BigBrother's Debut Poorly Received in GPL
Riot·7/16/2014, 9:08:55 PM·1 votes·883 views
Machi e-Sports' debut to the Taiwanese scene wasn't all that long ago: in the wake of the Taipei Snipers' back-to-back semifinal placement, former world champion MiSTakE's team was unceremoniously knocked out of Taiwan's regional GPL Summer qualifiers. In their place was a ragtag group of unknowns with an unexpected sponsor.
All the way to League of Legends, when TPA won the world championship, I was beyond belief. I was really happy! Then third year, when Gama Bears was representing Taiwan. They went out to compete and the lost – the Koreans took it, and I told myself 'f--- it.' I put up around 150k USD, I made my own team, and tried to help the whole Taiwan esports league, and at the same time try to bring back the crown to Taiwan with my own team."
But this is not a universal situation for the GPL at large.
"We used to get to scrim with TPA and TPS – when I put on some pressure. Pressure meaning that I call their bosses at the company and say 'hey, could you ask your people?,'" said Huang about the practice situation within the island. "Their managers do work together sometimes with us, and other times they have a lot of excuses why they can't play. I get it – it's competitive. You don't want to improve the other team. They only do it if they want to check out your strategies or take a strength test of your team, but they won't do it long term.
The Koreans, no. We had a couple exhibition matches because we're sponsored by the same companies, but afterwards when we have their contacts or whatnot, and try to get scrims with them... unreceptive. Nonresponsive. I do feel that different countries do protect their own – Koreans are probably like 'don't practice with the Taiwanese teams,' or 'try to practice less with them.' I do feel it's fair – it's not racist or anything like that. That's what you're supposed to do."
"To be honest, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist at certain times," laughed Huang. "When Taiwanese servers get attacks all the time, it's like 'man, who's trying to hamper our friggin practice time?' Whenever it gets close to international competition time, the Korean servers starts bogging down if you're calling in from Taiwan, to the point where the Taiwanese can't practice on the Korean servers no more! It's a conspiracy!
You can put it in that I said it as a joke.
Latency peaks – when you get close to international competition, the Korean server latency peaks! That way, you can't practice over there before the international competitions."
For now, it's time for Machi e-Sports to regroup and lick their wounds. Their group stage knockout, placing fifth overall, disqualifies them from the playoff stages and World Championship run. They face relegation now, and the Taipei Snipers are waiting eagerly for a chance at revenge.
With the team back at square one, the road to the winter split is long and weary.
Tempo Shift
Jeffrey "BigBrother" Huang is much better known for his influence in Taiwan and Asia's hip hop scene as the founder of Machi Entertainment, alongside brother Stan and a cohort of members. His company's collaborated with the likes of Missy Elliot and Jay Chou – and the connection between all of that and his debut in the esports world seems at first to be a little thin. "Yeah, you can say it's a little thin," said Huang. "At the same time, guys are all the same – we like video games, sports, women, music... whatever. I like video games – at the same time, I like real time strategy games." Huang was a major fan of the Age of Empires scene, growing up – and back then, as is now, Korea was a powerhouse presence in the international competitions. His passion for the competitive scene was stirred by Taiwan's unexpected success in breaking that deadlock. "A kid from Taiwan, a 17 year old called KK, he went out to Korea and beat this guy that was unbeatable, called Grunt. That was mad props to Taiwan at the time. Out of all the countries in the world, Russia and America, nobody could beat this Grunt guy in Korea, but this 17 year old kid came with this strategy, he went out there and just pounded him. And later on, another guy in Taiwan called Luba, he won the world championship. And then it kinda died off.
All the way to League of Legends, when TPA won the world championship, I was beyond belief. I was really happy! Then third year, when Gama Bears was representing Taiwan. They went out to compete and the lost – the Koreans took it, and I told myself 'f--- it.' I put up around 150k USD, I made my own team, and tried to help the whole Taiwan esports league, and at the same time try to bring back the crown to Taiwan with my own team."
Center Stage
Though veteran teams like CLG and TSM started out with player-owners, it's become increasingly unusual to see owners step up to the proverbial bat. But dramatic circumstances forced their hand: two players were banned by Garena on counts of Elo-boosting, and the team scrambled to find replacements. Given the painfully tight deadline, with a game literally the next day after the bans, their ultimate choice was both surprising and perhaps inevitable: Huang stepped in with a top lane Mundo. "Well, the very first game, they didn't allow my manager to play," said Huang. "They said it was me or nothing at all. It's alright. I didn't mind playing – I wanted to play. Yeah, my manager jumped at the chance too; he was happy as hell to play. Basically, it was cup half full." Manager "Monk" has since taken over the playing position, while Huang's stepped back to take care of organizational matters. It also helps that Monk's a Diamond-ranked player, while Huang's still Silver – a major disparity of skill at the region's top level of play. Managing such a young team may be more than skill-intensive enough anyhow, especially given the insular nature of the island's competitors. "From the beginning, even recruiting people was a problem, because all the top players were already recruited. Basically, the list that I came up with, the other pro players were saying 'who are these guys?' We had a lot of that... pretty much 'can bu chi,' which is kinda like overlooking my guys, or underestimating my team," said Huang of the team's initial recruitment efforts. Not that getting overlooked was a major hindrance to team morale. "Honestly, even though everybody underestimated my guys, they had pretty big heads to start with. Everybody's pretty cocky – I think all pro players are pretty cocky. They might beat Toyz or Stanley in a solo rank game and think 'hey, I can be a pro player,' but they don't know the story behind the hard work behind the results or whatnot."Tough Crowd
There are any number of reasons for Machi's eventual decline, despite toppling a GPL semifinalist, with the player bans being a major and obvious disruption to that initial team chemistry. But things were rough-going for them anyhow, especially in the face of a disparity in practice. The Taipei Assassins famously collaborated with Korean practice partners during their world championship run – a situation that's only improved with the recent inclusion of a coach with OnGameNet experience. The Saigon Jokers were similarly improved, even before TPA, and have also expanded the scope and quality of their practice.
But this is not a universal situation for the GPL at large.
"We used to get to scrim with TPA and TPS – when I put on some pressure. Pressure meaning that I call their bosses at the company and say 'hey, could you ask your people?,'" said Huang about the practice situation within the island. "Their managers do work together sometimes with us, and other times they have a lot of excuses why they can't play. I get it – it's competitive. You don't want to improve the other team. They only do it if they want to check out your strategies or take a strength test of your team, but they won't do it long term.
The Koreans, no. We had a couple exhibition matches because we're sponsored by the same companies, but afterwards when we have their contacts or whatnot, and try to get scrims with them... unreceptive. Nonresponsive. I do feel that different countries do protect their own – Koreans are probably like 'don't practice with the Taiwanese teams,' or 'try to practice less with them.' I do feel it's fair – it's not racist or anything like that. That's what you're supposed to do."
"To be honest, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist at certain times," laughed Huang. "When Taiwanese servers get attacks all the time, it's like 'man, who's trying to hamper our friggin practice time?' Whenever it gets close to international competition time, the Korean servers starts bogging down if you're calling in from Taiwan, to the point where the Taiwanese can't practice on the Korean servers no more! It's a conspiracy!
You can put it in that I said it as a joke.
Latency peaks – when you get close to international competition, the Korean server latency peaks! That way, you can't practice over there before the international competitions."
For now, it's time for Machi e-Sports to regroup and lick their wounds. Their group stage knockout, placing fifth overall, disqualifies them from the playoff stages and World Championship run. They face relegation now, and the Taipei Snipers are waiting eagerly for a chance at revenge.
With the team back at square one, the road to the winter split is long and weary.