SoulStrikes played one game for the ill-fated Hellions team. But he was primarily there as a “live-in coach”. This was among the first of its kind for Oceania, as gaming houses were still incredibly new and basically nobody got to experience a live-in coach situation until SoulStrikes. SoulStrikes came to the role in Hellions after journeying to Korea and having an eye-opening experience there that showed him just how much more there was to peak esports than just playing the game.

He brought his experience teaching people from tutoring into the role and got involved on a face-to-face basis for basically the first time in Oceania. The proximity made the role “easier to fix problems” but the challenge of the players wanting to improve was still very much “up to the players themselves if they want the change or not. For example they can play more solo queue, but if they don’t then it’s out of my control. I can’t go grab a belt or something, right? But it really depends on the player. Some are easy to work with, for example Frae. He was definitely one of the easier members of Hellions to work with. It just depends on the player’s passion and how much they want it.”

To be battle-tested with a struggling team is a great way to show what you can bring to the table as a coach. After the initial time with the Hellions SoulStrikes joined the cast for the Wildcard portion of the 2016 MSI broadcast, where he spent time with Tim “Carbon” Wendel, then-captain of Legacy. Carbon picked up on SoulStrikes’ eye for the game and approach to coaching and brought the uncontracted SoulStrikes into Legacy for the second split of 2016. SoulStrikes believes he had a couple of key advantages that he could bring to a team, commenting that he thought he “brought a lot of general structure…in how League of Legends should be played.” This came from watching LCK “in Korean, so I had a lot of information outside Oceania that I could translate into English so I think I had a good grasp of how the game should be played”

The important backdrop to this time in 2016, both on Hellions was the relative novelty of gaming houses. Riot’s leaguewide support for gaming houses commenced in 2017, so this was a time of experimentation and learning for all involved, especially the organisations themselves. For all its benefits, it also added a unique layer of challenge. SoulStrikes said of it “the first year in a gaming house for everyone, pretty much. So everyone was learning together, it was a slow learning curve for everyone since gaming houses were very new in OCE.”

The other challenge that one might have identified was Carbon’s role as the authority figure in Legacy – how would the dynamic be with Carbon having to cede some of “his turf” to a new authority figure in SoulStrikes? That turned out to be a non-issue, owing in no small part to Carbon’s experience in traditional sports and his general maturity levels. “When (Carbon) was a player he knew his role was to learn from me as a coach. He understands that and he wanted to learn, so it was very easy. And he’s a very genuine guy and he had passion to learn so it was very easy to work with him.

Coming in to Legacy meant that SoulStrikes’ initial mission was to show that they could be more than just the perennial bridesmaids Legacy had been since the OPL’s commencement. However that all changed with the rise of the Dire Wolves and now Legacy faced a new, more open landscape. Considering that each of the last two seasons Legacy has had to rebuild its roster with three or more new players, it hasn’t been the easiest of paths for a coach. “It is difficult to aim for the top straight away with the new roster. Last year was meant to be the rebuilding year but four of our players left so the game this year has become like the rebuilding year. Going for the top though, I still have that in my mind. I’m a very competitive guy and I want to win the OPL. So I still aim for that, but I’m going through it step by step with the team instead of reaching straight away.”

One benefit that Legacy have had each of the past two years with their new rosters is the ability to attend international competition in the form of Rift Rivals. SoulStrikes said that international experience is invaluable for a new team looking to gel together: “International experience, especially for our bottom lane and our jungler who’ve never played on a big international stage. Especially the (Rift Rivals) finals as they’ve never played in front of a crowd before.” I asked him, having coached at Rift Rivals both overseas and this year on home soil if it was better, worse, or no different for the team to get the international experience from the comforts of home but he downplayed the significance of it – at least so far as development as players long-term is concerned. “I don’t think there’s any downside to this. I believe that any game outside of OPL is really good experience. Especially if it’s a Riot event. This Rift Rivals has been a really big experience for everyone in the team.”

Armed with this insight into how SoulStrikes likes to operate a team and the experiences he’s had informs one rather a lot about the kind of coach that he is and how he likes to lead his teams. There’s a lot to take in about the impact that he’s had on his players, and the way he’s driven by ambition. And for all the success he’s had and is yet to come with Legacy, it doesn’t just end there. When I asked him what his goals were for this squad he commented that his “current goal is to win the OPL. Into the future if I do stay in Legacy, I would love to (build on the) roster stability, but my personal goal is to coach in the LCK one day and then maybe even come back to Oceania or go overseas.”

