It is a popular notion in esports that mechanically skilled players are automatically better than less skilled ones, as they are the ones who often make the game-changing plays and make it on top 20 lists. Fans will come up with endless justifications for why mechanics are not important in their own games, but bash on weaker mechanical players equally endlessly whenever one makes a error on the big stage.

Confounding as this behaviour is, there is a good reason for why bashing happens: it is much easier to spot a player’s mistakes while watching matches and point out what he did wrong and what he should have done instead, and without access to team comms, one assumes that the mistake was purely mechanical. It’s a reason why game shows and sports are so popular; the viewer is subconsciously led to believe that he/she is just as good, if not better than the ones they’re watching on TV.

Given this context, it is not surprising that mechanically weaker players’ mistakes are accentuated on the big stage. But are these ‘weak-link’ players really detrimental to certain teams’ success?

Of Albus Nox Luna, aMiracle and team spirit

(credit: lolesports Flickr)

Albus Nox Luna is an example of a team which does a good job of covering for their weakest link – aMiracle is quite possibly the least-skilled ADC at Worlds next to Flash Wolves’s NL, yet his performances do not appear to hinder ANX’s efforts as much as fans seem to think.

A possible reason for this may be that he’s primarily placed on ADCs with a gap-closer, like Lucian. It is clearly an important pick for ANX as they picked it five out of seven times in the group stage, all after their first loss to ROX. Interestingly, aMiracle’s favoured tool was Jhin rather than Lucian during the IWCQ, but ANX seemed to quickly realise that they would have to switch things up after its ineffectual showing against ROX.

This choice of ADC allows for mistake-correction due to his gap-closer doubling as an escape tool. Taking advantage of Lucian’s inherent ability to stay relatively safe in a 1v2 situation, his support partner Likkrit favours play-making support champions such as Bard and the mage Brand.

Likkrit is enough of a threat on either of these champions that he can easily set up the entire team’s picks, creating advantages across the map while aMiracle tries to stay alive. It is hence less surprising that he often ends up with a CS deficit when compared with the opposing AD carry.

Not many ADCs would relish being in such a role, but as long as the team’s winning, it seems he doesn’t mind. He just has to adapt to the isolation and show up in teamfights, where ANX’s dominion truly lies.

ANX has emphasised repeatedly in interviews that they have no intentions of playing the established meta, where they claim the Koreans will inevitably dominate. It is honestly refreshing to see a team outright rejecting what is often seen as the only way to succeed – by aping Koreans - and taking things into their own hands.

How they build around aMiracle is an example of this; when Likkrit got target-banned against ROX, he pulled out an (un)fashionable Taric pick, making aMiracle’s Lucian the primary carry, and the move paid off against the Korean overlords in a 60-minute thriller. Few other teams would have retained as much composure in these high-stakes circumstances, and aMiracle stepped up after a tournament of error-ridden play when it mattered most.

The rest of ANX clearly do not see aMiracle as a detriment; far from it in fact. Likkrit has been very vocal in his appreciation of what aMiracle brings to the team, namely a determination to win no matter how far behind he gets.

While the community may not have recognised aMiracle before his outstanding performance on Thursday, they sure will now as ANX head into the Quarterfinals, the first time a Wildcard team has ever done so. One only has to look at TSM to see why mechanics alone will not propel a team to international triumph.

Huhi the unfairly maligned

(credit: lolesports Flickr)

Counter Logic Gaming is another team that does not believe in weak links; they are able to switch up strategies wherever the meta’s winds blow, and were possibly one of the most flexible teams at Worlds. The downside to this is that their process takes a while to fully implement, leading to downtime which can prove costly. For this reason, their failure to make it out of the group stage cannot be blamed solely on their oft-maligned ‘weak link’ Huhi.

Huhi’s strengths lie in his communication and ability to adapt to the team’s needs. He will gladly play anything the team requires, even if it means his mechanics suffer as a result. It is of course nice to have a gifted player on your team, but talent is never the only ingredient for success; equally important is humility and an acceptance that bad times will come with the good.

Indeed, CLG has consistently defied the odds despite the frequent mischaracterisation of Huhi as a bumbling pseudo-Korean who is unable to pull off combos fluidly or on a consistent basis. He is clearly integral to the team’s prior successes and his achievements with the team proves this. Caving to fan pressures is unlikely to solve their issues and it is difficult to see a mid laner slotting into CLG’s team structure as well as Huhi has. There are no egos and there is a willingness to face problems together, as opposed to making short-term changes.

Mechanically weaker players are not weak links

So-called ‘role players – players who serve as foils for a team’s stars – are not weak links. They will not make anyone’s top 20 lists at Worlds, nor will they receive MVP awards because their role is to accentuate the stars and they do not stand out as a result. That’s where the likes of Huhi and aMiracle come in: they will inevitably have to do more with less and work with what they have been given to help the team, for they know their individual egos are secondary to the sweet taste of victory.

Their teammates and coaches alone realise how integral they are to the teams’ success.

(credit: Longzhu Gaming twitter)

Mechanical superteams, like 2016 Spring’s Longzhu Gaming, are more often than not failed experiments as clashes in ideologies adopted from previous teams are inevitable, leading to friction and an inability to agree on the best way to move forward in team identity. When everyone's a star, nobody is.

While fans will inevitably blame losses on a glaring error from the team’s weakest individual player, it is important to keep things in perspective and realise that what they bring to the team may in fact be more valuable than mechanics. Mechanically brilliant players are a dime a dozen, but mentally resilient and communicative players are far rarer and often more worth keeping.  

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(cover picture from: lolesports Youtube channel)