Fnatic gets Rekked - a Fan’s Perspective

by Sandie "Moondove" Gade

So, after months of long drawn out mystery, secrecy and endless Reddit speculation, the announcement was finally made: Rekkles is no longer with Fnatic, but has instead switched to Alliance.

There's been so much drama regarding the whole situation with Rekkles and his alleged (and now confirmed) departure. So what really happened? I guess we will never know for sure; all we know is what we hear, and even with the official statements from Alliance, Fnatic, and Rekkles himself, how can we ever really be sure we're getting the untainted truth? Fact is, we can’t.

This article is the story and the scene of events regarding the mess seen from a fan’s perspective.

The Fnatic Image

The Fnatic image seen from the outsider’s view is one of having a strong internal bond of friendship and extremely close relationships (which has led to many teasing allegations of homosexuality). The word ‘family’ is often used in regard to Fnatic, and when you see the pictures they post on social media and watch their stream and hear what goes on in their house, this is the sense you get: Fnatic is one, big, happy family!

But what do we really know beyond what they tell us? Not a lot, it appears. Rekkles was always spouting phrases like “we are a team, we are a family. We win together and lose together.” But it took no more than one bad World Championship for him to go running to Alliance for talks of transfer. A team, who, by the way, did no better at Worlds than Fnatic did. So where was his family loyalty while making this choice?

The salty part of me wonders, if he ever truly meant any of what he said about being a family, or if he was just trying desperately to make it true by spouting lines about team spirit and familial union to reinforce the Fnatic image of togetherness and brotherly love already manifested in the minds of the fans.

Work Ethics

I am a huge Fnatic fan. I have great love in my heart for these boys and was crushed by Rekkles’ choice. My initial reaction was sadness, disbelief and a feeling of betrayal. I felt like his decision was a knife to the back considering his aforementioned grand declarations of being a family. The fact that he went to Alliance just made it all the worse for me. I kept thinking: “Come on, man, you had just one bad split, you won spring split, give this a chance. Stick together, win or lose and work on improving TOGETHER as a team, like you always said you would!”

Then, as the days went by and the rumors went on and on endlessly, my Fnatic loving mind started racing. I started to take mental stock of every stream I have ever seen from that house, every interview, every picture, every Facebook/Twitter post. And it occurred to me what I personally think went wrong:

Rekkles is a workaholic, he wants to be the best and he is driven by pure ambition to reach this goal. sOAZ, Cyanide and xPeke, while still driven and dedicated to the game (despite what some haters might say), have a more relaxed attitude towards the game and also enjoy just chilling and having fun every once in a while. Yellowstar, to me, appears to be Switzerland in all of this, always the neutral even-tempered one, but still with a strong work ethic.

So maybe placing Rekkles on Fnatic was a mistake from the beginning, maybe it was just a bad match in both personality and work ethics.

Fnatic's Struggles

A lot of people have been wondering: What happened to Fnatic during the past season? At spring split, they had some really dramatic spikes of ups and downs, but they managed to pull through and come out on top. At summer split, things somehow looked even grimmer. They looked off in some way and were far from consistent, just not at all like the Fnatic fans were used to. They still did really well in a lot of games, and second place in the split is nothing to sneeze at, but something seemed off.

So what was it? Was it simply that Alliance was doing better? Was it lack of motivation from some of the players? Or was it something else?

A few of the core players from Fnatic have been taking a lot of heat for inconsistent or downright bad play.

Some of the rumors that floated around said that Rekkles had been having these talks of a possible transfer since the end of spring split, or at least that he has had the desire to leave since then. If this is true, could this explain the shaky summer split? If Rekkles was already unhappy with being on the team back then, wouldn’t that rub off on the game play of the team? Even if nothing was said aloud at that point, I imagine it would have affected them all on a subconscious level.

The Finer Points of Fandom – Team or Individual

While I am officially and openly a Fnatic fan, I have always explained to people that I am not a fan of the name/organization, I am a fan of the players as people. I am a fan of these boys for their personalities and who they are as people, not (only) their skills as players. This probably sets me apart from a lot of fans of this game, but I also feel like there are some of you out there nodding your heads and going: “Yeah, I get what’s she’s saying, I feel the same.”

This game is so unique in its fandom. We get a different “relationship” with these players than you would if you were a fan of a football player, for instance. We follow them on Facebook and Twitter, they share stuff with us and will answer questions if we are lucky. We also have the streams: A place to come and hang out with them, chilling, learning from them and sometimes watching them feed and make idiots of themselves. While many fans do tend to place their idols high up on an unreachable pedestal, this special form of “getting to know them” that e-sports offers us does bring them down to a more human and accessible level.

What Now?

So now that Rekkles made his statement and we have that all cleared up, the question remains: What happens to Fnatic now?

