[INTERVIEW] "IT'S ALL PLANNED, BUT..."

In week 3 of TLC Malaysia Playoff, iSg KTHXBAI faced off against Nothing to Lose in a Bo5 series. Despite a close 3-2 prediction by Vyprex, it is shocking to see iSg KTHXBAI to thrive over Nothing to Lose after a very close first game. 

I had the pleasure to be able to troll Ashdragon, the manager of iSg KTHXBAI into a lame interview 

Congratulations on the 3-0 win. How are you feeling after the commanding win against NtL 

Well, I had mixed feelings after winning yesterday game [Laughs]. I am definitely happy that my team was able to proceed to the Quarter-finals in the Winner's Bracket. Despite the team making a few mistakes in the games, we were able to come back and keep a sense of consistency in the game. 

On another note, I felt really bad that I pressured my teammate, Mashiro, just a day before the games on 22nd March 2014 despite being warned by Vyprex that it will be disastrous to the team if I pressure them too hard. Somehow it came true as I pressured Solomen "Mashiro" Cheah so much that he almost wanted to quit the team and skip the matches on 22nd March 2014. 

After being advised by Daniel "Stance" Ha and Darryl "He-who-shall-not-be-named" Lim aka Voldemort, I was thinking whether or not I took things to an extreme level and pressure him till his breaking point. Fortunately, on the 22nd, he came to Kampar and I was so happy. Most importantly, he became a different person and and played literally like a GOD! Yup, this is the mixed feelings I had yesterday. Sure glad it's over!

You guys started the match rather safe and scared in Game 1. However going into Game 2, the “on” switch was somehow hit and iSg KTHXBAI went into a state of overdrive. Can I say that it was attributed to iSg.KTB getting comfortable after the first win ? 

First, I was nervous by myself cause this is the first time the team actually got together and play as a group. Their games were always played online. To my surprise, they somehow performed better when they were together rather than online scrims and matches. I was watching the draft and I thought that we were gonna lose Game 1. In fact, I never expected them to win with that composition 

Nothing to Lose played really well in game one, constantly picking off 3-4 members with the Unstoppable force from Malphite. Fortunately, the calls made by Xare was solid and everyone in the team actually cooperated and listened to his calls despite being behind. Of course, Nothing to Lose made some questionable calls in the Baron as well as the initiation at the bottom lane towards the end. 

After that, I guess the team drafting was wiser. The team decided to stop the Wombo-Combo team from being picked again by NtL. They had a confidence boost from the 1st game and they maintained their pace throughout the series. We experimented a team composition based on our scrims with Toushi in our third game and we were glad that it worked out well too!

I was with NtL before the match and their preparations were really great. That makes me curious as to what was the game plan of KTB as preparation to the NtL match? 

To be honest, we actually did not prepare much for the games as TLC games always fall on the exam period of Xare and Ribena. (We only used like of 3 days of training before the matches started). As for our game plan, Xare (The captain) would usually be the one making decisions and choosing the champs for our players to play with other members suggesting their picks to him.

  

You were the Support player for KTB in the past and now, the manager. How was the transition like? 

I MISS PLAYING TOURNAMENTS!!! [Rolls on the floor and laugh] Being a player is in my opinion easier. You just have to focus on your role and learn how to master them well enough to make plays. (P/S: I always make plays for Ribena at the Bot lane) 

As for being a manager, it was really tough because there were no sponsors to help us maintain in the competitive scene in Malaysia. It took quite some time to search for a sponsor and finally, I found Insidious Gaming and contacted them after being introduced by Patrick "Valerie" Keane. Being a manager is all about handling each of your members well, managing them and give them suggestion or advice if they do badly in games. However, after the recent incident with Mashiro, I guess I would need to reflect upon it and improvise on my actions to prevent such things from happening to my team members ever again. Simply saying, I guess I am still learning to communicate with my teammates in a better way.

So, will there be a surprise comeback by Ashdragon in the future? 

NOOOOO 

I really do not want answer this but well, I will focus on handling my teammates and my career in real life first as I will be graduating soon from my university. Honestly, I would prefer to train new blood into the team so that they can carry on the legacy to bring e-Sports glory into the Malaysian and Singaporean Scene. However, I have to say that there is always a possibility for everything. Who knows? I might retire as a manager sooner than you can expect.

