Semifinals Part 1 - Tutorials and Tandems
Brioso
League of Legends Glossary
- Last hitting – In multiple MOBAs including League of Legends, bonus Gold is awarded when a player lands the killing blow on a minion. In League, successful last hits on minions or neutral monsters are classified as Creep Score (CS) and are often a measure on how opposing players compare in terms of Gold and Experience.
- CC – Short for Crowd Control, this is a MOBA term for any debuff applied to enemies, including stuns and slows. It is a common tactic to coordinate chaining of CC effects to lock up one or more enemies )
- Ahri – A champion in League of Legends. A mobile ranged mage and assassin, she was released to celebrate the launch of League's Korean server and is based on the gumiho – a 9-tailed fox in Korean myth who can change into a beautiful woman easily able to charm men (similar to the Japanese kitsune.) Her Classic (default) skin takes her dance emote from Run Devil Run, while her Popstar skin takes her dance emote from Genie and also has her outfit inspired by the naval uniform that the group wears in the music video.
As the quarterfinals finished and attention started turning to the semifinals, we were pleasantly surprised to see that fans were still buzzing about what we had accomplished. Never before had a North American team beaten a Korean one in a Worlds playoff, and now we'd done it against the defending champions on Korean soil and finished with a perfect game. Not only that, but we'd managed to secure two members of the nation's girl group as fans (albeit two who were originally from our region), who'd dared to pick us in the quarterfinals and been proven right.
As we contined our semfinal preparation, we couldn't help but try to gauge the level of our support in Korea relative to the remaining teams (and Girls' Generation helped by sharing what they knew from talking to others – for example, Sunny was getting calls about Worlds on Sunny FM Date.) What we found was another pleasant surprise: as Hai said, any Korean fans who weren't cheering for Samsung White first tended to be cheering for us.
An interesting situation came up as the weekend drew near after Taeyeon sent Hai another text:
Dear Hai,
If the nine of us are going to support you seriously, I think we had better know just what we're watching so we can properly appreciate what you do. Is it okay if you give those of us who aren't too familiar with League of Legends a tutorial as only you can? I'm open to suggestions as to where. 4:00 PM on Thursday should work well since none of us has a schedule for that afternoon.
-Tae
We took up the teaching/coaching challenge with gusto and all signed off on Hai's response. We then started to makesure our Fraser Place base was presentable, because the response read,
Dear Tae noona,
Absolutely! We'd love to. Our base at Fraser Place should work just fine so we're not disturbed or eavesdropped on. The only things you should need are headsets.
-Hai
All nine Soshis arrived on Thursday afternoon at least five minutes beforehand. When asking each of them about their gaming experience and how much they watched or knew League, we found that aside from Jessica and Tiffany having watched us in the NA LCS and then in person in our Worlds quarterfinal (to say nothing of Jessica spending the week leading up to that quarterfinal with us, including watching us scrim), Sunny had played a bit and Taeyeon had some well-documented experience in E-Sport games, albeit mostly in StarCraft (which I was also a fan of.) Sunny thus gave us a hand with helping explain the basics before we took charge on some of the finer points such as vision.
"I know we all agree, though – there's no learning like hands-on learning." Hai said. "But we're not going to put you into 5v5s or even 1v1s just yet – we'll make this a challenge for us too. Let's do 2v2s but with four players each." Hai said.
"How are we going to do that?" LemonNation asked.
"Two players per champion – one handles the keyboard and the other handles the mouse. I've heard of some players doing it – they call it tandem mode." Hai responded.
Not even any of the players had done it before, so we were all curious to see how we would handle that challenge. We quickly agreed that there would be at most one pro per pair on each champion (given that there were nine Soshis and seven C9 players, we couldn't go one-for-one across the board.) Once we got everything sorted out, we decided it would be Tiffany, Jessica, Aurora and me first up against Yoona, Sooyoung, Meteos and Sneaky, followed by Taeyeon, Seohyun, Hyoyeon and Hai against Sunny, Yuri, Balls and LemonNation.
