[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! 

[INTERVIEW] SPLIT PUSH KNOCK OUT

Last Saturday, Team Passby and Fluffy Gaming clashed in the losers bracket of The Legends Circuit Malaysia 2014 Spring. After a long and arduous 4 hour battle , Team Passby emerged as the winner, knocking out Fluffy Gaming with a convincing 3-1 score.

I managed to get hold of eko from Team Passby for a short interview after the win. Let us see what he has to say.

First of all, congratulations on the win against Fluffy Gaming! How do you feel after the incredible comeback victory after losing game 1 and being behind in the other 2 games? 

Well, I felt really awesome because we could actually trust each other so well in the match.However, I did feel frustrated because we were asked to keep quiet during the game by the cyber cafe. This cost us a lot of problems when we wanted to communicate with each other. Also, it affected me in a way because I did not get the feeling of actually playing in a tournament as we were bounded by so many rules.

Moving on, players would usually lose their momentum after losing games and it would definitely affect the next game. How did Team Passby adapt and move on, playing better game after game and finally winning the match 3-1?

Well, it's just a matter of the mind. Deep inside, we knew we could handle the situation. The first match was a totally unplanned game and full of mistakes, yet we tried hard to win the game which instead boosted our morale instead of killing it.

In game 2 and 3, Team Passby was constantly losing out in gold and objectives due to poor lane control and mechanics. What was in your mind when you were playing from the back ALL the time and finally forcing back a win?

To be honest, I never felt as though we are losing. Although we were down in lanes, we won most of the teamfights. We managed to turtle well enough to the point where Fluffy Gaming could not find a way to end the game. Slowly but surely, we reduced the gold gap and eventually won the game through split pushing and good decision making

You went against Koalaxy in the mid lane and it was always a dead-even matchup, perhaps even a farm fest. What are your thoughts on that?

My thoughts on the matchup? To be honest, I felt very rusty after not playing hardcore mode for quite some time. However, I must admit that Koalaxy's mid is really solid. The pressure from his lane is considerably high and I think we've learnt from each other quite a lot.

Although many people claimed that it is considerably hard to carry from the top lane, it is of my opininon that the main carry of Team Passby in the matches was from the top lane. Was this the team's mindset all along? - allow the top laner to be the monster and split push all day to win?

Actually, we did not have any pre-planned strategy. Most of the time, we would play standard during the early game and come up with game plans depending on how the lanes played out. Since XXF has been well trained in doing so from his past experience in KLH, I guess that was the most efficient way to play the game!

Now that you've moved into the top 6 of TLC.MY, where would Team Passby move on from here?

We actually hope to be the Top 4 in Malaysia, that's all. [Laughs]

To be top 4, you will have to win your next matchup and it would be either Nothing to Lose or iSg.KTHXBAI after this, any preferences & comments on both teams?

No offence to any party but I guess we will prefer to face NtL due to the simple fact that everyone believes that iSg.KTHXBAI is a much stronger team.

Anything else you would like say to the readers for today? Any shoutouts?

Sorry I played like a noob. Although I guess not many people would even care about that [Laughs non-stop like a noob]. Also, I hope Team Passby can show Malaysian players that sometimes, gold lead do not mean anything - Do not surrender when you are not having the gold lead because you may turn things around anytime!

That would be all for the interview with eko, the mid laner of Team Passby.

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

[TEAM COVERAGE] NOTHING TO LOSE

What we will be covering in this week's "Team Coverage" is the love-hate relationship in between Paradox Gaming and Nothing to Lose. As we have already covered Paradox Gaming a month ago, read on to see what we have to say about Nothing to Lose.

AN INSPIRATION FOR GREAT BEGINNINGS
Nothing to Lose (NtL) was founded on November 2012 after the Season 2 World Championships, inspired by the Taipei Assassins (TPA) who managed to win the World Championships. 

The founding members were: TeddyTibbers, Kyoz (Ex-NSEW team), and Vyox (Ex-NSEW team).

