[TEAM COVERAGE] PARADOX GAMING

Paradox Gaming (PaX) is one of the veteran teams in Malaysian's League of Legends competitive scene. Although PaX has not been winning big tournaments such as the Spring Finals (4th Place) and TLC Malaysia Circuit (4th Place), PaX boast a record of being one of the few most active and consistent team in Malaysia. However, where did the story of Paradox Gaming started?

THE B-TEAM

If there's any reason why would Paradox Gaming be formed, Nothing to Lose is definitely one of the reasons why: simply because the founding members of Paradox Gaming was scouted and brought into the competitive scene by Nothing to Lose (NTL). 

On the 16th Feburary 2013, exactly 1 week before King of the Hill 2013 North Region (KOTH) is held in Kampar, Everything to Win (ETW) was formed as a sister team to the main Nothing to Lose team in order to participate and have the chance to compete with teams around Malaysia

The team at that time consist of members such as Camouflage (Camou), Chrome Dokuro (DarkShadow), Tensaiboy, OneEyeSleepy and Weewaa (xFade). In KOTH North, Everything to Win faced managed to achieve 3rd place after losing to Team KTHXBAI.

Coming back from the defeat, NTL and ETW decided that they should rearrange the team, focusing the better players into NTL and the others into ETW. Thus, a new roster of ETW consisting of Camou, Ozora Veki, XII Ghost, Deja Vu, Chrome Dokuro and Tensaiboy is formed.

This team line up decided to compete in the Rookie League II with the hopes to qualify into the Spring playoffs, but falling short at the second round - followed by Nothing to Lose winning the entire tournament after that. 

Not only that the team was devastated, but it got worse when Ozora Veki decided to leave the team in order to join JaeYoong to form Broski. At that point of time, it seemed as if there would be no reason left for ETW to continue playing.

However, instead of just leaving the competitive scene, Chan 'Camou' Kuok-Han and Joshua 'Chrome Dokuro' Rakesh felt that they should fight for what they want to achieve in the LoL Scene, which in turn gave birth to the current Paradox Gaming team.

GETTING OUT OF THE SHADOWS

After the disbandment of Everything To Win following the loss in Rookie Cup II, Camou and Chrome Dokuro looked into forming a brand new team - out of the NTL Organization. Thus, Chrome Dokuro was tasked to create an awesome name for the team to carry in the future. 

"After over an hour of search by Chrome Dokuro, where a lot of weird names came up, we decided to go with Paradox Gaming - Camou" 

PARADOX GAMING
The team roster at that time was formed with the older members namely Azmirul 'TensaiBoy' Izzat, Jason 'Deja Vu' Beh with the addition of Daniel 'Exquinox' Ng and also an analyst known as 'Quid Pro Quo' from an old competitive team known as 7 Deadly Sins (7DS)  in order to have another chance to qualify for the Spring Playoffs. The roster used for Rookie League III was as the following:

Top: Camou

Jungle: Tensaiboy

Mid: Exquinox

AD Carry: Deja Vu

Support: Chrome Dokuro 

The team played well, but unfortunately again, they face Broski in the quarter final match which actually lasted for an hour; in which they eventually lost. Looking in the situation, where they have lost in KOTH North, Rookie Cup II and III, the team was in a very bad morale.

"Camou - The team was very down and members had thoughts of quitting; but decided to try one last time in the KOTH South in Malacca "

However, there is a twist this time in KOTH South as Camou found out Weewaa and Jarlax was not happy being in Nothing to Lose. Thus, they made a swap - Releasing exquinox to NTL and bringing in Tung 'Jarlax' Zhun Xian and Dale 'Weewaa' Lim into Paradox Gaming.

Top: Camou

Jungle: TensaiBoy

Mid: Weewaa

AD Carry: Jarlax

Support: Chrome Dokuro

This roster eventually became the team that eventually (and finally) won them the qualifications to the Spring Finals 2013. However, when everyone thought that things would be rather smooth sailing from here on, problems occurred - Camou couldn't commit to the training schedule and decided to step down.

The team managed to get hold of Shine.Walker as a replacement and managed to qualify for the Spring Finals (Offline Playoffs) with a score of 2-1 and then winning the three-way-tiebreaker match against 4moD and Broski. 

The thoughts of riding the winning momentum did not materialise though, as they lost all the remaining games against Secret and Broski in the playoffs due to internal conflicts.

Fun Fact by Camou: The match against Broski was lost to the point where Jarlax was worth less than a minion with the score of 0/11/13 with Singed

After everything, Shine.Walker eventually left the team while xFade went to United Kingdoms to further his studies. The team seemed to be in a situation of being disbanded yet again after a disappointing finals.

THE REFORMATION

Hearing and witnessing how awesome The Legends Circuit (SG) was, Camou had the urge to reform the team and compete in The Legends Circuit (MY). Alone, he scouted everywhere; from ranked games to forums and eventually managed to reform the team with several new members.