In Danish, we have a saying: “Equal children play better together” and I think the sentiment holds true here. If this was indeed a matter of different work ethics then, like I said, perhaps Rekkles was just never the right fit for Fnatic no matter how much they wanted him to be.

Maybe Rekkles will thrive with Alliance, or maybe he will fall flat on his face and realize he made the biggest mistake of his life. Only time will tell.

Also, we still have another unconfirmed rumor floating around. One saying that xPeke, being fed up with the way the Rekkles situation was handled, is leaving to start his own team, and is taking Cyanide and sOAZ with him. That would leave Fnatic with nothing but the aforementioned neutral Yellowstar, and the organization would have to build a new team from scratch around him.

As mentioned earlier, I am a fan of players, not the organization. And as it happens, my biggest fan love lies with the trio of xPeke, Cyanide and sOAZ. So if these rumors do indeed turn out to be true, I will cease being a Fnatic fan the minute they leave, and instead be a fan of the new team they make, and count my lucky stars that they, at least, stuck together.

But like I said, these are still only unconfirmed rumors, so let’s see what happens. One thing is for sure: With everything that has been going on this off-season, and not just in Fnatic and Alliance, we are in for one hell of a spring split. I can’t wait, how about you?

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by Moondove

THE TOP TEN DEADLIEST ADCS

by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

Perhaps they aren't the Best ADCs, but they certainly are the most dangerous as far as your healthbar is concerned. Between their kill count, KDA and pure potential, these are the guys you're most likely to see just before your screen losses its color.  

Number 10: The Adorable CandyPanda 

With the help of long-time pro, nRated, CandyPanda took to the botlane for SK Gaming in the European LCS. This lad from Germany is a player that mostly lies in the middle of the pack when it comes to AD Carrys. His KDA rests on a rather unimpressive 3.8 and his GPM lies dull steady at 380. In fact, per stats, he wouldn't even have made it on this top ten list if it wasn't for his tendency to play passively throughout almost the whole split and then explode into a killing machine that eats champions for breakfast - kind of like Gnar, but with more arrows and less boomerangs. His Vayne at worlds is a perfect example of when the Panda goes all hulk and actually shows up. In his match vs TSM, he played the whole game according to what needed to be done, and when TSM made the decision to rush and scatter into SK’s base, that’s when the game was decided.  

Here’s some of CandyPandas' Vayne mechanics. Even though he goes in recklessly and dies, he still manages to wreak enough havoc for SK to win the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sbd204IUC4&feature=youtu.be&t=40m26s

So what about next split?
Whilst CandyPanda left SK Gaming and is now a free agent, it would be interesting to see him in the LCS again. He’s a major sleeper (and boy does he sleep for long hours) but, when you wake the panda up, he’s not all that cute and cuddly anymore. 

Average KDA: 3.8

GPM: 380 

Support: nRated

Most Played Champion: Lucian.

Number 9: The Lawful Cop 

Cop has the fifth lowest GPM (377) of all AD carries in the LCS. He’s a rather passive player and often relies on the rest of the team to win the game, but even though he’s shaky in many areas, you cannot deny his KDA is monstrous. Showing up with an impressive 5.8 average, you know that he and Xpecial made a really good team. Do you remember the game vs Complexity that went on forever? (You know, that game where there was so much chaos and back-and-forths your eyes got exhausted being in the same room as your monitor?) It was here Cop probably made his biggest play of the summer split. His Kog’Maw kites here are just amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iysBJ2jSubI

What about next split?
Cop was replaced this season by none other than ex-SKT T1 K’s Piglet, which is almost unarguably an upgrade. Still, you should expect Cop to show up and be one of the best players in the NA Expansion tournament as part of Curse Academy. 

Average KDA: 5.8

GPM: 377

Support: Xpecial

Most Played Champion: Corki.

Number 8: The Wild Turtle 

Although not so ‘yung’ anymore, WildTurtle is still one of the most famous League of Legends players in the world. Known to be an incredible solo queue player, he will sometimes do reckless things without thinking. It's a habit he brings to the LCS, and while it doesn't always work out the way he thought, it still works.

Most people assume Turtle would place higher on this list but, in all honesty, even though TSM won the NA LCS Summer Split, his performance wasn't top notch. However, you cannot deny the fact that he’s a motivated player that has sick mechanics, even though he sometimes has problems translating them into team oriented plays (which might have to do more with him switching support two times during the season.) There’s a significant point when you look at Turtles' stats, and it’s obvious they improved when Lustboy replaced Gleeb in the TSM starting roster.

And, of course, let's not forget the very last teamfight of the summer season, when he secured a triple kill and the cup for TSM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2qfZ9Z8rA&feature=youtu.be&t=49m14s

What about next split?
WildTurtle is still part of TSM and has kept practicing and improving with Lustboy. Predictions are he’s going to improve his stats during the next split.