After scouting for a while, NtL took in Gustaguy (aka Déjà vu), ESP Prestigious as well as OneEyeSleepy (aka Calvin Harris). The team’s performance in scrims was quite acceptable, and everyone was getting along. However, by mid-December, ESP Presitigious and Vyox left because of commitment issues, while OneEyeSleepy left to join Team UnorthodoX MY (UoX MY). 

Replenishing the players wasn’t an easy task but Gloria and DeathlyScythe was brought into the team. However, tension was built up between TeddyTibbers and Kyoz, leading to the latter leaving due to differences in ideals and direction.

At the time, NtL had already accepted an invitation from Garena to participate in the Invitational Match at the Garena Carnival 2013. In order to play, 3 Ex-KLH members joined in to assist the team in this tournament; the members being Jaeyoong, Hagane and Monkeyz.

The final line-up for the Invitational was: Gloria, Gustaguy, Jaeyoong, Hagane and Monkeyz.

The result from the tournament was not great as the players were not able to practice together, bringing forth only 1 win, and 3 losses. As it was simply just a show match, things were not as serious yet - In fact it became a source of their inside joke!

TeddyTibbers: There is this inside joke around this tournament where Gustaguy’s stage fright was too prominent, paralysing him throughout the tournament, and thus resulting in him underperforming. 

SPRING SEASON

For Spring Season, TeddyTibbers was planning to resign in order to join the competitive scene that year (2013). However, he lacked the motivation to play when the founding members of the team left.

Therefore, he chose to focus on managing and coaching.  During this time, he approached a friend – whom he had initially known by the in-game name of Support – to help out by becoming the team’s analyst, and to help out with administrative tasks.

After Garena Carnival, NtL managed to recruit several members to strengthen the team namely: Legacy.Jarlaxle (PaX Jarlax), Legacy.WeeWaa (PaX WeeWaa), Camouflauge (PaX Camou) and HuiHui.

NtL prepared for the Rookie League 2013, Stage 1 (2nd February 2013) with the following line-up:

  

           Top Lane: Legacy Jarlaxle 

 Jungle: Gloria

               Mid Lane: Legacy.WeeWaa 

Marksman: Gustaguy 

             Support: DeathlyScythe 

                   Substitutes: HuiHui / Camouflauge

The aim for participation was to warm up, train, and get 3rd place for this tournament as the team wanted to get experience by joining as many tournaments as possible (thus not getting qualified early was a choice). 

After that tournament, things seemed to start moving smoothly as the team was able to work well together. However, things did not last, as a cursed blessing plagued the team due to a decision made by TeddyTibbers (Manager and Coach of NtL)

THE CURSED BLESSING
The decision made at that time was to absorb UoX MY into NtL, and create a sister team that would be almost equal in strength. 

TeddyTibbers: This decision was made in order to help both teams improve faster as they could provide feedback and scrim with one another frequently. 

Although this seemed like a solid plan on paper, the different personalities and clashing views of the players were not taken into account. In other words, there was a huge flaw in this plan from the get-go.

Everything seemed fine and both teams were working to perform in their respective participated tournaments. NtL prepared for the Dell Invitational Online Tournament with the following line-up:

                       Top Lane: KuroiHoshi (XIII Ghost) 

Jungle: Gloria 

                               Mid Lane: Ozora Veki (PaX Ozora Veki)

              Marksman: Gustaguy (Déjà vu) 

           Support: DeathlyScythe 

                             Subs: HuiHui /Legacy.Jarlaxle

The result for this tournament was just acceptable for a new team. They lost mainly due to lack of strategy/counter-plays instead of personal skill.

As for EtW (the sister team), they travelled to Kampar to participate in the King of the Hill North Region competition, to qualify for the Spring Season Finals, as well as gain experience as a new team.