This would be an incredible journey, were it to happen. To be able to take the coaching dream full-circle from where it first germinated in SoulStrikes’ mind when he was in Korea those handful of years ago would be a remarkable culmination of reflection, learning, teaching, all the things that make a coach the person that they are today. With this in mind my final question to SoulStrikes was simple:

“Through your journey coaching what has SoulStrikes learned about Luchio Park?”

With a knowing chuckle that had come from the heart of someone who was familiar with this reflection he responded confidently. “That I’m still learning about myself as a coach. I can get really passionate sometimes when I’m coaching but I feel like Luchio and SoulStrikes are two different people for me and…yeah…Everyone that I’ve coached in the past has helped me learn myself as SoulStrikes. It makes me really appreciate everyone that I’ve worked with.”

With a thank you to the fans of both himself and Legacy, we wrapped things up there. SoulStrikes can be softly spoken but his words come with them the passion that you can often see in his movements when he’s gesturing in the draft phase, communicating plans to his team.

Should we find him in the LCK we’ll know that all of his experiences, from the lowly Hellions to the heights of his two stage finals will have shaped and sculpted a coach who knows the game inside and out, and a Leader of People who may one day represent the best export Oceania will have ever produced.

It’s the first split of 2017. Only has been thrust into what could be modestly described as a complicated situation, playing for Tainted Minds in the aftermath of the departure of their North American contingent. The Praedyth-Only-Wzrd-Squidgy quartet had, while rotating through a cast of supports dropped three games on the bounce, hardly surprising in the circumstances. They may have been behind they eight-ball forming team synergy and adapting to the level of competition in the OPL on the fly, but Only explained that they had every support of the organisation going through this process:

“When the NA players left, they brought up the OCS team immediately. And I guess they felt they had a need to make up for all the bad that had been done. So, they were maybe even too nice to me as a brand-new player cos they wanted to, y’know, make sure the players were happy from here on. So, they were extremely nice to me. It was actually just a perfect first experience into the OPL.”

In week 9 they went head-to-head with Exile 5 who were also winless and not without problems of their own. Only and Exile 5’s jungler Guts would go blow-for-blow, trading the first two games with dominant performances in their own roles. This is the kind of display that Only put out to show off his more mechanical prowess to the OPL audience who hadn’t yet seen this style. As he grew into the pro jungler of today, we’ve seen a more mature and patient style evolve to complement this raw mechanical ability. Only credits the journey he’s had to take to get to the top as an important contributor to this development, saying “I think time is experience…it really has helped me become more patient because I know what it took me to get to where I am now.”

One of the things that any pro player learns with this kind of experience is how to be a good teammate. Having fun with your team, even in the smallest of ways, or where things aren’t going so well can make all the difference when critical matches roll around. While on Tainted Minds, Only played with Joshua “Wzrd” Russell, someone I had experience with and knew to be a great teammate. Somewhat indulgently, I asked Only for a good Wzrd story and found out that neither player was shy to a bit of good-natured banter. Laughing, Only recalled:

“Okay firstly Wzrd is one of the nicest players I’ve ever played with, for sure. On stage before OPL we were playing a mid-lane 1v1 and there was a bit of banter. …I won’t lie he was trash talking me that I couldn’t play mid… and I’m like “I’m pretty sure I can beat you” …we were just going back and forth. It was Viktor vs Orianna and he tried to do the thing on Orianna where you ult and then you flash on top of the enemy so you get the really quick combo. He completely whiffed it and was screaming ‘NO I missed it!’ And I just killed him for free, it was the funniest thing.”

His time with the Tainted Minds organisation ended with an unfortunate 0-10 season and a 1-14 overall record with the team. You would not blame a player for being worried that being part of a losing team would damage his future chances of landing with an org (pour one out for Impaired) regardless of how the player had performed individually. This wasn’t the case for Only, however as he had “multiple teams” asking him “what are your plans for next season?” Teams had done their due diligence and realised that this was a player worth considering for the future. The team that secured his services for the beginning of 2018 was perennial OPL Placegetters in Avant Gaming.