He managed to find Qaspiel from Ranked queues and Sifu from the forums to reform the team together with Jarlax, Tensaiboy and DarkShadow. Also, due to the disbandment of Broski, Ozora Veki once again joined Paradox Gaming. Pyromancer then joined the team as Camou wants to take a step back from the competitive due to commitments in life

Paradox Gaming managed to qualify with this roster and went on destroying teams during the first 2 weeks. However, their momentum once again got halted when they lost a game against KTHXBAI followed by Kuala Lumpur Hunters. 

A shocking defeat in the hands of Nothing to Lose also did not prove to be very morale boosting. Despite KTHXBAI dropping 2 games against Kuala Lumpur Hunters and SpongeBobSwagPants in a single week, Paradox Gaming could not capitalize as they lost to KTHXBAI once again in the next week.

THE AFTERMATH

As a result of that, Ozora Veki, Pyromancer and Qaspiel decided to leave the team while the others decide to take a step back in competitive League of Legends. According to the team captain (Camou), Paradox Gaming is still finding opportunity to make a breakthrough. What would eventually happen when the future TLC.MY restarts? No one would know but definitely, something big is coming up

If people asked about what's outstanding in the story of Paradox Gaming, there is honestly nothing spectacular in terms of achievements. However, the fighting spirit and persistence of Camou and co. is always encouraging to know about

[TEAM COVERAGE] Team KTHXBAI

Team KTHXBAI recently rose to the occasion when they unexpectedly defeated the Kuala Lumpur Hunters in the 6th week of The Legends Circuit 2013. Things got much more hyped up when they moved on to take down the Singapore Sentinels on the first match of TLC Finals Playoffs in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Albeit losing the other matches after that, they were placed 3rd place, above KLH in ranking and is currently rated as one of the best teams in Malaysia. That being said, how did the team came into formation?

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Back in 2011, the idea of a competitive team first came up when Joel "Ashdragon" Ooi and Jeffery "Vyprex" Chan had thoughts of playing competitively to earn extra cash money. 

Wanting to form a team, ashdragon scouted players such as Erebros and Laymonoob while Vyprex looked for his brother Joshua "Ribenamania" Chan and Jonathan "Xare" Chan. xKenz soon joined the team in order to have more available playing members.

They eventually call themselves 'Team Dragon'. At that time, there was an issue with a lack of computers, so only two of the three brothers were able to play simultaneously. Thus, there was not any role allocated and it was simply "playing what you want during the match" 

The team did not last because of arguments, conflicts and issues such as not having a computer to play for important matches. The dream did not end that way though. 

Late 2012, Ashdragon once again initiated talks with Vyprex to reform a team as Xare and Ribenamania finally graduated from their SPM examinations - moving on into college, thus allowing more freedom in playing and most importantly, a computer to play on.

Vyprex: At that time, ashdragon told me that he had waited for almost a year for my brothers to graduate high school to reform the team

Team KTHXBAI was officially formed on January 2013 and has been in the scene ever since.

THE NAME

Where did the name "KTHXBAI" came from? It came about during a night where Vyprex and Ashdragon was discussing; in search of a name. No ideas came up and eventually, Ashdragon decided to make Vyprex responsible in creating name. In order to avoid responsibility, Ashdragon ended the chat with "kthxbai". Vyprex took the phrase up, and it soon became the team's official name.

THE TEAM

The initial roster of the starting members of Team KTHXBAI was as the following:-

Top: Xare

Jungle: Vyprex

Mid: Ribenamania

AD Carry: Ashdragon

Support: Bendo

This team participated in an online tournament at that time known as the "Inter-Varsity Challenge", representing Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and obtained a third place finish after losing their semi-finals match. Unfortunately, Bendo - the support player at that time could not continue playing due to commitment in studies.

Thus, the team recruited Chayu "eko" Jia Ming as the Mid laner; putting Ribenamania down as AD Carry with Ashdragon as support. Thus, the lineup for Springs Playoff Finals was as the following:

Top: Xare

Jungle: Vyprex

Mid: Eko

AD Carry: Ribenamania

Support: Ashdragon

The team competed in the Springs Qualifier, KOTH North Region at A-Station Cyber Cafe, Kampar and by defeating teams like Everything to Win (Paradox Gaming), they managed to qualify themselves in the finals against Team Secret but unfortunately lose out in the finals. KTHXBAI qualified into the Springs Playoffs Finals 2012 by clinching 2nd spot. 

Things did not go well though for Spring Finals as team got into a serious argument during a scrim with Team Secret. Ever since the argument, the team did not practised for over 2 weeks. The team got back together 1 week before the match and tried to do what they could, but eventually dropped out of the competition 0-3, losing against Broski, Paradox Gaming and 4moD.

