Oddball
2021-05-25 12:01:58
The one split of Velocity is one of the most interesting dumpster fires in esports history. Though not burned for long, the flames certainly burned bright. The team was inexperienced, but showed they could beat top teams and had talent. Their lack of success is far more complicated. Watching the flames, you can see failure on every level: the attitudes of the players, the incompetence of the management, and the hatred of the LCS fanbase. I’d contend that with a few changes, Velocity could’ve been a successful team. They show not only what can happen when a raw team with no guidance is cast into the limelight, but prove how much esports has matured. Buckle-up, it’s a wild ride.
Taking a Dirt Nap
Velocity spawned from another organization: Dirt Nap Gaming (which by the way, had cooler branding than LCS teams today). A gaming community that sponsored many teams—the one we care about is Dirt Nap Gaming Eternus, managed by Brian “Guitar” Cordry. In late 2012, Dirt Nap recruited Cristian “Cris” Rosales, Joseph “jdwu” Wu, Neil “pr0lly” Hammad, Tyler “ecko” Orr, and Daniel “Prophet” Fetterman. They were one of many teams made up of high elo players without much professional experience. The opportunity of a lifetime came in Season 3. There would be qualifiers for the inaugural split of the League Championship Series.
Dirt Nap Gaming came into the event with a lot of promise. They won their first two games, but lost the chance to immediately qualify in the bracket stage. Sent to the losers bracket, Dirt Nap beat out Azure Gaming 2-1, allowing them to compete for the last LCS spot against Team MRN. Though starting strong in both games, Dirt Nap couldn’t secure a win, and lost their final chance to qualify.
The team’s goal was to qualify for NA LCS 2013 Summer. The team showed promise in challenger competition—placing high in many events. Already though, cracks were beginning to show in the team’s foundations. They already had internal issues. According to Nk Inc, Cris and Maplestreet had personal issues from day one, with nobody else involved that interested in mediating it. Mistake #1 was Velocity failing to either replace one of the feuding players, or quash the beef as soon as possible. Instead, it hung in the air.
Despite that, the team continued practicing and reviewing strategies, finding themselves in the Promotion tournament for NA LCS Summer 2013. Like their predecessor, Velocity progressed through the tournament, finding themselves matched up against MRN—the very team that knocked them out before.
Besides their roster, the team had no provisions for a gaming house near Riot’s studio. From their qualification to their first week of LCS, Velocity continued searching for a gaming house, while playing scrimmages in less than ideal circumstances (shoddy internet and lag issues). Riot pays for the team to fly out to LA for the first week.
Week 1
Here Velocity came out swinging—coming in with solid practice and a strong game plan. They win a game unexpectedly against Counter Logic Gaming, but then drop their second two games. They definitely showed promise though, as both games they had decent leads and simply threw the games later on.
After the games, the team still does not have an established home base, because of California’s tricky housing laws, as well as none of them having good enough credit to acquire a house. This was a challenge, compared to an organization like Team SoloMid also located far. Velocity did not have the money to fly their players round trip every week. Half of the team (Maplestreet, Evaniskus, and Cris) opt to stay in the area, while the others (Nk Inc, Guitar, and Vileroze) decide to fly home and make their way back through their own means. Complexity Gaming apparently offers to let the team use their small apartment for practice and lodging.
The former continue practicing at the apartment, while the latter group pack their bags and join the team at Complexity’s apartment. This was a multiple day process. They've lost many valuable days of practice time, but with their new home secured, their rooming problems were over, right?
They were only beginning.
Their new home base only has two computers, one bed, and zero sense of cleanliness. Without a proper computer setup, the team must take turns to even play solo queue. As far as the living conditions, Vileroze described it in great (and gross) detail. “I did not bring a pillow nor a blanket so sleeping on the ground was very very tough, I used my backpack for a pillow, and a couple of my clothes for a blanket. Thank god that by the 3rd day Nk had blow-up beds, and even if my back was in pain from sleeping on the ground for 2 days, the 3rd day I slept on an inflatable. The shower was also covered in mold/mildew, and I mean a good 1/4th of the shower was complete mold/mildew(w/e u call it). So even taking showers made me sick to my stomach, I wasn’t used to these living conditions, and LCS week 2 was only a day away.”