As we split into our quartets to quickly discuss picks and strategy, I noticed that all of us quickly decided that wherever possible, the C9 player in the duo should be the one on the mouse, because that person by himself or herself could handle targeting (which would include last hitting for farming and lining up skillshots) and movement. We also used the 2v2 rules that had been established at All-Star Shanghai the previous year – Howling Abyss, with the winner being the first to two kills, first to 100 combined CS or the first to destroy an enemy turret. The only difference was that we had no bans (so blind pick as opposed to blind draft) since some of the Soshis were still very new.
"Wonder if we should just set the tone and pick Ahri and Syndra." Aurora said with a grin as the four of us went off by ourselves, having agreed on a bit of time to discuss and prepare before we got underway.
"That would be good! You know, in the past week, Tiff and I have had people asking if we've started to play and have definitely suggested Syndra and especially Ahri because they've got our dances." Jessica said. "But honestly, I'd rather pick Ashe in this case. One, it'll give us an AD champion with some CC who can easily get kills, and two, I am the Ice Princess, after all."
We all smiled and laughed, and Aurora said, "'AD' and 'CC' - you really have been spending too much time around us, Sica unnie. But I do like that. So, Carlo, who do you and Fany unnie take?"
"I've got a good feeling about Ahri." Tiffany answered.
"Yeah, while both could work, I definitely am more comfortable personally with Ahri than with Syndra. One more thing, Fany noona - Classic or Popstar? Or, should I say, Run Devil Run or Genie?"
"Classic today." Tiffany replied. "I'm in something of a Run Devil Run mood."
We smiled again at that and then temporarily split into our tandems so Jessica and Tiffany could ask us individual questions.
"Okay. Could you give me one tip or bit of feedback on each of the abilities? We'll start with Orb of Deception." Tiffany asked, sitting down and putting her hands in ready positions on the keyboard and tapping the Q key with her little finger.
"Sure!" I said, as I also took a seat and got ready on the mouse. "It's good if you can also connect with it on the way back because it deals true damage on the return, meaning it ignores Magic Resistance."
"Got it. How about Fox Fire?" She asked, now tapping the W key with her ring finger.
"Save it for last hitting and when we're up close." I replied.
"Okay. Now, Charm...this is obviously the one we want to hit if we can, right?" She asked, now tapping E with her middle finger.
"Oh, absolutely. Hitting that makes it so much easier to go aggressive and also can knock an enemy champion out of a fight." I agreed
"And finally, the ultimate." She finished, now tapping R with her index finger.
"Don't use the last Spirit Rush dash offensively unless you're confident you can help secure a kill with it or unless you've got another escape mechanism like Flash or Hourglass." I answered.
She nodded and smiled. "Thanks! Let's lock in and get them, shall we?"
"You bet." I responded. "Let's get on the same chat as Jessica and Aurora..."
We routinely used Skype for our voice communications while streaming, so we plugged both headsets for each tandem into a Y-adapter and connected it to the PC. Once we had it working, Aurora said, "We need to watch each other - if we land Enchanted Crystal Arrow or Charm, try following up with the other just before that effect expires."
"Oh, the CC chain technique you work on regularly?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah, that." Aurora replied.
As we loaded in, we saw that Yoona and Sneaky were playing as Varus while Sooyoung and Meteos were playing as Karma. This meant we had to deal with a lot of poke between Piercing Arrow and Inner Flame, but luckily, they were grouped up right as both of us hit Level 6 and unlocked ultimates. Jessica and Aurora didn't hesitate, firing the Ashe ultimate and catching both of our opponents simultaneously.
"Nice! Okay, let's line up the Charm..." Tiffany said, poising her middle finger over the E key.
"Yeah, let's get Varus." I said. "Now."
Tiffany hit E to fire the Charm, and it landed to keep Varus unable to deal damage.
"Nice!" Jessica and Aurora yelled, while Aurora added, "Focus him down!"
"Got 'em!" I yelled, as Tiffany let fly.