Experiences like the fun pregame moment with Wzrd would go to serve Only well with Avant. He said that his time on Avant was “like family, to be honest. I was really, really close to all of the players. Even before I had joined the team”. Only went from strength to strength on Avant as he really blossomed within that environment. Unfortunately, the team fell just short of their goals, falling 3-2 to Legacy in the first round of the gauntlet – a mark that Avant had reached and fallen at the last two times. Only commented that despite there being only three carry-over members from the prior Avant rosters (bottom lane players Blinky, Jayke and coach Charlie Wraith) that the loss still hurt bitterly. “When you in yourself don’t succeed and you see the people that you love and care about don’t succeed, it sucks. Like, it really does suck.” Despite that low feeling, he credits the family-like environment within Avant as being important to how they managed to rebound and prepare for the next go-around with the team. At the same time, it’s probably the best team to lose with because we picked each other up. They picked me up and I did the same for them. It was a really hard loss in the moment. But it didn’t take long for us to pick ourselves back up together and decide “Boys, it’s okay…next time.”

“It feels like I have two junglers watching over my shoulder at the same time, which is incredible.”
Only, on having Carbon and Soulstrikes on staff for Legacy

But next time would never materialize for that set of five players and their coach. Avant would make the call to make a substitution at their bottom lane position. And then Only would heed the call of the trees, as Legacy came knocking. Despite toppling Only and his Avant squad in that gauntlet match, they were impressed enough to bring him into the fold to replace Sybol from their squad. It would be a drastic change from the friendship-based Avant squad, or from his early experiences with Tainted Minds, an organisation who has their background in FPS games. Only remarked on how much he had found himself growing in this new system backed by the support of the Adelaide Football Club, commenting “It’s very structured, very serious…I find myself learning a lot more and it’s really easy to focus on the game. All the other small things about living in the house, living with teammates is already done for you, it’s already there and it’s very structured.”

Only’s Mum has a message for Korea and the OPL

The AFC backing of Legacy is not the only support Only gets in his new scene though, as head coach Luchio “Soulstrikes” Park and former long-time captain of Legacy Tim “Carbon” Wendel are both accomplished OPL junglers before they moved on to their current roles, giving a wealth of high-quality advice to Only. “It feels like I have two junglers watching over my shoulder at the same time, which is incredible.” He went on to say “It’s actually huge. Luchio and Carbon have more to say to me than anyone on the team, which as the newest player on the roster is fun. It’s a huge help.”

With the help of Carbon and Soulstrikes, the backing of the Legacy machine, and the experience that Only has gotten in his 8-year playing history (2 years striving to be competitive), we may have seen his transformation as a player. From the raw talent that tried to win matches solely with mechanics like that match against Exile 5 what feels like so long ago into the controlling, well-rounded player we saw on the Rift Rivals stage. But this is Only the beginning, and if he’s grown this much in a little over twelve months, his future remains incredibly bright.

Follow Only’s journey in the OPL when Legacy faces off against Avant Gaming tomorrow night, Saturday 14th of July at 8pm on Twitch.

Follow Only on Twitter:  @JordayMD

5: Mineski pick up a double kill in bot against the Chiefs, with the kills going on to Gari.
4: Ascension turn around a fight on Legacy and ace them, with Rockky and Lloyd picking up multiple kills.
3: The Armoured Titan, the Rock in the Top, the MVP of the tournament, Swip3rR gets a full feature on Mundo.
2: Ry0ma picks up a PENTAKILL against Mineski in the deciding game of the tournament.
1: In a monumental effort, captain of Legacy Claire single-handedly saves the game for Oceania.

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I’m here with Spawn and EGym after Game 1. Unfortunate loss for the OPL. What was your quick reaction?

Bryce “EGym” Paule: I’m honestly surprised. Coming into the day, I think Mineski were good but they were untested vs the seed 1 and 2 teams. Dire Wolves absolutely romped over group stage. They had some rough early games but to see them get completely owned from level 2 onwards was certainly a surprise.

Jake “Spawn” Tiberi: I’m a little bit less surprised because I thought Mineski of the South East Asian teams had the best grasp on the meta. And I think that the reason Dire Wolves and Chiefs looked very comfortable in their group performances is when they also played around the meta. But I thought that how they were going to be tested into that similar style of composition isn’t actually determined by individual outplay. It’s determined by how well your team plays together and how decisive you are on your team fight moments. And Mineski, the entire time, looked decisive. I mean, you don’t have to outplay anyone on Fiddlesticks or Swain to be able to win a teamfight. So I think the fact that just given that they were so aggressive and willing to take the fight to the Dire Wolves had them in pretty good stead.