The team lost their morale and motivation to continue competing for a period of time, before changes start taking place.

THE REFORMING

Upon hearing rumours of the disbandment of Team Secret, the team approached Tofu.Alex (Solo), the Top Laner of Team Secret to join the team, thus forming the team that eventually rose to fame as one of the best teams in Malaysia

With the addition of Alex "Solo" Keoh in the team, Xare was finally allowed to be moved into his most comfortable position, the Mid lane. Thus the line up of Team KTHXBAI was as the following:

Top: Solo

Jungle: Vyprex

Mid: Xare

AD Carry: Ribenamania

Support: Ashdragon

The team progressed pretty well, winning most of the match and cruising through The Legends Circuit Summer 2013's qualifications with the score of 4-0 with a comeback victory against Nothing to Lose (NTL). 

To further add on into the team's pool of players due to regular weekly matches, the team decided to add Wilson "wcws" Cheah, jungler of the disbanded Team Secret into the team as a Jungler.

THE CRISIS

Things went well for the team, not losing any match throughout the entire TLC Finals until Week 5, where the team lost their first game against KLH and eventually SpongeBobSwagPants (SSP) who was actually at last place of the circuit.

It was a terrible week for the team, as losing both games in a week allowed Paradox Gaming and Nothing to Lose to catch up to clinch the last spot for the TLC Playoff Finals. Fortunately, the team managed to pull together and won all the games from then on, against the top seeded KLH, Paradox Gaming and Nothing to lose (Yet another comeback victory)

THE LEGENDS CIRCUIT FINALS 2014

As the other competitions for Team KTHXBAI, the team never  had chance to practice for TLC's Finals due to the universities' final term paper. 

The team got together 2 days before the match and trained as hard as their could and went into the competition with totally nothing to lose despite their manager, Matt putting an extreme amount effort in creating the hype and support for the team.

Things did not went as planned, as they caused an unexpected upset against the Singapore Sentinels. That , however was the peak for the team though, as they eventually lost against Neo.iSG Exile and then Singapore Sentinels who came back from the losers bracket after knocking Kuala Lumpur Hunters out of the tournament.

KTHXBAI managed to clinch 2nd Runner Up for the TLC Playoff, as is currently the number 1 team in Malaysia

THE FUTURE

With TLC 2013 ended a month ago, what is coming from the team? Vyprex had officially announce his retirement from the scene from Team KTHXBAI's Facebook page as well as Solo and Ashdragon casually announcing their retirement through the post itself. No one knows what is going to happen

Sure thing is, there is going to be a big change. 

The e-sports experience

I am a competitive League of Legends player in Malaysia. I had played the game for almost 3 years and in the competitive scene for 2 years. In these 2 years, there were ups and downs but most importantly, I did not regret a single moment doing so.

The TLC Grand Finals 2013 held in conjunction of Comic Fiesta 2013 was the climax for myself in the competitive League of Legends scene and I would like to share some of my thoughts for those who plans to take the path I have taken in the past

E-sports is something looked down upon by the society, especially for those who have traditional mindset; those who do not believe that video games are actually a kind of sport. Thus, going 'pro' or competitive in e-sports is never simple.

I still remember the times where my team got our first 2 losses, everyone was at the lowest of morale and have the thought of quitting because even we doubt ourselves (Is our sacrifice actually worth it at in the end?).

Conflicts and argument after a loss is normal, but what if we won? I will say, sometimes it's even worse. The time where the greatest of argument happened was when we were winning, yet still trying to figure out how to improve, and to be the best of the best

The pressure is immense due to expectations. Very often I will try to make stupid statements so that the team will feel more relaxed but deep inside, we know that going competitive comes with expectations and pressure. Despite that, the experience itself is undeniably rewarding.

The sense of nervousness that rushes through your blood as you make your entrance on-stage; the adrenaline rush when you make bold calls and plays; or even the crazy mistake that you made (Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy on ZERO target anyone?) and basically the cheers of those who are watching just pays off everything you had sacrificed beforehand.

I believe that e-sports will have its way as we continue to move on. Unfortunately for me, it's something in the past for me as I have much more important commitments to attend to. However, to keep things moving on, I created this news portal as a form of support to the League of Legends E-Sports in Malaysia.

E-sports have played a very large part of my teenage life. At least if people tend to ask me what's worth talking about in my 20's, I can tell them that I have played with one of the best; if not the best team in Malaysia in League of Legends (And won a bunch of cash). It's not easy, but the pay-off is immense

Who am I? I am Jeffery "Vyprex" Chan.
Retired jungler of Team KTHXBAI and currently a self proclaimed e-sports journalist. I will be covering most of the stories in related to the Malaysian Competitive League of Legends scene.

All images are obtained from Garena League of Legends Facebook Page