This was of no issue to them, as they knew how to win with their strengths. Unfortunately, EtW only managed to attain 3rd place due to mistakes made in the game against Team KTHXBAI (Where Xare's Singed just destroyed the whole team)

This led to the 'better' players of the team feeling dissatisfied with the results as they should have been able to achieve more with the 'better' players. Their impatience with the 'weaker' members forced the decision to reshuffle - to put all the 'good' players into one team 

Thus, the reshuffled roster for NtL was:

Top Lane: Jarlaxle 

  Jungle: Gloria 

  Mid Lane: Weewaa 

        Marksman: OneEyeSleepy 

Support: HuiHui

DeathlyScythe remained as a sub to help out for both teams, and later on focusing as a sub solely for NtL.

THE 'BETTER' TEAM
The new NtL team seemed to be performing well, and managed to win Rookie League 2013, Stage 2. However, their next large hurdle arrived shortly after the King of the Hill Central Region tournament. 

On that fateful day, NtL lost on the first match itself against 4Mod, a team which they frequently scrimmed against, which NtL perceived to not have any problems winning against (4Mod were one of the teams that they managed to beat during Rookie League).

This loss was the prelude to the team breaking up; led by an internal feud and the dissatisfaction to one another’s personality having reared its ugly head again. 

Thus, Weewaa and Jarlaxle joined Paradox Gaming, and OneEyeSleepy is benched due to him being hounded by his parents to focus solely on his studies for the SPM examinations.

THE HUNT FOR NEW BLOOD
This led to NTL having only 2 main members remaining – Gloria and HuiHui and the hunt for new members began.

After searching high and low, and performing player testing in-between, Gloria managed to pull in his long-time friend from the FPS genre – whom also happened to be a veteran MOBA player – to join. 

His in-game name at that time was 'DO YOU EVEN LIFT', all other players know him as Stray.

Also, with the recommendation of Shine.Walker, NtL managed to find a hidden diamond in the rough; a Malaysian player who spammed Ranked games in the Taiwanese server, CloudBurst (Taiwan IGN) 

Up until this point, NtL still lacked a competent Mid Laner. However, NtL participated in the 'Challenge the Hunters' event with a temporary roster:

Top Lane: Stray 

      Jungle: Gloria 

                                  Mid Lane: TGG Sanguine (Temporary) 

                                Marksman: HaseoHamasaki (ZeYoung) 

     Support: HuiHui

The results were not satisfactory but it was good practice for the core members in preparation for the Rookie Finals, to qualify for Spring Season Finals.

Fun fact: NTL wanted to participate in the King of the Hill South Region tournament, but did not make it. The player that we found to join the team temporarily ended up pulling out on the day itself because he feared that JaeYoong was going to participate.  

Although Exquinox was supposed to be released from PaX to NtL, it did not happen in the end as Exquinox decided to leave and join his friend’s team Thus, Déjà Vu decided to rejoin NtL as the Marksman.

Finally, after struggling to search for a suitable Mid Laner. NtL decided to put Gloria into Mid and the final line-up for the Spring Season was finally decided:

Top Lane: Stray 

                                              Jungle: HaseoHamasaki (aka ZeYoung) 

 Mid Lane: Gloria 

  Marksman: Déjà vu 

     Support: HuiHui 

             Substitute: DeathlyScythe

The performance was just acceptable at the time, as Gloria was getting used to his new main role, while Stray was getting his “mojo” back into the game as he had stopped playing League of Legends for an extended period of time.

NtL managed to attain 2nd place in the Rookie League Finals and qualify for the Spring Season Finals. But NtL, was forever plagued by random twists of fate where ZeYoung could not make it for the Spring Season Finals because his family had a pre-planned vacation to Japan.

With that, the final line-up was:

Top Lane: Stray 

       Jungle: Gloria 

   Mid Lane: HuiHui 

   Marksman: Déjà Vu 

                Support: DeathlyScythe

The Group Stage score was 1-2, having lost to Team Secret and Kuala Lumpur Hunters, thus being unable to qualify for the Spring Season Finals Top 4.

