Volamel
2019-05-17 04:02:39
— Wolf Schröder
After a respectable finish in APEX Season 1, Twilight would depart BK Stars and join the ranks of CONBOX Spirit, a team led by esports veteran Noh "Gamsu" Young-jin. However, the move would result in some disappointing results.
During APEX Season 2, CONBOX Spirit struggled early with convincing losses to Cloud 9 and KongDoo Uncia, but managed to pull out an upset win late into the first set of group stage matches against Afreeca Freecs Blue. With a match record of 1-2 and a map differential of -4, CONBOX Spirit fell to relegations. With their spot in APEX on the line, this would mean that CONBOX would play against some of Korea’s best amateur talent to maintain their spot in the league.
It’s here where Twilight was able to fully flex how deep his hero pool was. Not only was he an experienced Ana player but he was an early Sombra adopter and had pocket picks that he and CONBOX would utilize from time to time. During his time with CONBOX Spirit, he managed to experiment with Torbjorn, Pharah, and Widowmaker—which is novel for a support player even years later.
While Overwatch APEX Challengers Season 3: Super Week gave us many of the players we know and love today, it also birthed a new iteration of CONBOX, one that would help Twilight climb back into the main event.
Proving to be head and shoulders above the amateur league, CONBOX Spirit marched convincingly back into the league with wins over MVP Space and Rhinos Gaming Wings. Death at the hands of his sophomore slump would not be in Twilight’s future. Not only would this be a return to the league, but a return to form.
During APEX Season 3, Twilight and CONBOX Spirit were placed in Group C with LW Blue, MVP Space, and Flash Lux. The collective return of Twilight and CONBOX Spirit would be a positive one with the stable taking key wins over MVP Space and Flash Lux but still managed to take a map off of the top seed in the group, LW Blue.
This would be the first time that CONBOX would advance from the first stage of group play. Helping to lead the charge, Twilight relied on his playoff experience from season one with BK Stars. However, CONBOX Spirit would not make their debut in the playoffs.
Twilight and his team exited the second phase of group play with a poor match record of 0-2. Their group featured legendary Overwatch teams such as KongDoo Panthera, Lunatic-Hai and LW Blue. Sent home once again, CONBOX Spirit would look for a second chance in the autumn.
Unfortunately, there would not be a second chance as Twilight would leave CONBOX Spirit before the start of APEX Season 4.
His whereabouts for the next five months was unclear, but in December, Twilight would emerge and enjoy a brief stint with WGS Red for roughly two months before making the move to join RunAway early in 2018. However, the current narrative around RunAway slightly clouds how the team performed with in regards to Twilight’s debut at the Chinese event Overwatch Team Story - Chapter 4.
While the team dominated in group play against T1w Esports Club, Team CC, and Lucky Future Zenith (the Chinese iteration, not the Korean one), the team fell prey to a staple Chinese team, LGD Gaming in the quarterfinals 2-3. Moving past this blemish, Twilight, and the team would continue this trend with a strong showing in the group stage of Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 1 only to exit earlier than expected in the playoffs.
Twilight and RunAway would march convincingly into the playoffs of Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 1 as the first seed coming out of Group B with a match record of 4-1. Their late-season issues reared its ugly head again in the quarterfinals with RunAway looking shaky with their win over KongDoo Panthera, 2-3.
This was a familiar tendency from RunAway. They always came close to greatness, but could never close the deal. Even with the new additions, which included Twilight, it seemed to be a systemic problem rather than an individual one. Subsequently, RunAway barely missed their third Korean Overwatch final after being upset in the semifinals by X6-Gaming, 1-3.
From this point forward, both parties’ fates would change. Twilight and RunAway would finally find their time in the sun.
With Twilight’s help, RunAway would enter a golden age. The team would make their third Korean Overwatch final and, for the first time, emerge victorious. And not a month later they enjoy a victory over some of China’s best talent at the NetEase Esports X Tournament. However, their heroic narratives, popularity, and success were not going unnoticed.
On November, 29th, 2018 RunAway would announce that the roster, in its entirety, would be signed to the Vancouver Titans for the 2019 season of the Overwatch League.
This change in scenery would not phase Twilight and his teammates as they dispatched their opposition leading to a shocking 7-0 match record and only dropping six maps total over five weeks. This success would continue as Twilight and the team blew past both the Boston Uprising and the Seoul Dynasty and treated the world with one of the best matches of Overwatch we’ve seen to date in their final clash with the San Fransisco Shock.
Twilight and the Vancouver Titans would emerge from a seven-game barnburner with the stage one title and recognition of the world.
“The player” is the face Twilight shows the world on a daily basis. It’s a cumulative amalgamation of his experience, his history and the future that lays before him. It’s comprised of public information that details both the bad and the good. Twilight, the player, was a diamond in the rough. He was a bright spot for both BK Stars and CONBOX Spirit, but for whatever reason, both teams could never find long-term success. In more recent eras, Twilight has become a brilliant cornerstone of RunAway and has been pivotal in the Vancouver Titans’ golden era.
— Harsha Bandi
With that said, I believe Twilight has become—or is in the process of becoming—an unintentional villain of circumstance.