Average KDA: 4.6

GPM: 381 

Support: Gleeb / Lustboy.

Most Played Champion: Lucian.

WHO IS NEXT IN OUR TOP TEN? CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE LIST! 

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by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

Millenium Finishes 1st in the Black Monster Cup (Group C), with Ryu & H0R0

Communication issues seemed to plague Millenium's freshly revamped roster, but that didn't stop them from beating all comers in the EU Black Monster Cup C division. New jungler, H0R0, and new mid, Ryu, both played under par, disappointing fans who had hoped the Korean pair could inject fresh life into the struggling team. Of course, it's still too early to pass judgement, and there's always the chance that additional practice will yield better synergy coming into Season 5, but only time will tell. In the meantime, LCS FanZone's Anel Musinovic gives a full run down of both games for us. 

          

Game 1

Champion Select: Virtus.Pro first picks Kha’Zix, which means Creaton can grab his beloved Lucian, a champion he excelled on last season. Virtus rounds out their comp with Mundo, Orianna, Corki and Thresh. Millenium picks up Nami for Jree, Rumble for Kev1n, Jarvan IV for H0R0 and then Ryu surprises everyone with a last pick Leblanc! Read More...

Support-Staff Heavy Enemy Esports Readies for Battle

by Josh C. 

Enemy eSports' League of Legends team was finalized less than two months ago; their support staff has been working with the team for less than a month, and their coach has been around for ten days. But even if their team and staff-building seems a bit rushed, it's paid off for Enemy, who may stand as a prime example of the third-wave 'support staff' world of today's eSports. Playing their debut match this weekend, the team showed up with a dominating 2-0 over opponent Noble Truth. Next week, they'll be facing one of the hardest opponents of the tournament: the mysterious Team Fusion - and they seem to be feeling confident about the encounter. I had the chance to reach out to Team Manager, Angel "Angel" Vigil, and Team Coach, Hussain "xDaku" Moosvi, to talk about the importance of support staff and their preparations for Enemy's hopeful road into the LCS.

Q: Angel, Enemy eSports picked up this team less than two months ago: How did you go from having nothing to hiring one of the most extensive support staffs in League of Legends?

Angel: The first month was entirely focused on getting the players, so I actually had less than two months to get the support staff ready. In fact, we started with a different coach which didn't pan out. Prior to NME, I haven't had to put together coaching team and support staff. Before, I had people who helped out, but no real coach. My initial thoughts were to get someone who had the most experience, and they could then hand that experience off to the players. I reached out to Nicholas "nubbypoohbear" Harlan, who had played under me for a year and a half. We had a lot of experience together and a friendship. But in the end, it didn't work out, because even though he had a lot of great knowledge, he wasn't really a coach. So when the team needed more than that, two weeks before the LCS Expansion Tournament, I brought in Hussain, who had reached out to me earlier with an interest in coaching for NME.

As for support staff, we had kept Brad Marx, our former analyst, but we had him and a dozen other applicants apply for head analysts position, and after a long interview process Brad was determined to be a better fit for the team. The knowledge and resources he provided really worked well with the team. Our Sports Psychologist we found on Reddit after he did an AMA--is that something I should be saying?--and he had specialized training to become a sports psychologist.

Q: Where did this inspiration come from? Most LCS teams have a sparse support staff; even Curse just hired a Sports Psychologist.

Angel: I've been managing teams since before the LCS even began, and I've had these ideas since the LCS at least. There was always things I thought teams should be doing once they have the profit to do so. They should build the team first, and with that comes the growth and the profit. Most teams focus on the profit first.

Farther along I want a nutritionist - I want them to be healthy. I have all these ideas I want to be implemented in the future. People who were in the LCS at first were inexperienced: they found five mechanical players who took little effort to maintain. As the LCS expanded, they needed more to become better. If you look at Korea and the infrastructure, the biggest difference between Korea and the Western scenes is infrastructure. The thing that sets us apart is that we don't just have strong players, but we also have the staff to support them and make them that much better.

Q: Hussain, how was it to come in with so little time before such an important tournament, and how has working with the support staff helped you in your new role?

Hussain: I got lucky, but in the past I've had analysts and two other support staff members working under me and experience on using their information to improve the play. When I came in with less than two weeks to go, the team had a lot of the base parts already in existence, compared to a lot of teams I've dealt with before. After watching the second scrim block I saw what clearly needed to be fixed. With the Sports Psychologist and Analysts I had a lot of information coming in, and this helped me see what I could go with. Talking with the players and seeing how scrims went, I was able to map out weekly strategies for growth. This allowed me to implement positive change very quickly.

Q: What did you and the team do to prepare for the LCS expansion tournament?

Hussain: I came in and completely changed how the team practiced. When I first started, I had a huge meeting with the players, analysts, and management. We mapped out what we’d be doing for the coming days and how we’d be going into the tournament. In the end, I restructured our entire way of practicing.

