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violinkit · 8 years

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On Dignitas of 2014

This was written last year, near the end of the Summer Split of 2014

Only a couple of weeks ago Dignitas looked set to board a one way trip to the top of the NA LCS, but watching Dig’s game against Complexity unfold yesterday, those halcyon days feel like they happened years ago. Despite going through a fairly successful facelift with the addition of Shiphtur and Zionspartan, the do-or-die heroes of Coast, early results of Summer Split 2014 are a painful callback to Dig’s early sprint in Spring 2013 that ended just a hair away from disaster, and a reminder of the team’s history as a whole.

Notable for breaking out onto the scene with niche compositions like support Gangplank and the now infamous Lulu/Soraka combo, Rock Solid’s entry into the pro scene was definitely much more opportunistic when compared to their other North American counterparts. Due to the game’s infancy, and the scene being more or less a wild west than a cutthroat do or die industry, figuring out the new OP could be just as successful as perfecting a specific playstyle, and Dig’s inconsistent performances were enough to net them multiple top 3 rankings; a testament to their often oddball, but effective pick/ban. This is further echoed in Voyboy’s rise to fame during Dig’s run in IEM Hanover where they raced through the tournament off the back of Voyboy’s Lee Sin, dropping only one game to Fnatic along the way before being put down by Moscow Five in the finals.

Dignitas would never reach the top again for the remainder of the season discounting their series against Curse in MLG 2012, and even less can be said about their short lived groupstage in the season 2 World Championships.

Spring 2013 was a season of rebirth for Dignitas, and they busted the doors down with an explosive 16-5 run. But old habits die hard, and when Dig’s trademark champions were hit by heavy nerfs, Dig’s powerful façade began to crumble. Once again, being slightly ahead of the curve in the pick ban phase had given Dignitas a superficial boost up the ladder, while notorious slow starters Team Solo Mid eventually clawed back into first. The result was a disappointing 1-6 finish to the season, and an even worse playoff performance where the team finished 6th, knocked down into the Summer Promotion Tournament – an unimaginable ending to what looked like a perfect start to the season.

Sound familiar?

In the off season Dignitas would move longtime veteran Scarra to the bench and pick up two of the NA’s hottest freelancers in Zionspartan and Shiphtur effectively dissolving Team Coast, and despite a very strong start, the team’s momentum is once again stalling and everybody involved look a bit lost in time. The same demons that plagued the original Rock Solid roster has reared its ugly head once again. Dignitas has always been an early game oriented team, and in combination with their tendencies to pick up “the new ops” earlier than others, they always manage to artificially boost their Win/Loss until the strategy is figured out, banned out, or nerfed out; and therein lies the rub. The team is reliant on abusing picks and are unable to perfect strategies, instead relying often on early game snowballing. Issues in creating and in some cases executing complex midgame strategies means that the team will always falter midseason when the heavier patches starts to hit. And while Zionspartan and Shiphtur are, undisputedly upgrades to Scarra and Cruzer, the two new additions are essentially identical in terms of team function, to the players they’ve replaced: bandaids to a problem rooted in the team’s historical inability to play a flexible, reactive game when they’re not in control.

A lot of that burden ultimately falls on Shiphtur. Despite decent mechanical play, Shiphtur’s transformation from Challenger Superstar to his current LCS form has been a quiet and tragic affair and may require more than just game theory or coaching to heal. A case of flying too high too fast, Shiphtur’s debut game against TSM’s newly minted all-star Midlaner Bjergsen was painful to watch as he was beaten handedly in a 1v1 duel he initiated. His team was disassembled that game, picked apart limb by limb, and despite an impressive from-behind teamfight at the baron pit, TSM would go on to close the game out in a commanding fashion. He came into the season as a strong, confident playmaker, and emerged on the other side as one of the most conservative and passive players in the LCS; once a cocksure maverick that ruled the Challenger scene with an iron fist, now but a shell of his former self. Unwilling to put himself at risk, he is nullifying the real reason why he’s a good fit for this particular team. Dignitas desperately needs a midlaner who is able to apply significant mid pressure in a region where midlane talent is widely agreed to be very rare. Early game teams must be able to generate as much pressure as possible; the illusion of threat is key, and when that illusion falls away, the responsibility of generating all early game pressure falls onto the shoulders of Crumbzz and Zionspartan, especially considering the inconsistency of the KiwiPie botlane. Moreover, given Zionspartan’s already rocky history of being unable to hard carry a game from the Toplane makes this toplane investment unreliable, Dig’s solo lane focus also in turn makes Crumbzz way too easy to read: the ultimate bane of any early game reliant team. Without a true carry who’s mentally up to the task, Dig will always be forced into a do or die ultimatum against teams with extremely punishing bottom lanes where if Crumbzz fails to help Shiphtur acquire a significant advantage, his only other option is to invest significantly in toplane. Without a second dimension to Shiphtur’s play, there can be no further development strategically for Dignitas.