It reads like someone's experience hiding from loan sharks...but it’s from someone describing what it was like getting their dream job. Well, the nightmare was just starting.
Week 2
With no practice, the team is obliterated 0-3. Tough break. With no practice and a petri-dish for a shower, though, what would you expect? The team finally had a house lined up, but one that wouldn’t have internet for almost two weeks. Yet again, the conditions of the home read like a halfway house.
The food provided consists of hot pockets and potato chips, there are only three inflatable beds for seven people, and for two days the house lacks even water and electricity. The team resorts to practicing in a LAN cafe. It's easy to see how poor of a decision it was on management's part to not plan for the team making it into the LCS.
Week 3
The team has another poor showing at 1-2. Again, who would’ve expected otherwise? But the past was the past. Their secret weapon was now here: food, shelter, and computers to practice the game they played professionally. With their work environment now comparable to most other humans, Velocity was ready to shine.
Week 4
The team again loses all of their games. Problems with Cris start to arise again, but issues start rising up with every member of the team. The general atmosphere is very tense at this point; with players missing scrimmages, acting hostile towards one another in practice, and even communicating sarcastically during LCS games. It got to the point that Vileroze—the team’s shotcaller—didn’t even want to speak during official games. Let me repeat this: the shotcaller felt discouraged from calling shots.
Also during the week, Maplestreet releases a poignant blog post discussing the team’s results, his mental health, as well as the hate he was receiving from fans. I think this a good time to talk about how ruthless the community was towards Velocity. Just like Golden Guardians today, Velocity faced criticism for their poor performance. It got uglier. Any YouTube video, Twitter post, or Twitch chat involving Velocity was likely to include comments about the personal appearance of the team’s players. About how they looked like certain champions. In addition to the constant losses and toxic work environment, it’s obvious the reception of LCS fans was a negative on the team’s morale.
Week 5
Because of the poor performance of Vileroze—someone who was repeatedly banned out in games—the team swaps him out for ecco. They once again go 0-3 for the week, but see potential from ecco during the games, and continue with the experiment. Back at home, both ecco and Nk Inc claimed the team was unproductive as far as practicing went—refusing to properly communicate.
Nk Inc stated “Since no one really wanted to watch replays or give input I had stopped attempting that futile exercise as each time we did it literally only I talked about what happened and no one said if they agreed with me or not. I might as well have talked to a wall and thought about the philosophical implications of such an action, as it would have most definitely been less wasteful of my time than beating the replay horse to death. Any time we got behind in a scrim everyone got quiet and basically turned into a robot hitting buttons.”
Although I for one am a fan of meditative practices like trataka, wanting to stare at a wall instead of helping your teammates can usually be viewed as a bad sign.
Week 6
The problems with Cris come to a head. They ask Vileroze to roleswap to the top lane and take over for Cris, a change he claims did not come with much support, “Certain things I don’t know about top lane are conveyed to me sarcastically and I get rather sick of it.” There are additional talks to replace Evaniskus. The team performs well in the LCS—winning both of their games against Vulcun and CLG.
Week 7
Velocity lose all three of their LCS matches. Most of the blame is thrown on Vileroze, who enemy teams found had a small top lane champion pool that could easily be banned out. According to Vileroze, the team then began to discuss replacing him with another player. The team started out unwilling to make adjustments that could've prevented a meltdown. Now they were benching people like Oprah giving away exercise equipment.
Upon learning about their discussions, Vileroze announced he’d be leaving the team, later saying “I refused to be part of a team that talked behind each other’s back constantly, and didn’t support each other. I could not be a part of such a stressful house, between people being shady, to people having emotional fits during practice games, I just could not take it anymore. A week passes and I’m out of the house.”
Week 8
Cris rejoins the team, and the problems between him and some of the other players recommence (shocker). Velocity loses all their games again.
Week 9
With no hope of making the playoffs, Velocity spends their last week playing random champions and cheese strategies. They even pull off this: