of thing. You know, with our headbands."
According to Porpoise, their work is paying off. "We came out of the week with a lot more consistency. We wouldn't go for these crazy 1 vs 5 plays. That's what we worked on, and it's started to show through. Even in the first game, we got an early lead, but we lost. But we ended up losing because our team comp wasn't really that great. We ended up really pulling it through with this game against Coast. Of course, they're not considered one of the top teams, but what we worked on really showed in that game."
Right now, it seems, they're not focusing on getting the huge wombo combos they became known for when they entered the NA LCS. "We love the wombo-style comps because they're really fun to play," he says. "But sometimes, it's hard to get out of the laning phase to really make it work. That's what we try to focus on, not getting behind early. That's our focus right now. If we find that we're really comfortable with the lanes, with say, Orianna and Malphite, we'll still do that and pull off those crazy combos."
But that doesn't mean they're done experimenting. Once things have settled down, he says, keep an eye out for some surprising picks, particularly from him, Steven "CaliTrlolz" Kim, and Andrew "Slooshi" Pham. "We're looking at new picks to bring out into the LCS. I'm excited to see what happens next week."
He says those picks will bring them a ton of confidence while throwing off their opponents. "If you're in the seat of a player, you know the feeling when you see something you've never played against. It's this heart palpitation moment, where the pick could completely destroy the game or be underwhelming. You don't know which, so you're worrying. It's a roll of the dice. You're already kind of nervous. It's a really large edge if we can do that, and other teams won't know how to respond to it. It can pull out a win just like that. Even if it doesn't, it can still make teams guess what you're going to play all the time."
So what will Team 8 pull out? Make sure you're keeping plugged into Lolesports to find out. And if you missed their games these week, head over to the spoiler-free VODs page to catch up.
