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Part 2

Written by: Jonathan Yee

As Worlds 2016 has begun, nobody is expecting the two Wildcard contenders – Albus Nox Luna and INTZ – to pull up any roots in the competition. This mindset stems not only from their in-game play, but also historical insignificance on the part of Wildcard teams. Gaming Gear (CIS), Mineski (SEA), Dark Passage (Turkey), KaBuM! e-Sports (Brazil), Bangkok Titans (SEA), paiN Gaming (Brazil): none of these teams have had a positive win-loss record in the group stage. Despite differences in rosters and regions, the end result remains. Wildcard teams are just not on the level of other regions, whether in gameplay and strength of their leagues.

But is there more to the weakness of Wildcard regions beyond in-game deficiencies and lack of funding?

Last time we went over server populations and concluded that there definitely is some correlation with larger player pool and results; now we will examine imports and whether they are beneficial for Wildcard regions.

Imports: is outsourcing talent the way forward for Wildcard regions?

Do imports from better regions make a difference for Wildcard teams’ chances at reaching Worlds? The answer, if we go by results alone, is an overwhelming no. They may make a difference in domestic leagues, but historically imports have never taken Wildcard teams to the group stage of Worlds.

This makes one doubt the efficacy of imports in Wildcard regions. Should Wildcard teams continue importing talent?

Let us take a look at the amount of imports who turned up at the two IWC events this year, along with their roles:

IWCQ, April 2016:

-          Dark Passage: Jungle, Mid

-          Kaos Latin Gamers: Top, ADC

-          Lyon Gaming: ADC

-          Rampage: Jungle, Support

IWCI, Aug-Sept 2016:

-          DetonatioN FM: Jungle, Support

-          Lyon Gaming: Mid

-          SuperMassive: ADC

At IWCQ, both winners – ANX and INTZ - had zero imports. At IWCI, the winner SuperMassive eSports had one import: an EU ADC. KLG had two Brazilian imports; this may do the job on a domestic level as Brazil is slightly ahead of the curve, but it will not do much internationally.

Korean imports are the most popular globally; every region has at least one, and IWC events were no different. However, the ones who showed with Korean imports were DFM and Rampage; both Japanese teams, both armed with an import jungler and support. They shared the same fate of being knocked out of the group stage.  

Does this automatically make all Korean imports bad? Not necessarily. Even though experiments with Korean imports haven’t always gone well, Brazil has benefitted from having skilled imports play on the ranked queue. It is possible that the Japanese ranked queue needs that sort of injection to kickstart the scene and develop its player pool, so even though Japanese teams have failed on the international stage, not all is bad on the Korean import front.

Some teams have not jumped on the Korean bandwagon: Lyon Gaming had one import in WhiteLotus during the IWCQ. This was a shrewd move for two reasons: WhiteLotus speaks Spanish, meaning integration would not be difficult, and he is also regarded as the top ADC in the entire Latin American region. Despite his impressive performances carrying them to 1st in the standings, they failed to show up when it counted, narrowly going down to ANX 2-3 in the final playoff. Regardless, they surprised many who expected a similar performance from Lyon in April.

(Credit: Lyon Gaming Facebook page)

Dark Passage, meanwhile, were forced to use imports; they had to bring in CozQ and Kirei to replace their starters who were ineligible to compete. They had a good record in the group stage but also faltered against INTZ, a team of five Brazilians. Rampage had two imports in Tussle and Roki, but for reasons which will be expounded on in a bit, they actually hurt rather than enhanced Rampage’s chances in this tournament.

Other factors such as communication and homesickness also come into play with imports; even if they learn to speak the prevailing language of the team they are on, this will not necessarily bring about results. Synergy between imports also do not translate to better communication in the entire team. These days, it is imperative that all players are able to communicate effectively both in-game and out of the game, be it through conversing in the language they are most familiar with, or creating a system like EDG’s method of using English for communication.

However, having an ADC import may work better than expected for Wildcard teams instead of bringing in a jungler and support duo; reason being that junglers and supports require the most communication with the team as compared to other roles, and this is a difficult arrangement to facilitate when they do not speak the same language.

(Credit: esportspedia)

Some proof of this can be gleaned from the IWCI; the winner ended up being Supermassive eSports of Turkey, who had one import: Achuu, who is an AD carry from Denmark. They managed to win a single game at MSI, and gained admirers for their ability to keep up with most of the competition despite losing.

Small sample size makes findings inconclusive, but imports only work to an extent.

Note that we have a very small sample size due to format changes and youth of LoL as an esport and hence cannot discount the possibility of freak occurrences as a result. It may not be true that imports actually hurt one’s chances at getting to the World stage; however, it is likely that teams with imports are not as prepared to compete in bracket stages, as they tend to rely more on talent than strategies to overcome their opposition.

Therefore, in a best of 5 scenario, teams with imports may stand a higher chance of being exposed by opponents that, not being as skilled, focus more of their attentions on strategies and macro play.

Additionally, imports to Wildcard teams tend to be of even lower quality than those who join a team in a region like NA, EU, or China. It is very rare that an import turns out to be good enough to be on a top team; Crown from Samsung is the sole exception of his ilk, having begun his pro career in Brazil.

The extent of the impact of imports in Wildcard is, at the end of the day, difficult to gauge. Based on results, however, certain imports in the right positions, such as ADC, does improve the results of teams, In clutch situations such as bracket matches, communication becomes the key to success. Imports may sometimes get in the way of that.

If you enjoyed this piece, follow the author on Twitter at @uhhhmigraine. 

Cover photo courtesy of LoL Esports Flickr.