Imagine trying to concentrate on a very difficult math problem. It’s loud and someone keeps yelling your name. You’re hungry and everything is giving you a bit of a headache. How easy would it be for you to solve that problem? It’d likely be more difficult than if you had just had lunch and had a nice comfortable desk in a quiet area to work out the equation.

It’s hard to see--until after the fact-- how circumstances might hinder talent and how the right organization and support can make a struggling player blossom, where they were before hailed as worthless and lacking in skill, in a slump.

Kim “Procxin” Seyong has been a player that was highly criticized during his time on Team Impulse, but has since been lauded as a talented jungler in the Summer Split with his time on Team EnVy. However, has Procxin’s talent or performance actually changed from the Spring Split to Summer Split? Did he really change from the gameplay that had him labeled as the worst Jungler in NA to arguably one of the best?

In truth, Procxin’s level of talent and performance didn’t come into a magical makeover between the end of last split and the start of Summer Split. The change in perception of Procxin’s play comes as a direct result of his change in environment.

Photo - Esportspedia  

Team Impulse players were not without their flaws. As a group, they often lacked coordination and the correct communication in game to gain clean victories. They managed to perform better than expected and secure their spot in the LCS through the hard work of the players who, later, we discovered did not have the full support of their organization behind them. The feat of winning against those odds is an admirable one. Things were not perfect, but several of the players played at an exceptional level and TIP came together as a team.

Procxin was a large part of the reason that TIP avoided being relegated. His play was consistent throughout his time on the team. The level of play that he provided TIP is very similar to his level of play that he now provides NV. During the Spring Split with TIP, his win rate was 25% with a 77.4% kill participation. In NV his kill participation dropped slightly to 75.7% but Team EnVy has a win rate of 38%. In Summer Split, Procxin has had less first bloods and holds a lower share of the damage percent but places more wards per minute and contributes heavily to the team’s abilities to play the map effectively.

Procxin has been often praised this Split for performing exactly as he had in the Spring Split where he was criticized. The only factors that changed were his environment. Within the game, Procxin is in the correct type of team for his style. He is able to enable his laners to succeed and often carrying where they fall short. He’s become a player that must be reckoned with because his team is one that must be respected.

Recently, Team EnVy have been struggling but one thing that is abundantly different with Team Envy —  for Procxin and his teammates— is that they provide a strong support system within the organization. The true test of organizations is when they do have low points, how does their support staff react. We see EnVy come back week after week maintaining positive and healthy outlooks on the game and playing confidently.

There is some question to choices that have led them from playing to some of their more obvious strengths, but the team remains a strong contender. It often goes unsaid, but the way a team reacts to a loss—to failure—is what truly makes or breaks them. Week after week, despite even the shortcomings of other members on Team EnVy, Procxin has proven a consistent pillar for the team to lean on -- just as he did with TIP.

Procxin is but one example of how a shift in scenery completely rearranges the perception of a player despite the fact that, in reality, the player didn’t really change.

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Cover photo courtesy of Lolesports.