Fun Fact

When I was talking to Ashdragon on the 4 man Malphite ult onto KTB by Jarlax in the first game, Ashdragon mentioned that “it was all part of the plan”. However the plan did not work out as Ribena was busy drinking Ribena at the baron pit

The win put NtL into the losers bracket against Team Passby. What do you think of that match up? 

I will be a biased fan boy here Without a single doubt, I will support Nothing To Lose because among the 8 teams in TLC, I only support 2  teams which is iSg KTHXBAI and Nothing to Lose.

As for team KTHXBAI, you will be facing either Mirrors or Kuala Lumpur Hunters. Any preference in matchups? Who do you think will come out on top 

Kuala Lumpur Hunter is as strong as ever after the roster changes. I would say that at the moment, Kuala Lumpur Hunters is a little better than iSg KTHXBAI as they are trained professionally while we can only train during our free time. 

Team Mirrors actually beat us two times during the TLC League Series despite them using a player they are not supposed to. However, after the suspension of both their Junglers, I feel that they would have a hard time finding a good replacement. Then again, I believe that they will be a strong team and will be playing solid games as what they've done all along. I wish them all the best in their game next week and may the best team win! 

That being said, I guess I am looking forward to playing against KLH more as it always feels better playing against a professional team. Also, I expect them to come up on top against Mirrors

KTB these days are under fire in solo queue due to the BM’s in game (notably by the public post by Manner (Solo, the former member of Team KTHXBAI). Do you want to comment on that? 

Yup, I am aware of this issue and have repetitively advised them to control themselves in games. They justified themselves. telling me that many of their problems exist when they get flamed, raged or BM-ed for playing bad at champions they are new at, which is basically what we need them to do to expand their champion pool. I guess being human, we would just try to respond to it, sometimes a little to aggressive. That being said, I hope they can maintain their professionalism in games. 

At the end of the day, I guess everyone is learning and growing as a player and a person. While I cannot control the players, I believe that they would know what's best for the team and for themselves

Any shout outs from you?

Yes, shout outs to my team mates for being united as one team and an apology to Mashiro for being so mean towards him at times. On top of that, I would like to thank Team Toushi SG, and the other Insidious Gaming teams for being our regular scrim partners to improve our game plays as well as mechanics. Last but not least, I would like to thank our sponsor, Insidious Gaming for supporting us from far away

It's a very long (and lame) interview but that would be all. Thanks to Ashdragon, the manager of iSg KTHXBAI.

Any other people you want interviewed? Send it to us at our Facebook page and we will get them interviewed! 

[TLC] ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

One of the most anticipated match in The Legends Circuit 2014 Spring is about to take place; the match between the Malaysian 1^st place team, iSg KTHXBAI and the 4^th placed team, Nothing to Lose. 

This might be one of the most hyped up game for the entire season as being regular scrim partner, both teams know each other very well in terms of picks as well as play styles.

Both teams had undergo major role swaps and also roster changes compared to last season. 

Despite, iSg KTHXBAI maintaining their dominance in TLC Malaysia’s Qualifiers and League Series with a score of 13-1, the team seemed shaky. iSg KTHXBAI lost 3 games, one against the Kuala Lumpur Hunter, and another 2 against Mirrors (although the match was given to iSg KTHXBAI in the end due to a controversial issue).

However, the role swap and roster changes did not go too well for Nothing to Lose. After scrapping through the qualifiers with a 2-3 score in Group A, Nothing to Lose obtained a considerably mediocre performance during The Legends Circuit League Series with a score of 7-7 despite the team picking up Top laner, Jarlax as well as a new Support player, Camouuu.

The mediocre performance is attributed to Gloria being recently shift back into the Jungle as well as Poro Vu shifting to the Mid Lane as both of them are unfamiliar with their new role and was under performing. 

However, with 3 weeks of intensive practise schedule for Gloria and with NtL picking up new player in the likes of Atup such doge joining in the Mid Lane of NtL, they are looking to take back what they have lost.

MATCHUP ANALYSIS

Top Lane (Demon vs Jarlax)

Contested Picks: Shyvana and Renekton

Demon is currently known as one of the few strongest Top Laners in Malaysia. Picked up by iSg.KTHXBAI from his Shyvana play, Demon is an adept in playing Shyvana and has been carrying iSg KTHXBAI to victory in many occasions with her. If there is a word to describe Demon, it would be consistent. He would usually either win, or go even in his lanes – constantly pressuring the lanes. You would not usually see Demon loses his lane.

Jarlax on the other hand is a veteran in the Malaysian League of Legends scene. Jarlax got picked up by Nothing to Lose after the disbandment Paradox Gaming. While Demon plays a more traditional tanky top lane champions, Jarlax is known for his unorthodox champion pool with the likes of Lulu, which was picked 5 times in the League Series. However, Jarlax is also perfectly fine with playing traditional champion such as Shyvana and Renekton.

For this top lane match up, the key would be on whether or not Demon can manage to adapt to whatever Jarlax pulls off his sleeves. However, if the match up is played in a standard way, Demon would have a small advantage over Jarlax.

 Jungle (Ribena vs Gloria)

Contested Picks: Elise, Lee Sin and Kha’Zix

Ever since switching to the Jungle from the Marksman due to the departure of his support Ashdragon as well as Vyprex the former jungler of KTHXBAI, Ribena had been a solid jungler in every aspects. Ribena plays a very balanced style of jungle in terms of farm and gank pressure. His go-to champion, Elise and Vi usually helps the Mid Laner, Xare to pick players off for execution, snowballing the lanes in their favour. Due to the recent role swap from being the Marksman, Ribena is rather inexperienced in the jungle and might face trouble when he falls behind. However, with superior in-game mechanics from his time playing as Marksman, there should not be any chance of him falling behind unless some very unfortunate events happen.

Although Ribena is considered inexperienced, Gloria was shifted to the jungle even later than Ribena – only few days before the League Series. Gloria’s inability to adapt to the jungle is shown in most of the games as he went over-aggressive in most of the games, giving out unneeded kills for the enemy and costing the team their lanes. He plays a very carry-centric jungle champions such as Khazix, Pantheon and Elise who focuses on early lane pressures in order to snowball the game to victory. It is also worth to note that Gloria was once known (or self proclaimed) to be “Best Lee Sin MY” so it would be a pleasure to be able to see him playthe blind monk in any of the games.

Gloria plays are high risk, high reward style of jungler while Ribena is well-balanced in his play. The key factor to this match up is that Gloria needs to make great plays while taking a note of not getting caught out due to over-aggression. Ribena on the other hand needs to be able to control Gloria’s movement and to catch him out when he makes a play.

If Gloria manages to keep his cool, perhaps this is the beginning of the return of Jungle-ria.

Mid (Xare vs Atup such doge)

Contested Picks: Leblanc, Zed and Gragas

Xare is basically one of the best Mid Laner in Malaysia. Being at the top of the Challenger for a noticeable period of time, he excels in playing high burst assassins and mages to catch enemies off guard, deleting them from the map in matters of seconds. Xare have a very large champion pool and is impossible to ban out (Xare played a total of 6 champions in the League Series). While he is known to be great in Leblanc, he also plays farm heavy champions such as Gragas and Orianna. Being in the Mid Lane, Xare is usually the one being singled out and targeted by the enemy jungler. Thus, it is important for Xare to play smart, as well as his twin brother, Ribena to be there to back him up whenever he needs him.

While Xare is one of the most popular Mid Lane players in Malaysia, Atup such doge is literally an unknown player in the Mid Lane. Atup was previously known as 4moD Average, the Top Laner of 4moD and is known for his Jax, also hailed as one of the best Jax players in the server. He then shifted to the Marksman position, playing champions such as Vayne. After being picked up by Nothing to Lose, he plays the Mid Lane position for the team and his potential is yet to be seen. However, expect Atup to play hyper carries as he is always the main carry for the past teams that he played for.

Xare is one of the most prominent players in the Malaysia League of Legend scene in the Mid Lane, while Atup is generally new to the role. This match up can be related to the story of David vs Goliath. Will David (Atup) triumph over the giant Goliath (Xare)? Only time will tell!