I was intending to ask this question to you before even game one started, but now it looks like revisionist history. Would you guys have also led with the Dire Wolves for game 1 or would you have gone with another of the teams?

EGym: I think I would have gone with the Dire Wolves straight off the bat. I think starting off with momentum in a best-of-series. This is blind with multiple teams competing so having momentum for your region. Like, having coming in as maybe the third seed and a 0-2 would be very rough. So I think leading with Dire Wolves is OK.

Spawn: Yeah I think I would have done the opposite. I think I would have gone LGC-CHF-DW-DW-CHF. You want your best team to play back-to-back games so they have momentum going into the second game so I think that there is a little bit of mind games going on here. If you go down 0-2 sure that sucks but they have to have at some stage trust that someone is going to take a game otherwise we just lose this competition. So I think that Dire Wolves coming in at 3 and 4 would have been the right call.

Dire Wolves have historically been a fairly resilient team. Obviously they reverse-swept in the finals of split 1. How do you think this loss will affect them, where will there be any troubles bouncing back?

Spawn: Yeah, I don’t think they’ll really care. The best thing about the Dire Wolves is that they view the game really black and white and they can compartmentalise different parts of the game. Shern would say “I got shut out very early. I got forced off of first red buff, had to start Rift Scuttler. That isn’t how I want to play and I couldn’t get any aggression going.” so he’ll probably eat a lot of the blame. They are very good at going “I just won’t do that again.” I think that in a standard game against Ascension or KLH they should still be the favourite.

EGym: I agree for the most part. From my experience they have that TSM-like mentality where Shernfire will go back and say “I got shut out, I couldn’t do anything.” The fact that they just go back and immediately will say “This is the problem, etc etc” and then they can reset I think the resilience will show.

We thank Spawn and EGym both for speaking with us time. Follow them both on Twitter:
– @Spawnlol
– @EGymLoL

As we publish this, Legacy have just won the second game in this already hectic blind relay. Tune in on Twitch right now to see if OCE’s hopes stay alive.

Photo credit: @OPL on Twitter

5: The Dire Wolves finish the game against Pentagram, coming back from a sizable deficit.
4: Steal goes big on Kai’Sa for DetonatioN FocusMe, picking up a triple kill and breaking the base.
3: It’s Evi’s turn representing in the Top 5 for DFM, slicing KLH up on Camille to end the game.
2: Chiefs support Destiny comes up huge in the pit on Alistar with a massive combo.
1: The Chiefs are back again at number 1, with Swip3rR picking up a solo kill on one side of the map, and Raes picking up a quadra on the other.

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5: Claire is unstoppable for Legacy, picking up multiple kills before ending the game.
4: OzoraVeki puts the Kuala Lumpur Hunters on his back and plays out of his mind before ending the game.
3: The Dire Wolves turn around an engage from DetonatioN FocusMe, and take the baron for themselves.
2: On Kled yet again Swip3rR is massive and the Chiefs end the game.
1: In dominating fashion, K1ng picks up a Quadra Kill on Swain against Ascension.

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SEA has a lot to prove this year.

With SEA’s solo carry from last year’s Rift Rivals in the Gigabyte Marines no longer being part of the region, the other nations from South-East Asia will have to dig deep and fight hard if they want to find any success in Sydney during Rift Rivals 2018.

The SEA region has always been the oddball, with the old GPL being considered more as a Champions league-esque event, which the best of the best from a number of national leagues coming together to fight it out in a short, but packed tournament to determine who will be representing the region internationally. The SEA region has had two dominant national leagues, the Taiwanese/Hong Kong/Macau LMS, and more recently the Vietnamese VCS graduate out of the region and become their own fully fledged independent regional leagues which grant their own international spots.

The new SEA tour, replacing the GPL, has not yet started, with the qualifiers for the National qualifiers currently taking place. Ascension Gaming, Kuala Lumpur Hunters, and Mineski were automatically granted spots to their respective national qualifiers, which means Rift Rivals is the first time we have seen the three SEA representatives play this split.

Mineski (Philippines)

Mineski is a fan favourite in both the SEA region and around the world, most well known for their appearance in the group stage of the Season 3 World Championship. Mineski has been around South-East Asia and the Philippines throughout the years since, pumping out consistent highly rated results in the GPL, as well as 3 national titles in the Philippines.