Q: What is the support staff doing to help this process?

Hussain: The team is made up of good players, but they've never really competed on this level of the expansion tournament. Even in challenger, you can’t just have a good team play and win it. Managing the players and guiding them a certain way is important - absolutely everything relies on the support staff right now. We have good players, but the support staff makes them perform like great players.

Angel: I just want to add on; five mechanical players are good, but five coachable players are better.

Hussain: The players have been very receptive to the coaching and support staff. They want to improve themselves, as individual players and as a team, so they are very coachable.

Q: Once/If you get into the LCS, what would you do to change your infrastructure to compete with top tier teams?

Angel: I’ve talked to a lot of LCS players and coaches and tthey've commented on how strong our support staff is. I wouldn't want to change much: maybe a little more structure as far as diet and sleep schedules go. Our scrims and practice routines are good, but I want to get Hussain into the house - I feel like that would help a lot. Give us a couple of months and we’ll be able to compete with LCS teams. We haven’t had a ton of time to develop the players, only two weeks, so we've been giving players crash courses to improve. So really the biggest thing will be allowing time for the support staff to make a real impact on them.

Hussain: A lot of the way we practice, in the way of scrimming and player management, was taken from LCS players and teams. Going into the LCS we’d be ahead of a lot of teams already just with the support staff we have.

Q: With your large support staff and team philosophy, how do you get the most out of a day of scrimming? How does all the information come together?

Hussain: When it comes to practicing, we plan out everything for the week and scrims before. Going into scrims we are all on the same page, which was the #1 philosophy when we made the practice schedule. We constantly keep in touch with everyone involved, and go back and forth on what the right direction of the team is. We make the right moves beforehand, that way everyone is on the same page, and we also keep in touch with management quite a bit, so we get a feel for what is best for the players. Our biggest goal is to make sure everything we do is done universally.

Angel: One thing I did when I was made team manager was to increase communication among different tiers of management. If everyone is involved it gets everyone emotionally invested in the team, which benefits the team itself. If we decide something on the coaching staff, I'll talk it over with the House Manager, Sean "Hadaka" Mulryan, and then we bring it to the general management. If a decision ever stops being made by us, another tier of management can come in and make educated decisions. Luckily, we rarely see a disagreement with upper management. The culture we built within Enemy has been positive: everyone feels like they are part of the team from myself, to the coaching, to the graphics artists, brand managers, etc. They feel like they are contributing and that creates a fun atmosphere without hindering professionalism.

Q: I know you can't talk about it that much, but what are you doing to prepare for the elusive Team Fusion match next Sunday?

Hussain: Without giving too much away: whatever Fusion has on Enemy is very different than what we are right now, even from what we practiced last week. I don't think they really have an edge on us. The best team will win that day and that's how it'll play out. It's not easy for them to scout us at the moment either. We have been preparing for Fusion, but we've also been preparing intensively for the teams beyond Fusion. We won't be happy with just a Fusion win.

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If Enemy eSports makes it through to the LCS, they may stand as proof that a strong support staff = a strong team. For more on what constitutes a great support staff, check out my post "The Support Staff of a Winning Team," and let me know your thoughts on the importance of support staff in the comments.

You can follow Enemy eSports on online at: Facebook, twitter, their website, and Azubu.TV. They are sponsored by Better Builds, West Coast Chill, Azubu.TV, and Neen.

by Josh C. 

Curse, CLG & Gambit joins Fnatic for IEM Cologne

By Anel “Musinlol“ Musinovic

The European team that is going to join Fnatic will be Gambit Gaming, who has a long history with Intel Extreme Masters.

Every other team in this poll doesn't have a full roster, which could have led to more votes if they had. (In Copenhagen Wolves case, they have no players at all, hence the 3% vote.)

Gambit will be going head-to-head with the recently qualified 'new' Moscow 5, who are going to represent the CIS region; the previous organisation for some long-standing Gambit members such as Diamond and Edward. It will be interesting to see Gambit playing with their newly signed top laner, Cabochard, and ADC, P1noy (previously known as Krislund), as they try to qualify for IEM Katowice through IEM Cologne.

Going across the Atlantic and looking at the NA poll, it will be Curse and CLG joining Fnatic and Gambit. 

No surprises here. CLG and Curse are both loved by the community and Curse probably clinched the higher percentage of votes since signing Korean superstar, Piglet, who previously played for the Season 3 World Championship Winner, SKT T1 K.

IEM Cologne will be taking place in Cologne, Germany from December 18th to the 22nd. Team SoloMid, Cloud 9, Alliance and Unicorns of Love were not participating in this poll as these teams are already fighting it out at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose on December 6th and 7th.

Poll graphics via intelextrememasters.com