Look at the response given when Overwatch League color commentator and analyst, Wolf Schröder, credits him as being the best Zenyatta in the world. Response upon rose tinted response immediately points your attention to the original “best” Zenyatta: New York Excelsior’s, Bang "JJoNak" Sung-hyeon.
JJoNak lead the Excelsior to an astounding 34 wins and 6 losses and set the gold standard for what a great team should look like in season one. Compare that narrative to the one that the Vancouver Titans are in the process of writing.
The Titans’ approach Overwatch League’s second season as a historic team entering the league with polarizing charm, set to challenge the status quo. The Titans see the gold standard set by the NYXL last season and demand platinum instead.
When asked to expand on his comment, Wolf cleared the air on his bold statement.
“[Twilight is] fighting for a tough spot for sure, amongst players like JJoNak and Viol2t,” Wolf said. “But I think what stands out for Twilight over others is his versatility. JJoNak is famous for his damage output and his ability to land final blows, but in some ways, he is one-dimensional and defines New York's slower playstyle.”
Wolf continued with a brief summation of how he viewed Twilight’s style of support play. “Twilight can play more passively, but also has the potential to aggressively use his ultimate to save Bumper or Seominsoo in situations that [help] them and turn team fights. I feel like JJoNak often follows a recipe for Zenyatta that he thinks is best and relies on mechanical skill to win out. His plays aren't always as good reactionarily as Twilight's. Twilight isn't leaps and bounds ahead of JJoNak by any means, but I think that he is just one step ahead.”
Continuing with the trend of being criminally underrated, Twilight was not among the starters for the Pacific Division for the 2019 All-Star game. To that note, none of the Vancouver Titans were voted in as starters for the Pacific All-Star team. However, Twilight, Bumper, SLIME, and Haksal were voted to fill out the Pacific Division as secondary members.
A group of players that have not lost since July 22, 2018, a group of players that boast a 16 match winning streak and a map record of 55-15, and your Stage 1 champions have somehow avoided starting in Overwatch League’s All-Star game.
Yes, China has finally received a handful of great representatives to support, so four of the slots can be explained. But having two Seoul Dynasty players voted in is slightly surprising to say the least. It hints at a bigger discussion around how the audience views the game, how teams market their players, how familiar these players are to an audience, and how the audience measures wildly successful teams. Most of these constituents can’t rival Twilight’s recent success and few can rival his longevity. All of these factors slight Twilight as he quietly outperforms most of the league mechanically and statistically.
If that is not criminal underrated, I don’t know what is.
In politics, “voter fatigue” is a feeling of disengagement or apathy that a voting district can experience. There are many speculative reasons why this occurs, but experts seem to point towards two interesting conclusions that could help explain why Twilight and the Titans are absent from the starting roster of the All-Star game and, better yet, not talked about as much as they should be.
Voters can see issues as uninteresting and in other instances, voters feel their vote will not count or they feel like the election has "already been won,” both proposals could account for this voter apathy. Many traditional sports suffer from these issues as well and now many esports within the last ten years have been afflicted by this “fan fatigue.”
Somehow RunAway’s beloved bridesmaid narrative has turned on its head since they’ve entered the league. Before they were the charming underdogs that just needed an extra push to garner their first title and now they’ve somehow become a pillar to the sins of the metagame.
If that does not hint at villainy by way of repeated success, I don’t what does.
“The rival,” or if you’re feeling jaded, “the villain” is a facade that is more prescribed by the audience. It’s something the community has granted Twilight because he, and his team, have waltzed past many beloved teams and players. To some, he is a usurper, challenging the league’s state of affairs. To others, he and his team are viewed as a physical embodiment of what the fans see as “wrong” with the game currently.
— Wolf Schröder
Overwatch League color commentator and analyst, Wolf Schröder echoes this point beautifully in an open examination of Twilight’s in-game style. “I think people like to judge [a] Zenyatta’s skill based on damage being higher than healing or their names showing up in the kill feed,” Wolf said. “Yes, that can define ‘carry’ Zenyatta play, but I like to think there's more to Zenyatta than fragging out. Staying alive, positioning correctly and building Transcendence is what Zenyatta is really about. Kills are a bonus.
“JJoNak is great for the eye test—you can see how he does all of those things well,” Wolf continued. “I challenge people to take a closer look at how Twilight turns fights around and how he helps win some of the closer fights they take.”
What is more interesting is that this phenomenon that Wolf is talking about is quantifiable.
According to Winston’s Lab, during the first stage of Overwatch League season two, the Vancouver Titans won 16.36% of the team fights where they suffered the first death. To put this into context, the average across the league during this time period was 11.15%, which puts Twilight and the Titans as the second best team in the reversal of a team fight. While we cannot give sole credit to Twilight for this amazing statistic, he is the backbone of the team and certainly makes up a good portion of how they are able to turn fights on their head.
“The foundation” is a colorless facade. This is the face Twilight shows no one—not out of fear, but humility. A true support doesn’t need to show anyone anything. Twilight shows up, performs his role and reaps what he sows.