Huhi
Huhi
Huhi’s professional debut can only be described as a trial by fire. In mid 2014, Huhi’s Korean team Bigfile Miracle qualified for Champions Summer 2014, taking down Virtual Throne Gaming and the Jin Air Falcons to lock down a spot in the biggest Korean tournament of the year. Unfortunately, the rookie team found themselves up against three established competitors in Samsung White, SKTelecom T1 S, and CJ Entus Frost.
The result was as you’d expect: a clean 0-6 record, and a one-way ticket to NLB (Korea’s secondary league). Despite a spirited effort by Huhi and his teammate Core (of Team Dignitas fame), Bigfile Miracle’s season was short lived. The Challenger team Anarchy (the current LCK team Afreeca Freecs) swiftly 2-0'd them out of NLB contention.
Things didn’t look good for Huhi. Bigfile Miracle wasn’t going anywhere any time fast, and few top-tier teams had a place for another mid lane sub. But when top lane legend MakNooN took notice of the young mid laner, his situation changed quickly. A new Challenger team by the name of Team Fusion was forming in North America, and MakNooN wanted Huhi to join it with him.
Together, the Koreans tore their way through the NA Challenger Series to face Team Coast for a spot in the 2015 Spring Split, but lost in a reverse sweep. History repeated itself in the Summer Promotion Tournament as Team Dignitas beat Fusion 3-2 to retain their spot in the NA LCS. Fusion disbanded, and Huhi was left without an avenue into the LCS -- until Counter Logic Gaming took notice of him.
Huhi was actually slated to be CLG’s starting mid laner for the 2015 Summer Split. But some complications arose, forcing the team to start Pobelter instead.
“I had some Visa issues, so I joined in the middle of the season when the team was already doing pretty well,” says Huhi. “The coaches didn’t want to risk it. They didn’t want to separate the practice time between me and Pobelter...it sucked -- the situation was pretty bad for me.” Despite his status as an eternal substitute, Huhi elected to stay on with CLG rather than make another run at the LCS through the Challenger Series. Over the duration of the Summer Split, he performed his sub duties eagerly, regularly contributing to team discussions and helping to level up Pobelter.
“I watched their scrims and gave my feedback,” he explains. “There were things that Pobelter did well, and there were things that I did well -- better than him. So there were scrims which I was put into, and then Coach would say [to Pobelter] ‘You should do this like Huhi. He’s communicating well.’ -- that type of stuff. I just talked to Aphromoo or Darshan about the games, to try and help them a little.”
There were things that Pobelter did well, and there were things that I did well -- better than him.
Huhi’s international career got off to a false start at the 2015 World Championship, where he was initially set to play jungle for CLG in lieu of Xmithie. At the last minute, Xmithie’s visa issues cleared up, and Huhi returned to the bench -- but not without some valuable experience.
“It’s not that hard for me to change positions,” says Huhi. “I still enjoy filling roles, because it’s fun for me. So it wasn’t that hard to transition to jungle for Worlds...I learned pretty quickly and the team also thought that I was a really fast learner.”
Huhi finally got to play as a CLG starter at IEM San Jose 2015 -- nearly a year after he first joined the team. Returning to the mid lane, he put up respectable performances on a wide variety of champions -- including the world’s first competitive mid lane Kindred. Huhi played a low-economy style, focused on supporting his side lanes -- a shift away from Pobelter’s team fighting playstyle.
“I don’t really care how much CS I get, how many deaths I have, or how many kills I have. I set up for my team to carry,” he explains. “I try to roam a lot, not caring about my tower or my CS. So I think that’s the difference [between me and Pobelter]. I’ve noticed there are a lot of mid laners who only focus on their lane, and they want to be able to carry. But my mindset is this: I can carry, but I don’t need to in order to win the game.”
In a perfect world, Huhi’s team-oriented playstyle would set up Darshan to carry every game. But CLG’s Finals match against Origen at IEM San Jose suggests that there’s still some work to be done in the mid lane. At present, it’s difficult to see Huhi taking down the likes of TSM’s Bjergsen or Echo Fox’s Froggen.
But, if there’s any mid laner in the NA LCS who can put his head down and focus on the task at hand, it’s Huhi.
“There are lots of new players -- good new players -- coming into NA, and they might be stronger than last season,” he says. “But we don’t care who comes into NA. We just try to focus on our playstyle and our own play. We don’t say ‘Oh my god, that team is going to be so good!’ We just say ‘Let’s be ready to put our best foot forward.’”
-- By Alex Manisier
Photos courtesy of ESL