TeddyTibbers: The loss was harsh on us because the possibility of winning and qualifying was higher than losing in the group stage.

Thus, NtL was only able to clinch 5th place in the Spring Season Finals; an achievement for a new team, although it was generally unsatisfactory for the players.

After that Spring Season, HuiHui retired from the competitive scene.

SUMMER SEASON

For the Summer Season though, KuroiHoshi (XIII Ghost) had just finished National Service and rejoined NtL. Things started looking up for us as we managed to settle with our main active roster.

Fun fact: NtL approached Tofu.Alex/Solo to join us as Team Secret was going to disband after Spring Season Finals. However, Solo being a “So Lou” gave his original reasoning that he wanted to retire and focus on studies, and so rejected our offer. Tofu.Alex/Solo however, joined KTHXBAI in the end - Editors note: HAHAHAHA

For the Summer Season, the main 5 players were: Stray, Gloria, Déjà Vu, XIII Ghost and ZeYoung.

During TLC Qualifiers 2013, NtL managed to score 3-1 in the group stage, losing only to Team KTHXBAI, which was a great start for the season.

The line-up at this time was:

Top Lane: Stray 

            Jungle: ZeYoung 

  Mid Lane: Gloria 

      Marksman: XIIIGhost 

       Support: Deja Vu

After the competition, NtL acquired ZenSlayer and Tracy from Team Broski as substitutes, since they did not qualify for TLC to increase the depth of the team player pool.

After more training and discussions, the final line-up for the TLC 2013 Summer Season became:

                         Top Lane: XIII Ghost / ZenSlayer 

    Jungle: Stray 

Mid Lane: Gloria 

                      Marksman: ZeYoung / XIII Ghost 

                             Support: Déjà vu / TeddyTibbers

NtL started off the TLC Summer Season on the wrong foot, having lost to Paradox Gaming; our ex-sister team; as Gloria’s performance in the Mid Lane was still sub-par in comparison to most Mid Laners in MY. 

However, the momentum of the team in Week 2 increased greatly, showing that they were quite capable of almost toppling KLH in their first match up - which they ended up losing due to the lack of experience and poor execution of strategy.

The next loss was against KtB due to bad planning. However, NtL managed to best Paradox Gaming, in the 2nd encounter during week 5, which was a great boost to their morale.

NtL thought that they would have a shot on qualifying for the TLC Grand Finals, but it was crushed when KtB managed to pull off a miracle play that led into defeating KLH - Which eventually sealed the deal of NtL being at 3rd place for the TLC Series.

TeddyTibbers: This demotivated us all-round, as it was crucial for KLH to have beaten KtB, then have NtL to win our 2nd match against them - thus leading to a tie-breaker match between NtL and KtB. But as this did not happen, it pretty much sealed the deal for us.

NtL managed to attain only 3rd place for the TLC Summer Season 2013; a great achievement for a team that went through so many struggles and changes, yet a disappointment for not being able to make it to the Finals once again.

The manager of the team (TeddyTibbers) however, felt that it was a great achievement as it is quoted here:

"In retrospect, we started off with an almost completely team of players whom were new the tournament scene, and we managed to make the best of it. Now leading into the new year of 2014, many changes will be coming in as some of the members have different commitments and ideals. Hopefully, there will be less trials and tribulations this year, and smoother sail - internally. *laughs*

To close this off, I would say that although we did not get our so-called fairy tale ending, at the least we have the consolation in that we made it that far from scratch. We clawed our way out of the proverbial bottom of the barrel, and made something not just for ourselves, but also for everyone that was involved with us."

The tentative roster for Nothing to Lose is as below:

Top Lane: Jarlax

     Jungle: Tracy 

Mid Lane: Gloria 

        Marksman: Poromancer  

    Support: Camouuu

Like the team name itself, they have Nothing to Lose. We will see what comes up for NtL in this Season of The Legends Circuit.

