The Rise and Fall (And Rise Again) of Dade

In the world of professional League of Legends, players dream of one day leading their team to victory - becoming a champion. They also fear that their career could result in disappointing results and tidal wave of criticism. Dade, Samsung Blue's current Mid laner, is one of the few players in the world to see both sides of this coin -- reaching one of the highest points any player can achieve, but also take a downfall at a time that no one expected.

Humble Beginnings

His career had an aspiring start. He was picked up by CJ Entus for their first foray into the League of Legends scene. Placed as the starting Mid, he was surrounded with future talent including Bullets' inSec, Frost's Space, and the Falcons' Kish, and did well in their first Champions season together, making it all the way to the quarterfinals and battling back from a 0-2 hole to give then Azubu Frost a run for their money. They would eventually lose in the fifth game and disband shortly afterwards, but Dade had made an impact in his rookie season.

With the demise of the original CJ Entus, MVP Ozone (formerly MVP White), a struggling team with so-so results in Champions decided to sign the free agent Dade, moving him straight in as the starter of the newly named team. Joining at the same time as rookie Mata, they joined a group of talented, but inconsistent players: Homme, the oldest player in Champions, constantly had trouble in the Top lane; Dandy was a rising star in the Jungle, but did not have supporting solo laners to really shine; and finally imp, their AD Carry and star of the team. Imp built his reputation with flashy solo plays and outdueling teams almost single-handedly.

Dade's Ascension

MVP Ozone was a major surprise in the group stage after almost no expectations from fans. They defeated the more established KT Rolster A in their first match of the tournament and upset the group leaders SK Telecom T1 #2 (now SKT T1 K) in their final series of the group stages to make the quarterfinals.

MVP Ozone was treated as a team with one strong player and only one way to defeat a team, sometimes dubbed as "Imp and Four." Dade broke out in the playoff rounds, beating Ryu in lane during their series against the KT Bullets and leading Ozone to their first final four with a stunning 3-1 win.

Against the super rookies SK Telecom T1 #2 in the semifinals, Ozone would lose the first game but come back with three straight wins to push themselves into a shocking finals appearance. Running into CJ Entus Blaze in the finals, they were once again pegged as the ultimate underdogs with Blaze running a thirteen game win streak heading into the Grand Finals.

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With two weeks to prepare for the final, Dade and MVP Ozone orchestrated a plan to stop Blaze's split pushing strategy. Dade was the main focus in the final. He picked Zed three times in the match and roamed around the map to rack up various kills against Blaze. Dade beat All-Star Ambition in lane, picked off Flame before he could get momentum, and shut down Blaze at every turn en route to taking home the Champions trophy. Picking up the Spring MVP award, Dade cemented himself as one of the best Mid laners in the world, stopping Faker in his quest to win Champions in his rookie season and dousing Blaze's historic thirteen game winning streak.

Trouble in Paradise

Dade's dominance would falter in the Summer season, with a lot of his main champions such as Twisted Fate, Ryze and Jayce getting nerfed after their constant success. Needing to recoup and widen his champion pool, he started playing a lot more AD champions in Mid lane, becoming one of the firsts to revolutionize Ezreal in the position. MVP Ozone fell to their rivals SK Telecom T1 #2 in the semifinals of the Summer, having a reverse 1-3 loss from the previous season, but able to beat CJ Frost in the 3rd place match to secure their birth to Worlds.

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 Joining SKT and NaJin Black Sword as the three Korean teams going to the World Championships in Los Angeles, Ozone for one of the first teams weren't underdogs heading into a tournament. Backed with a lot of hype from their past two successful seasons of Champions, many pegged them as favorites to make the finals against SK Telecom, Dade considered one of the best Mid laners in the world.

Everything would come crashing down at Worlds. Forced on champions he wasn't comfortable on such as Gragas and Lissandra, Dade struggled throughout the group stages. He was beaten repeatedly in lane, got caught out at the wrong times, and gave up kills that could have been easily avoided. Dade was criticized heavily for his play and was considered the main reason why Ozone had major trouble in the first round.

Pitted against Europe's Gambit in a tiebreaker to see who would be the final team to grab their ticket to the quarterfinals, Dade once again had trouble in lane. He lost to Alex Ich and his team fell to the European veterans. With the community calling for his exit from Ozone following a disastrous tournament, the now Samsung Ozone returned to Korea with questions abound on how they would do back in Champions.

A New Hope

Still searching for champions that would take the place of the ones that carried him to the top during Spring, Ozone had a nice comeback during OGN Winter 2013-2014, reacting well to new Top laner Looper's first full season as a team member and battling all the way back to the finals after thwarting a rebuilt NaJin White Shield in the semifinals.

Facing off against SK Telecom T1 #2 for the third straight season, Dade went back to Gragas in two of the three games against Faker and ended with similar results from the World Championships. He fell to Faker three straight games.

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Reeling from two tournaments that ended with him failing when his team needed him the most, Samsung decided to make a brash move to shake up the rosters -- they moved the struggling Dade over to their sister team Samsung Blue, and brought over PawN, the young, but incredibly consistent Mid laner over to an Ozone team on the cusp of taking back their crown in Korea.

Seen as a demotion by being moved to the 'weaker' of the two Samsung teams, it could have been the end to Dade's career. Another season or two of disarray could have led to his exit from Samsung and another member of the old guard to simply get outgrown by the new talent coming into the Korean scene. Picking up Yasuo as his new go-to champion and the return of champions like Twisted Fate and Ryze coming back into prominence in the Spring season, Dade has seen his career come back to life on Blue.

With a 6 KDA through his new tenure on Blue, Dade has returned to being one of the best Mids in Korea, using his Twisted Fate and Yasuo combo to lead his team to a perfect record in Masters and a dominating victory against CJ Entus Frost in the quarterfinals of Champions Spring 2014. Paired up against his old team Samsung Ozone in the semifinals, it wasn't only a team kill situation, but a chance for Dade to prove his worth to the Samsung organization and make a statement that his MVP award from last year during Spring was no fluke.

From top of the world to the very bottom, Dade has shown resilience to return back as a player that teams must plan for in their picks and ban phase. While you never know when he'll revert back to his inconsistent self and bring back the questions of if he deserves to be a starter on a Championship contending team, for now Spring is the season where Dade rises to the occasion and is desperate to prove his worth as an MVP once again.