The roster still retains a core of the Season 3 Worlds lineup in top laner Kaigu, mid laner Exosen and support Tgee, complemented with Korean jungler Jjun, as well as Korean bot laner Gari. they are also supported by their active 6th man in Hamezz. He is able to sub into every single role, and has brought change and thrown chaos into the game whenever he has been subbed  in.

Mineski had essentially a perfect split in the Philippines, with a 7-0 regular season, in which they only dropped three games They then steamrolled through the playoffs, achieving two 3-0s on their way to claiming the Filipino championship. In the GPL they started off strong, tieing for the top of the group with a 3-1 scoreline, but were set back in the semis with a 3-1 loss to the Kuala Lumpur Hunters. They were able to redeem themselves in the minor final however, defeating the Singaporean Champion’s Sovereign in a 3-0 to claim 3rd place and the last spot at Rift Rivals for South-East Asia. They will be hoping to support their region in their bid to win and become the champions of the ocean.

Kuala Lumpur Hunters (Malaysia)

The Kuala Lumpur Hunters have been a mainstay of both the GPL and the Malaysian league, having attended all 14 seasons of the GPL, as well as winning 6 Malaysian championships in a row. The Malay lineup consists of top laner Shiro, long standing jungler QaspieL, mid laner ArrHedge, bot laner OzoraVeki, and support SOUPerior, who has recently rejoined the team after an 18 month hiatus from league.

The team has struggled to find success in the GPL throughout the years, finding it impossible to break the barrier of 3rd/4th place until this last april, where they steamrolled Mineski 3-1 in the semis, before losing 1-3 to Ascension in the final. This will be the first time that the KL hunters have competed at a Riot international event, and will want to make a great first impressions to those outside the SEA region.

Ascension Gaming (Indonesia)

Ascension Gaming are the number one representative for SEA and the back to back to back champion of Thailand. Their roster has a core of former Bangkok Titan players (yes the very same Bangkok Titans that defeated The Chiefs 3-1 at the IWC Turkey Final in 2015 to claim a place at Worlds): including mid laner G4, and bot laner Lloyd, flanked by top laner Rockky, support Rich and newly acquired starting jungler Delpain.

This roster is by far one of the strongest in both Thailand as well as South-East Asia, dropping only 3 games, 1 in Thailand and 2 in the GPL on their way to claiming the last GPL title. After a relatively poor showing at MSI, being tied for last in Group A of the Play-In stages with a record of 2-4, Ascension want to prove they have what it takes to win big internationally.

The Pacific Rift Rivals tournament between South-East Asia’s SEA Tour, Japan’s LJL and Oceania’s OPL continues with the last day of group stages tonight!

One of these regions will be eliminated at the end of the night, and with the competition being tight, everyone is still in the firing line. You can catch the action over on Twitch.

5: The Dire Wolves’ Cupcake and BioPanther pull off a massive combo and decimate KLH
4: Gari on Kai’Sa pops off for Mineski, wiping USG and picking up the baron.
3: YutoriMoyasi puts on his Lucian dancing shoes, kiting around Ascension in a 1v3.
2: Against the Chiefs, Ceros from Detonation Focusme cleans up the fight on Irelia.
1: Raes teleports under the nexus of DFM and somehow comes out on top in a 1v2.

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Representing Oceania we have first seed the Dire Wolves, second seed The Chiefs and third seed Legacy Esports. These teams have been powerhouses in the league since its inception however this split has proved interesting to say the least. Being 4 weeks into the split Oceania has shown some interesting compositions and certainly not being afraid to try new strategies. Patches 8.11 and 8.12 have thrown a spanner in the works in the most entertaining way for audiences and it’s shaken up the region’s rankings.

While some teams have chosen to embrace the meta quickly choosing unconventional picks and strategies like funneling methods and almost waving goodbye to traditional ADC’s, other teams have lagged behind. The roster changes across the OPL between splits and the new patch has resulted in teams that previously sat at the bottom of the ladder rising up and taking matches off the best teams in the region showing that this is truly anyone’s meta.

Due to region proximity this is a rare occasion for the OPL teams to compete against international teams outside boot camps during the off-season. The other regions are in proximity to other servers like the Korean and Chinese servers which affords a luxury that the geographically isolated region of the OPL cannot experience. Let’s look at the three teams hoping to take home the trophy for OPL’s first victory in Rift Rivals history.