Edited by: Gates 'Poromancer' Tan

[INTERVIEW] GOLDEN RETIRES FROM ESPORTS

GoldeN: First person from the left

All good things must come to an end. Yesterday afternoon, Khing 'GoldeN' Mun announced his retirement from the League of Legends competitive scene after leaving the Kuala Lumpur Hunters 2 months ago after TLC Grand Finals.

And again, I got lucky - and had the opportunity to interview him to see what he has to say about himself, Kuala Lumpur Hunters and also the eSports scene in Malaysia. Read up!

Hi GoldeN. You've left Kuala Lumpur Hunters for a period of time after TLC ended. Just awhile ago you announced your retirement from the eSports scene. Do you mind bringing the readers through it? Why the decision? 

Well, the main reason was actually due to Kuala Lumpur Hunters itself. Kuala Lumpur Hunters was a part time based pro-team; 2 players could only train 3 days and we could only train 3 days a week as a full team. Also, Taintedones – who was one of the core players of KLH had to focus on his studies and couldn't commit full time. Monkey, on the other hand was actually working and Redhotrayz was working on his degree 

Secondly, it was due to myself. I did not want to continue playing in a team that consisted of part timers. However, I did not want to look for new players too as it would have taken too much time to train everyone up to the same level again. Rather than starting everything from scratch, I decided to call it quits and leave KLH. 

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I see. So it was actually a collective decision from all of the members of KLH that resulted in you leaving the scene. What about you as a casual player? You stated that you would quit the scene entirely, but would you still be playing League of Legends and perhaps join some small tournaments?

Nope, I have actually lost my passion in League at the moment. This is because I’ve always had a target to achieve when I was playing as a professional gamer. As I am now a casual player, I do not have any target to achieve in League – and I do not really enjoy casual gaming. I am more inclined towards professional gaming. Thus, when it comes to the retirement from pro-gaming, I guess I won’t be playing much. 

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[Laughs] I agree with that GoldeN. I’ve lost my reason to play League too ever since I stopped playing for KTHXBAI. Since you were in the competitive scene for such long period of time, how did eSports change your life? 

eSports made a huge change to my life. As a pro-gamer, I was always very focused and I did everything that I could to succeed. I spent most of my time training, learning and analyzing replays. Also, as the team captain, I spent a lot of time figuring out strategies, coaching methodology, arranging of scrims and also led team discussions. It simply made me a better person and leader.

In addition to that, I also got to travel to various countries around the world for international tournaments – which obviously was awesome and was a great experience for myself. Being interviewed by the media in foreign land and having to play on a big stage is of course something not everyone can enjoy. Most importantly, I got to know a lot of other great players and friends overseas.

Perhaps the only bad part of being a pro-gamer was that I couldn’t spend more time with my friends and family.  

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Wow, that seems really fun! Too bad I din't get to try it since I’m getting old already. Moving on, what's your most memorable moment as a pro player up until now? 

My most memorable moment was during WCG Busan 2011 – my first international tournament. It was also the first time I got to meet up with many friends. Also, did you know that Korean food is AWESOME? 

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After having so many memorable moments, was there any period of time you regret something that you did or didn't do; and given the chance, would you go back and change the outcome?

Yes, there were definitely regrets and wrong decisions in the course of my pro-gaming career. However, I prefer to keep those regrets to myself.

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Sure, it’s all yours to keep [I tried]. Is there anything you feel that you'll miss in the Malaysian e-Sports scene after stepping down/retiring? 

Yup, I believe that Malaysian teams have potential (Editor’s note: CLG POTENTIAL) in the future. If I was a few years younger, I would definitely continue to fight for my dreams. [Laughs] At the same time, I also feel sad that I cannot contribute more for the eSports scene in Malaysia anymore. 

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Alright. Since we're on this topic, when you mentioned ‘potential’, do you mean the current KLH squad? How do you think they'll fare? 