It thankfully didn't take long for us to burst down Varus. Aurora then called, "Nice one! Watch out, Karma's gonna use Inspire and try to get away!"
"We've got one Spirit Rush left, so let them try." Tiffany responded with a grin.
I quickly nodded and lined up the mouse cursor towards Karma. Tiffany triggered the last one before cooldown, forcing Meteos and Sooyoung to use their Flash to get a little space. It wasn't enough, though, as we landed the Charm, and Jessica and Aurora were able to catch up and add more damage to make even more certain that we secured the match-winning second kill.
"Yes!" Tiffany cheered, jumping out of her seat as we all high-fived each other.
"Whoo!" Aurora shouted.
We then went over to our opponents, who met us halfway.
"Good game." Sneaky said, shaking our hand. "Holy s**t, my butthole."
"Oh, because you clenched so much after they jumped on us?" Yoona asked, shaking our hands and laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, we'll leave it at that tonight." Sneaky said, chuckling.
"Holy s**t, Jessica noona's been learning too much from being around us and Tiffany noona looks like she's been putting in time too." Meteos said. "That CC chain was brutal."
"Hey, look at it this way. They had four NA players and we only had two." Sooyoung said with a smile.
We all burst out laughing. Balls managed to say, "Oh, man...is this what it's come to? Sooyoung noona also saying NA > KR?"
"Well, honestly, that is yet to be seen...but that Jeti Caroura synergy was too strong." Sooyoung replied.
"That sounds like a concept vehicle or something." I said with a grin as we stepped away and the other eight stepped in.
Soon, we could also see that Taeyeon and Hai had picked Lux and Hyoyeon and Seohyun had picked Leona, while Sunny and Balls had taken Miss Fortune and Yuri and LemonNation had taken Nautilus.
"Oh, that's going to be interesting." Aurora said. "Lemon's been experimenting with support Nautilus and has worked with me a bit on that."
"Add in the fact that Hai's got one less pro player to work with and this could be a good one." Meteos said.
We then heard Hai saying, "Is it okay if I waive the honorifics for this? If I have to say 'Tae noona', 'Seo noona' and 'Hyo noona', I'm not going to be able to get the calls out fast enough."
"Don't worry, we understand." Seohyun replied.
"Ooh." Sooyoung said, rubbing her hands. "So this is the Hai shotcalling everyone talks so much about!"
As opposed to the first match, the match that ensued was more drawn out. One thing that we noticed, though, was that as expected, there was a difference in how each side was on the comms – which is nothing against either, just more of a contrast in styles than anything.
"If they stand behind each other, that's when we can make our move." Lemon said. "Especially now that we've got Dredge Line, so be ready to throw it out if you see them line up, okay, Yuri?"
"Got it." Yuri replied, wiggling her index finger in anticipation over the R button.
"Okay, we'll keep the Bullet Time ready until then." Balls said.
"Just need to wait until they line up...thing is they're not giving too many chances." Sunny said, concentrating.
Meanwhile, Hai's shotcalling set the tone and meant the other team was talking a lot more to respond.
"Nice job on the combos, Taengoo – just watch that mana." Hai was saying.
"Yeah, don't worry, it made me figure that out fast, Hai. I'm making sure to save enough for the ulti in case Seo and Hyo can lock someone up." Taeyeon responded.
"Nice." Hai said. "Hey, Hyo, can you and Seo E onto MF? It can't be bodyblocked by someone standing in front."
"We'll do our best." Seohyun replied. "Hey, Hyo, you heard the man – if you can line up Zenith Blade, I'll go and fire it and then focus on keeping Miss Fortune locked up. Hai and Tae are keeping Final Spark in their back pocket, so if we can get Sunny and Balls, we can push even if we can't win it immediately like Sica, Fany, Aurora and Carlo did."
"Okay." Hyoyeon said.
"Wait until Tae and I have Q back up." Hai said. "I'll count you in. 3, 2, 1, now!"
In anticipation, Hyoyeon, who was on the mouse, had already lined up Zenith Blade onto Miss Fortune, and Seohyun, who was on the keyboard, hit E and successfully landed it.
