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

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