To be honest, I do not really know much about the newer players in KLH other than Ozora Veki and Jae Yoong. That being said, I feel that both of them are decent players and definitely have the ‘potential’  

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I see. Now that you're leaving the scene, what do you plan to do for your future?Have you got any plans?

Well, I will be starting my job next month (March). It is nothing related to eSports or gaming though. I can’t really say where am I going to be heading towards, but we’ll see. Life is never predictable anyway! =) 

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Ok, last question! Any final words you want to say and address the Malaysian League of Legends community; and what are your hopes towards the Malaysian eSports scene?

Thanks for everyone's support towards me when I was a professional gamer. I sincerely hope that both the eSports scene and gaming community in Malaysia can continue growing in a healthy manner in Malaysia. I also hope that there would be more major tournaments in the country, as it’s the only thing that keeps eSports alive! 

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Thank you for your time GoldeN! I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and your life. 

Any other players/managers you want us to interview? Send it to use at our Facebook page and we will try out best to get them in the near future!

[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

[INTERVIEW] KLH GoldeN after IEM Singapore

The Kuala Lumpur Hunters had just returned from Singapore after the Intel Extreme Masters Singpore tournament. Unfortunately, they lost to the Hong Kong Attitude 0 - 2 after two games in the semi-finals Friday. To watch the matches, click here: Game 1, Game 2. We were able to get hold of KLH GoldeN for an interview as soon as they returned. Let us see what the hunters have to say about the matches there

You played against HKA in the Semi Finals of IEM Singapore and unfortunately lost the series 0-2. Can you please give us your thoughts on some of the reasons that caused the loss of that game? 

For the first game, we actually did some early mistakes and because of the Double Marksman Strategy, we was found in a hard situation to come back from. For the second game, we were running a 4-1 strategy similar to HKA but unfortunately we lost the 4 v 4 fights due to some combat and communications problems. 

There was a notable shift on your roster and with JaeYoong once again but not on the Marksman position, instead playing at Mid and instead, you who used to be in the Mid lane went up top- Any reasons on why such decision? 

Well, although JaeYoong is in Mid Lane but he is still playing as a Marksman. I decided to move to top because its easier for me to make calls and lead during engages since I am the leader and shot caller of the team. 

As far as International tournaments go, teams from SG/MY (Singapore Sentinels & Kuala Lumpur Hunters) hasn't been performing well. What can you attribute it to? 

There are many reasons why SGS & KLH do not perform well as far as International tournaments goes. The main reason would be the competitive scene itself and the lack of scrims. Other regions such as NA/EU/KOR/CN have good competitive structure which is a lot bigger than SG/MY. Players pool affects the competitive scene directly and these regions have huge player pools and so they have more competitive teams compared to us. 

Besides, most pro teams have their gaming house and coach. SG/MY's gaming culture is not as well equipped as them, thus it is tough to form a fully committed team here, before SGS reformed, there was some part time players which is the same to KLH this year. Most of the time, KLH is only available to train 3 days a week as full team and that caused the lack of scrims as a team 

Now that IEM is complete, I believe the future tournaments ahead would be the TLC Playoff Finals. What next in preparations that we can expect from the Hunters? Are you confident in the upcoming matches? 

There is huge change in the latest patch, I can't say what preparations to expect but expect our performance in TLC Grand Final will be better than IEM Singapore and of course we are confident! 

Other than SGS and KLH in the TLC's Playoff, there are 2 other amateur teams iSG Exile & KTHXBAI in the playoffs. Being a veteran in the scene, do the team receive pressure to perform well since it is a pro vs amateur game? 

Doesn't matters with Pro or Amateur teams, we only received pressures from strong teams. 

As far as I know, TLC would be played in Season 4 Patch. Any comments on the Season 4 Meta & how it'll affect competitive league? 

No comment to Season 4's Patch as I have only played 1 game so far 

According to Ozora Veki in his personal FB timeline, he mentioned that you are retiring soon? Any comments on that issue or would you like to clear the misunderstanding here? 