Legacy Esports

Legacy Esports has been the trunk of Oceania since its inception in 2014. Recently, the organisation was acquired by AFL club the Adelaide Crows, which was the first major move into esports from the traditional sporting world in Australia. Throughout the history of the OPL, Legacy have been a consistent Top 5 team, although they are finding it hard in this new meta to get series wins in the OPL.

Carbon’s prodigy Only will look to pop off this tournament as he has shown some promise in the jungle for Legacy so far this split. Claire is their remaining branch from the days of ex-players Carbon and Tally, and is truly a force to be reckoned with. He has experience and a wide champion pool. Raid and Decoy are an efficient and interesting bot lane duo who aren’t afraid of spicing it up with new picks like Vladimir. However they tend to stay more traditional with Decoy well known for hard engage supports like Braum and Alistair.

The Chiefs

The Chiefs Esports Club are the legends of Oceania. Although they lost their mid laner and jungler at the beginning of the year to ORDER, as well as EGym to casting, their new and seemingly improved line up has shown progress in keeping the Chiefs firmly in the top 2 of the leaderboard. They brought in rookie jungler Babip, former Sin mid laner Ry0ma, and veteran support Destiny. Babip is showing to be the key pick up here, his ability and skills are phenomenal in the jungle, making him a true terror on the rift.

Though in the last week they suffered an unfortunate loss to Tectonic, the team that has in the last few weeks come out of nowhere from the bottom of the standings to take series from some of the strongest teams.  They have the rock in the top lane Swip3rR to keep the traditional Chiefs mentality alive and hopefully this roster will see Chiefs finally seeing success on the world stage.

Dire Wolves

The Wolf Pack have been on fire since acquiring Shernfire at the beginning of 2017. They’ve taken all 3 national titles since and have represented the OPL at Worlds as well as 2 Mid Season Invitationals. With a minor roster shake up between the splits, replacing top laner Chippys after an underwhelming MSI performance, they have started off Split 2 strong, currently topping the OPL standings.

Shernfire has been the heart and soul of the team since entering, showing consistent performances and being a strong in game leader. In the top lane, they have the rookie BioPanther, who entered the OPL with a bang after shining in the OCS. Triple in the mid lane has also shown strength, being a rock for Oceania at MSI when the rest of the team crumbled, but Shernfire takes his solo laners to the next level. The traditionalist bot lane has ADC  K1ng and support Cupcake to round out this unstoppable composition.

Oceania’s representatives are looking like firm favourites to hoist the Rift Rivals trophy and it will be great for the region to finally take a win on the world stage in front of a home crowd. With some strong contenders and fierce competition, it is likely to be 4 days amazing games between these regions and some entertaining and chaotic team compositions to watch as we’ve already seen.

Rift Rivals continues tonight for day 2 of the Group Stage, with OPL’s Legacy Esports facing up against the LJL’s Unsold Stuff Gaming at 5pm AEST on Twitch.

Japan have a lot on the line at this year’s Rift Rivals.

Returning as defending champions, they bring the exact same teams from last year’s competition to Sydney this year. Unsold Stuff Gaming, DetonatioN FocusMe and Pentagram all qualified from the LJL, with all 3 teams bringing massive amounts of domestic and international pedigree to the table.

The League of Legends Japan League (LJL) is Japan’s Premier LoL competition. 6 teams play against each other in a double round robin to determine the best team in the land of the rising sun. While there have been some wacky compositions – as we’ve seen from League globally recently – USG and Pentagram like to stick to the traditional stuff, often running marksmen to play through their team’s strong point in bot lane. DetonatioN FocusMe have been a lot more experimental in their team comps however, running Ryze, Morde and Vlad bot instead of traditional AD Carries. With Rift Rivals being played on the 8.13 patch with the reworked Aatrox enabled, something not seen anywhere else yet this year, we might see some more adaptation from the defending champions.

Unsold Stuff Gaming

This name should be at least a little bit familiar to Oceania fans. Legacy brought Mimic over from USG to play in 2018, while Mammoth’s mid laner REMIND played for USG at Rift Rivals 2017. Unsold Stuff Gaming has been around since 2015, having qualified for the LJL through the Challenger Tournament. While the team has no LJL titles to their name, they were part of the 2017 Rift Rivals squad, and have secured 3 LJL 3rd places over their history.