Dignitas acquired Shiphtur and Zion for their mechanics in hopes of writing a happier chapter in the team’s road to reclaim their past glory as one of North America’s elite 3, but so far have only managed to mold them into just slightly more mechanical versions of Scarra and Voyboy. They need more from these two, and in particular Shiphtur, to steer Dignitas away from becoming a second Coast, and truly blossom into a team that can compete and remain relevant in the upper tier of competitive League of Legends no matter which way the meta-shifts. And until a Shiphtur who’s confident enough to make the necessary sacrifices steps up to the plate, the dream of a top two finish will always remain elusive to Dignitas.

#dignitas #league of legends #esports #lol

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violinkit · 9 years

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A Chronicle of Greatness - Gambit

A self imposed exile. I still remember that day - the day that Gambit died. Falling 2-0 to Roccat, the Russians had to eke out one more best of three to secure their spot in the summer split of 2014; an unacceptable finish. The split would see the end of the original Moscow 5 lineup that just two years ago sat on top of the world; the same lineup that was now fighting for their spot in the LCS.

They go down 0-1.

Copenhagen Wolves stars Amazing and Forg1ven took Gambit to the cleaners. Alex played a solid game but the team needed more. They'd paid the ultimate price for their hubris in their series against Roccat and now the call of relegation haunts their every step. It was a match that threatened to tarnish Moscow's 5 glowing reputation forever. The games were slow and uneventful; a soulless match between the bored and the dead. Out of ten players, only a couple showed signs of life in a series that for all intents and purposes should've been a high stakes do-or-die battle to the death.

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It was a shaky start; going 1-2 in the groupstage of IEM VII Katowice, barely making the semifinals on a time-based tie breaker, the team, sluggish, confused and out of sorts, stumbled over the finish line by pure luck, and they knew it. It was a second wind, and the team seized at the opportunity with vigor.

Their opponents were world's hopefuls: Azubu Frost. Frost came out of the gates strong, with an early kill on Edward, but Diamondprox would even the score. The Korean squad struck hard but Gambit would match them blow for blow. Like weathered veterans, the Russians showed exceptional class and endured the brunt of Frost's dominant early game play. Meanwhile, Frost, a team from a region renown for its technical, strategical play, under the influence of Gambit's bravado, slowly but surely found itself fighting a whole different kind of war - the very kind that the Russians excelled at. The Koreans wanted a boxing match; the Russians gave them a street fight.

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They ground it out. Game 2 was a 50-minute long jab match with no real power punches landing until late into the game when the game's respawn timer determined that the event had gone on far too long and should therefore conclude in a timely manner without further interruptions. It was a complete change of pace from the Gambit of yesteryear; instead of running over their enemies with swagger and style, they stood fast and weathered the storm. They became a team that counter punched; a look that felt all too familiar among dying teams. Drag it out. Scale. Our experience will carry us. Right?

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Game 1 was a bloody, lengthy battle of attrition, but at the end of the day it was Gambit that emerged from the trenches victorious, bruised but energized. They took that energy into game two, brutalizing the team that just a few minutes ago put the Russians to the test. xPeke's showmanship may have been the talk of the town, but it was Alex Ich and his merry band of mavericks that stole the hearts of thousands that day as they went on to sweep the series 2-0 with a dominating Game 2 finish.

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Meek, uncertain claps announced the start of the 3rd and final match. Every kill snagged by the Wolves was met with reluctant approval, the voices of Joe Miller and Deman the only sounds of excitement in the dreadfully silent studio, as the crowd watched, with sinking hearts, the excruciating demise of Gambit Gaming.

A mid-game teamfight seemed to turn the tides. A combination of Gambit's veteran experience and poor play from the enemy team allowed them to recover from the Wolves' convincing early game wins. It was a small numerical edge, but a momentous victory for the team. It changed them. It moved them in a way no one expected.