I will most probably leave KLH after TLC. The main reason of such decision is that I needed a break from the competitive scene and really to consider what to do in the future. 

Before we end, is there anything else that you want to tell your supporters/Malaysia LoL players?

I'm sorry to the fans as we did not achieve anything big for this year. However, thanks for everyone's kind support, we really appreciate it! For Malaysia LoL Players, since the existence of KLH here, there is always a chance to be a Professional Gamer if its your dream. The easiest way to get attention is to perform well in the Competitive Scene. There is a higher chance to do so now as TLC Malaysia started not long ago. Always remember that it is not easy and fun to go pro, every best professional gamers have their hard time but they could enjoy the sweet fruits after all the hard time.

That is about what we will hear from GoldeN of the Kuala Lumpur Hunters.  Let us wish KLH all the best in their upcoming matches: The Legends Circuit Playoff coming 21st to 22nd December 2013. Thank you for reading.

-JVC

[INTERVIEW] Paradox Gaming Disbands

On 26 November 2013, Paradox Gaming officially announces its release of the current roster from League of Legends competitive scene as the season for TLC 2013 comes to an end. As mention in previous posts, it is regrettable that another team has to leave the scene. We had the chance to get in contact with Paradox Gaming's Mid Laner Ozora Veki for an interview in regards to this matter and it is as below:-

Interview with PaX Ozora Veki (2013) 

I understand that you are considered a veteran in the scene who'd been in numerous teams before you set foot into Paradox Gaming, do you mind telling us of your journey throughout the competitive scene in MY League of Legends? 

It started from year 2012, while watching GPL and some foreign tournaments, I had the urge to become a Pro-Player myself. I started off with a team called Yamable and my first tournament was the King of the Hill (KOTH) Centre Region. The team itself has no power to compete at all and eventually I lost both qualifications. Although I failed the qualifications, some team that already took the slot invited me to their team (NYM.Orange Esports), and we took 4th place as a result. It all moved forward from there.

The teams that I had joined in the past includes

Season 2= Yamable , NYM.Orange Esports. 

Season 3= UoX.MY , Nothing to Lose, Paradox Gaming, Broski , PaX

I got to know that Paradox Gaming decided to call it ends and disbanded recently. Is it possible to share on what actually happened? 

There was a lot of commitment issues, some of the players want to focus on their life and etc.

What do you feel of the decision now that you've all actually came this far. 7 weeks playing together is indeed quite a long period of time. Do you have any regrets joining the team? 

I was excited when I first rejoin PaX. In the beginning, the team had tight training schedules to qualify into TLC. However, training is not as usual after that. The only thing I feel sad is that I cannot play in the TLC Playoffs coming this 21st - 22nd; which is one of the largest e-sport event in Malaysia.

Any ups and down that you can share that you have in the team? 

Winning strong team in scrims are definitely the ups 

Paradox Gaming had been doing quite well early in the TLC Season (Dropping games against only KTHXBAI and Kuala Lumpur Hunters. However, mid-season there's a drop in your games to other teams. Any possible reason of that happening? 

It's probably due to the lack of training after the Week 2. While the other teams started becoming stronger and stronger, we did not train as hard. In fact, after losing to KTHXBAI for the 2nd time (Week 6), we knew that we will not be able to get into the TLC Playoffs, thus we just played for fun after that match. 

Now that it have come into this stage, what are your future plans in the League of Legends scene? Are you going to continue being active in the Malaysian LoL Scene? 

I will continue playing and hopefully get into Kuala Lumpur Hunters one day. I have TeddyTibbers as my life guide.

Anything else you want to tell the readers or the supporters of Paradox Gaming before you take your leave? 

Sorry for not securing Top 2 =(

Courteousy of TLC.Garena Malaysia

Finally, thanks for the time that Ozora Veki had spent in conducting the interview. We thank all the readers and fine supporters of the e-sports community in Malaysia. To Ozora Veki, we wish you all the best in your upcoming days in the League of Legends Malaysian scene!


-JVC