USG have a bit of international experience on their lineup. Bot laner Gango played for China’s Vici Gaming and Unlimited Potential in the past, being a part of their LSPL and LPL campaigns from 2015 to 2017. Gango is also arguably the best ADC in the region, performing outstandingly in Spring Split. apaMEN and Enty were both selected for Japan’s Asian Games team, and while the team didn’t qualify for the major tournament (after all, they had China and Korea in their group), having the experience representing your country internationally is big.

Jungler Tussle was a part of the Rampage squad who represented Japan in 2017 at MSI and Worlds. He also has 4 LJL titles under his belt from his time on Rampage. Mid laner Gariaru rounds out the USG lineup, who is a quiet performer on the team just starting to find his stride in the LJL after replacing veteran REMIND late last year.

USG finished the LJL Spring Split with a 6-4 record, falling to Rampage in playoffs. They have started their Summer Split campaign 1-1, but have yet to play against either DetonatioN FocusMe or Pentagram in the tournament. The rival matchup between Mimic and his old team will be one to watch on Tuesday, when USG take on Legacy in what is sure to be a grudge match. Although USG might not pack as much fire power as the other two representatives, you cannot discount them. After all, they are the defending champions of Rift Rivals.

DetonatioN FocusMe

DetonatioN FocusMe is a long standing name in Japanese Esports. The organisation has been around since 2013, before the LJL existed. When the LJL was incepted in 2014, they quickly rose to the most dominant force in Japanese League, having won 5 LJL Grand Finals, and 7 LJL Minor Premierships.

DFM boasts arguably the most experienced roster at this year’s Rift Rivals. Mid laner Ceros and Bot laner Yutapon have been a part of the organisation since 2013, with the latter having played Top and Bot for the team at various times. Steal has previous LCK experience, jungling for KT Rolster in the 2016 Kespa Cup and Pathos during their Champions Korea campaign.

Top laner Evi was part of Japan’s Asian Games team for this year, as well as Rampage’s (now Pentagram) successful LJL campaigns last year which saw the team qualify for Worlds. Support viviD played in Champions Korea back in 2015, as well as having international experience with DFM at the 2016 IWCI.

They’ve been on the same dominating form in 2018 heading into Rift Rivals. During Spring Split this year, they went 10-0 in their series, only dropping 3 games along the way. While they got swept in Pentagram in the playoffs and missed out on a MSI spot, they have bounced back. Currently, they are undefeated in the current Summer Split, beating Pentagram and Crest Gaming in swift 2-0’s. With all this talent and form, SEA and OCE must be very wary of the Japanese super stars, who aren’t even the LJL’s first seed.

Pentagram

That title of LJL’s first seed goes to Pentagram. Fans might know Pentagram from the Mid Season Invitational, or by their previous name Rampage. Their last international performance was against Dire Wolves, where they took down the Oceania Champions in decisive fashion in their final game. The organisation has been around since 2013 under various names, taking out 3 LJL Grand Finals and 2 Minor Premierships.

YutoriMoyashi is the team’s most respected player, having played a part in Japan’s Asian Games campaign as their Bot laner. Paz, the team’s top laner, has played 3 different roles in competitive League over his 3 year career, and has titles under his belt as a jungler and top laner. Ramune is also a playoffs genius, having won every final he’s been a part of (3 LJL finals and 2017 Rift Rivals).

Support player Gaeng is relatively new to the scene, having an LSPL campaign under his belt from 2016, before returning to competitive League for Spring Split this year for Pentagram. Jungler Once also has international experience, playing for BPZ in their Champions Korea campaign in 2017, falling just short of qualifying. He also played for Hong Kong Attitude in the LMS last year, substituting in for 2 games.

Back home in the LJL, their 2018 season got off to a rough start. They were forced to surrender 5 games in the Spring Split due to the organisation withholding ex-players Dara and Tussle’s residency cards. However, they bounced back, coming 2nd with a 6-4 record and sweeping DFM in the finals to qualify for MSI. DFM have beaten them so far in the Summer Split, with the team sitting 4th with a 1-1 record so far. However, with their current roster coming off the back of 3 international tournaments in a row, their experience will be crucial in Japan’s title defending hopes.

The Pacific Rift Rivals Tournament between South East Asia’s GPL, Japan’s LJL and Oceania’s OPL starts today! You can catch the action over on Twitch.