Marksman (Mashiro/Stance vs Poromancer)

Contested Picks: Lucian, Jinx and Sivir

Mashiro, despite being relatively young, has been impressive during the course of TLC Spring - not dropping a single game in TLC. Despite being a hit or miss as mentioned by Ribena in his recent interview, it is yet to be seen how Mashiro would do in future games. If there is any problems for Mashiro, it would be his high risk, high return play that might turn things around badly if there any misplays happen. Stance however is the total opposite of Mashiro. While Mashiro makes risky but rewarding plays, Stance plays the lane safe and solidly. Stance also plays team fights well and it is proven during Game 2 against Kuala Lumpur Hunters as Vayne, coming back into the game despite a costly mistake early game that allowed JaeYoong to dominate the entire early to late game

Poromancer is deemed as one of the rising Marksman in the Malaysian League of Legends scene. In fact, in Camouuu’s vlog, he mentioned that a specific player in Kuala Lumpur Hunters hailed the Nothing to Lose bot lane duo as one of the strongest in Malaysia. Poromancer is also one of the veteran in the scene where he played as the support in Paradox Gaming for Qaspiel, who is ironically the current support of Kuala Lumpur Hunters. While Qaspiel moved to the support, Poromancer took the leap and decided to be the carry for Nothing to Lose. In terms of champion picks, Poromancer is a fan of Sivir as he picked Sivir for 6 games during the League Series followed by the traditional Lucian, Jinx and Caitlyn.

Poromancer will have to adapt in this match up as there is no telling who would be playing on that day. While he is definitely going into the game confidently, the suspense of who is playing (Mashiro or Stance) would be crazy. Poromancer would have to adapt well to different situation and play style if he is to win the matchup. However, the odds are definitely in Poromancer’s favour

Support (Fappy vs Camouuu)

Contested Picks: Morgana and Thresh

Fappy plays a very aggressive style of support at the Bot Lane together with Mashiro and Stance. While aggression usually helps to win lanes, the risk is huge. iSg KTHXBAI’s Bot Lane is always commented as a hit-or-miss because Fappy is able snowball leads very well with his aggression. However, when they fall behind, things tend to get bad as their inability to come back into the game. Fappy is an adept in champions that can hard-engage such as Morgana and Leona. This is very much opposed to what the old KTHXBAI prefer, in which Ashdragon would constantly lock in Thresh as his main support champion to pick people off.

As opposed to Fappy, Camouuu is an old guard of the Malaysian League of Legends scene. Camouuu heavily favours Morgana as his support pick, and will usually revert to the usual Thresh if it is picked or banned. Camouuu plays a very well balanced style of support with a little mix of aggression and also control. However, what is notably good in Camouuu is his understanding of the game. As a shout caster for the past TLC Finals, he have a very deep knowledge of the game and this will definitely be an additional factor to consider of what Camouuu brings into the match

While iSg KTHXBAI’s bot lane is relatively new, the Nothing to Lose bot lane much more experienced and well synergized in game experience and play style. Despite Fappy’s hyper-aggressive play style, Camouuu have a higher possibility to actually control Fappy’s aggression and punish him when he has the chance. In this matchup, I felt that Camouuu would have the advantage.

GAME PREDICTION

Match Score 3 - 2 

iSg KTHXBAI strength lies on their personal mechanics as well as the ability to snowball leads, read games and also close out the game. While the team do not necessary have the best team fight mechanics that they used to have, iSg KTHXBAI will usually come up on top during the laning phase and transition it slowly into objectives and finally snowballing the game to victory.

This is opposed to Nothing to Lose. While Nothing to Lose do not have a mechanical level as good as plays of iSg KTHXBAI, they have a very strong and knowledgeable team member in the likes of Support, TeddyTibbers and Camouuu. With the ample 3 weeks period for Nothing to Lose to prepare for the match, it is pretty obvious that Nothing to Lose would be very well prepared to break down their opponents with detailed analysis as well as game plan. Expect a very dominant early game from Nothing to Lose

My thoughts on the match would be summarized in two sentences:-

Nothing to Lose will have to come in with a well-prepared game plan to take down iSg KTHXBAI, while iSg KTXHBAI on the other hand needs to be able to adapt to whatever Nothing to Lose brings to the table. If iSg KTHXBAI manages to adapt to whatever Nothing to Lose place on the table, the game would be pretty much in their favour but if iSg KTHXBAI goes on tilt, it will be the end.

I predict a 3-2 match score with Nothing to Lose taking the first game, followed by iSg KTHXBAI taking the match due to their prowess in mechanics and play calling.

Disclaimer: All images are obtained from The Legends Circuit Official Website. All thoughts and opinion is 100% from Vyprex and does not represent any other organisations but himself