"Got 'em!" Seohyun yelled.
"Nice! Kill Miss Fortune!" Hai shouted.
"Just keep those sights on them, Hai!" Taeyeon responded.
"Oh, they've got the Light Binding and Final Spark and Sunny and Balls don't have the defense!" Yoona said, comprehension dawning as Miss Fortune went down with Taeyeon firing that combo for most of the damage. "So they just basically went around Nautilus!"
"Pretty much." Aurora said. "And that's the downside to Nautilus building for tank and support and not for damage – that forces Lemon and Yuri to back off because they don't have enough damage to stop them by themselves. But they're already at the tower!"
"It's at least going to take a lot of damage since Shield of Daybreak is usable on structures and that definitely helps her pushing." I explained. "Lemon and Yuri had to recall as well after that because they went low, so this might do it!"
"Yeah, that's going to be it! They're trying to use that anchor to move faster along the wall and hurry back, but it's not fast enough!" Sooyoung said. "And there it is!"
Hai, Taeyeon, Hyoyeon and Seohyun celebrated and high-fived as the tower went down, but their celebration was more muted because it'd been more testing than our game had been.
"Oh, wow." Hyoyeon said as the opponents shook hands. "And the funny thing was Aurora was telling me that she needed to work on her stamina when she had dance practice with me and Jessica before the quarterfinals! I'd definitely have to work on the mental stamina for League because I don't know how much longer I could have held on there."
Aurora grinned and patted her on the back, saying. "Don't worry - part of that was that you were handling the mouse, so that's a little more demanding than the keyboard alone. And you had to deal with a lot of communication."
"That's true." Hyoyeon said.
"Hey, that was a good support Naut performance even though we took that." Hai told Lemon.
"Thanks. Yuri did her best too." Lemon said. "Sorry I couldn't have done better." He finished apologetically, turning to her.
"Don't blame yourself – at least we made them have to come up with something special." Yuri replied.
"Good game, Sunny noona." Hai said as she shook her hand. "You too, Balls. You were working well out there."
"Yeah, she didn't want to lose to Taeyeon, so Tae's lucky she had you manning the mouse." Balls responded.
"I really was. I can see why he's the leader and shotcaller." Taeyeon answered.
After some more games, Jessica and Tiffany suggested a Mexican restaurant that they had passed by for dinner.
As Jessica said with a knowing smile as we approached, "There's no Chipotle in Korea, unfortunately, but I hope this works." The reason why it was a knowing smile was that she knew we hadn't eaten Mexican since we'd departed for boot camp the previous month.
"Don't worry, it should be good either way, Jessica noona – we trust you guys on this." Meteos said, "Let me see if they can make my usual..."
"If they can, do you mind if I have one?" Sooyoung asked before Meteos went in.
"Sure!" Meteos replied, and he went through the door and to the counter.
About ten minutes later, he came back out smiling and handed what was clearly a foil-wrapped burrito to Sooyoung. "Yep, we're good! Cheers, Sooyoung noona."
"Thanks! And that's great – I'm glad they were able to help you out." Sooyoung said. "So what goes into the Meteos?"
"Chicken, white rice, mild salsa, pinto beans and cheese." Meteos replied.
"Oh, sounds good!" Sooyoung said, and she unwrapped hers and took a bite, saying once she'd swallowed, "Oh, I can see why you eat this as much as you do."
"We all eat it at least a bit each week – there's a reason why some have nicknamed us Chipotle 9." Sneaky said. "But Meteos puts away more than the rest of us do by far."
"Really?" Sooyoung asked, turning back to Meteos. "You know what the Korean term is for someone like you?"
"What's that?" Meteos asked in response once he'd finished another bite. "It's not anything bad, is it?"
"A shikshin." Sooyoung said, smiling reassuringly. "And don't worry, it isn't. It just means 'god of food'."
Meteos gave a big smile and touched his burrito to Sooyoung's as if they had champagne glasses.
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