They looked alive. But most of all they looked impatient, unwilling to go quietly to their graves. They allowed themselves finally to play; at last finding the energy and confidence to play with the same kind of reckless abandon and bravado that won them their repute and fame. Who dares, wins. And win they did, in that all too familiar way that they loved to do: by swallowing the Wolves whole.

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Blaze was just the next name on the hit list. If the crowd wasn't on fire after Gambit's destructive performance against Frost in game 2, they were now, as Gambit again and again turn the tables on Blaze's aggression, storming out the gates with an explosive double kill, diving between the turrets, a total of six flashes blown only just 5 minutes into the game.

It didn't stop there. The same Blaze that made mincemeat out of Gambit in the group stage found themselves in an insurmountable deficit 20 minutes into the game as Alex, Darien and Diamond ran wild around the map. They hunted down every stray, forced them off every siege. In a street fight, you hit first, you hit hard, and you make it count. Blaze would surrender to the cheers and jeers of a roaring Gambit crowd.

Undeterred, and unconvinced, believing the first game to be a fluke, Blaze took a chance on a risky jungle invade in hopes of cutting off Alex's right hand, but Gambit would have none of it. A quick, decisive collapse would snag Gambit an early lead. Blaze, seeing Gambit's aggressive and relentless play, spent the next ten minutes carefully setting up traps to punish Gambit's bloodthirsty commitments.

A common, well known League of Legends adage states that one ought not to chase kills, but take objectives, an ideology that the Korean teams clearly subscribed to, yet somewhere along the way, just like their sister team, Blaze found themselves embroiled in a war they didn't know how to win, fighting a beast they couldn't comprehend.

No surrender vote this time. Gambit! they yelled as the towers came crashing down. Gambit! Gambit! Gambit! Gambit!...

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Take out their legs and watch'em crumble. Don't make them think twice; no, don't give them time to think at all. The Wolves had no time to breathe, for what was old was new again; they knew it, Gambit knew it, and the crowd knew it. The Russians were back with a vengeance. A catch on Genja 30 minutes in that should have deterred aggression instead provoked it, and Gambit, without a moment's hesitation, launched an all-out offensive despite being a man down. Their recklessness was a statement; an utter defiance of all the doubts and frustrations that have brought them here to the brink of relegation; a complete refusal of the very idea that the Wolves were a team of their caliber, worthy of their time.

They crash the gates, plant their flag, and their reward is an adoring crowd, revived and boisterous. A smile finally breaks on Diamond's face as he pats and hugs his teammates.

Alex ruffles his hair, and sighs in relief. He rubs his face. Exhaustion sinking in. He allows himself a brief smile, egged on by a jovial Diamond as they makes their way across the stage. Yet when the camera finally settles on his face once more, he wore on it no joy, no elation. His was a look of fatigue. His was a look of mourning.

The post-game interview was a somber funeral; strictly procedural, and empty. An autopsy and reflection on the death of Gambit Gaming. Sjokz keeps it light but the weight of defeat and wariness of the future were evident in the captain's eyes.

It wasn't impossible to guess, back then, that this would be the final series Alex Ich ever played with the other members of the legendary lineup, it was just simply...unimaginable.

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On stage, as the confetti settles, Gambit takes their rightful place. It was just emotions, said Alex, translating the words of his Jungler; just the heat of the blood. They'd beaten a strong team; maybe the strongest. They stood tall and proud in front of a standing crowd.

He left the team in the off season. Gambit would never again return to the top four despite occasional returns to form. Unbeknownst to Alex, a darker and more tumultuous time awaits him; a chapter of uncertainty, doubt, and defeat. But for the moment, he allows himself to delight.

Congratulations guys, says Sjokz, you've made it! Alex grins. A final warcry for the fans.

Gambiiiiiiiit!!!!

VODs

GMB vs Azubu Frost IEM Katowice: G1, G2

GMB vs Azubu Blaze IEM Katowice: G1, G2

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GMB vs CW EULCS 5th Place Match: G1, G2, G3

Preview

They were misfits, yes: an ex-champ in foreign waters, a washed up jungler, a mercenary without a home, and two rookies; one eager, one hesitant. It's been a long road but the next chapter finally begins. Meet the Renegades.

#gambit gaming #league of legends #esports #greatness

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violinkit · 9 years

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