ForeverDescent
2015-02-04 03:02:10
The Winter Regional saw them finally dethroned, and as a result someone else stood up. Avant Garde Ascension (now Legacy eSports) finally defeated the elite five. Thus, we saw new competition step up. This was when the scene was the most exciting. Curse had ventured into the scene, as had Team Dignitas; the Oceanic scene looked like it would be the most competitive it had been in a long time, perhaps ever.
Alas, it wasn’t going to last. Curse’s team fell apart, and Dignitas dropped the team when they failed to qualify in the Winter Regional. The scene still had great teams and great players, but it wasn’t world class. With Legacy competing in the Wildcard Tournament in Cologne, and narrowly missing out on the spot at the World Championships, the rest of the region began to make changes to their roster.
Avant Garde picked up a new team, with star player, Veritas, at the forefront. The old Team Immunity went to a name they used when they originally attempted to qualify for the North American League Championship Series, the Chiefs Esports Club. Finally, Team Immunity picked up the majority of the former Team Dignitas squad, and of course, Legacy struck out on their own.
A new team then followed. The Dire Wolves was announced on August 6 2014. Led up by the former Team Dignitas jungler and famed Udyr jungler, Nathan “Rippii” Mott, the team looked strong, but not up to the strength of the top teams in the region.
Just 27 days after the team was formed, they competed in the first qualifier for the Oceanic Regional Finals, the ACLPro Online Round 4. They weren’t the favorites, but anyone who knows about them knew to keep an eye on them.
They beat Team Immunity and came very close to beating Avant Garde for the first attempt. However, they arose from the ashes, and would return to face off against Avant Garde upon their success climbing through the lower bracket. In one of their first, full-length tournaments as a team, they became champions.
With their mark made, they began to compete in the CyberGamer Premier League, where eight of the best teams in the country would compete for both bragging rights and a $5,500 prize pool. The Dire Wolves would lose every best of three that the team played in that competition, winning only a single map against the seven other teams.
Now they really were the underdogs.
At the Oceanic Regional Finals, they were placed in a group with the former Team Immunity: the Chiefs, the current Team Immunity, and Team Zero. The first three parts of the bracket went the way they were expected to, with Team Zero losing to the Chiefs and the Dire Wolves (eliminating them), and the Chiefs beating both the Dire Wolves and Immunity to progress onward to the next round.
However, when it came down to the Dire Wolves and Immunity, with one spot on the line, those plans were thrown out of the window. The Dire Wolves avenged their previous round shutout with a shutout of their own, once again defeating Immunity (the previous victors in the ACL Pro event) and booking themselves a place in the final four at PAX Australia. Tragedy struck for the Dire Wolves between the Round of 8 and the Round of 4. With “team issues” being cited as the reasons for support, Charlie, and top laner, Magzilla, who left the team for good.
In a rush, the team were able to bring in Perfection, their substitute, to play in the top lane, and Jish, their coach, to play support. They didn’t hide their expectations, stating in the official press release: “We’re under no illusion that this will be a dramatic improvement or lasting remedy, but it’ll be a temporary solution to end what has been an amazing season for the team and Oceania as a whole.”
With their new roster, their first obstacle would once again be Avant Garde. The first match finished in under 25 minutes. Their new substitutes didn’t seem to be working, and it looked like they would be leaving the PAX Australia stage in under an hour.
The second game was close for the first 20 minutes, and looked much better for the Dire Wolves. Eventually, the game broke, and the Dire Wolves would not be shut out. However, the previous trend of them being unable to beat Avant Garde would continue in the third game team losing the series in a third game.
The would end up parting ways with their dignity.Lead colour commentator, Spawn, put it perfectly during the Round of 4: “The Dire Wolves win games that they have no right to win.”
With the sizable off-season during the summer months for the Dire Wolves, a number of changes would have to be made. The announcement of the OPL and their guaranteed inclusion into the tournament left them with a number of weeks to find that perfect mix of players.
Perfection would return to the top lane to continue with the same role he was given and looked most solid at in the Round of 4. Rippii would continue as the jungler, as would Sharp in the middle lane. The bottom lane had a number of changes however, as BESTAD (now k1ng), the original AD Carry for the team, would return to the team, and Regional Finals AD Carry, ChuffeR, would move to support. This team looked formidable, and was almost assuredly the team that would line up for the Dire Wolves for the 2015 season.
However, the team would make one final change with the season on the horizon with jungler and team owner, Rippii, stepping down to make way for SoulStrikes. Together, they’re a team with relatively little experience compared to the big dogs of the region, especially on the big stage. A number of the players from both the Chiefs and Legacy eSports represented Oceanic in the Wildcard events while Team Immunity’s tgun was a top Starcraft 2 player for a time on a national level.
They’re not the best team in the region, not yet anyway, and they’re certainly not the most experienced; but they are the underdogs. They can and will surprise anyone that underestimates them.
All images taken from the Dire Wolves Facebook page