Saturday, December 5, 2015
Biography
An "BalIs" Van Le started playing League of Legends during the beta along with his friends and cousin, Dang Le, known ingame as Professor Rice. Prior to playing League of Legends, he had played Runescape, Maplestory, and other casual online games, but once Season 1 began, he started playing ranked games and quickly climbed the Elo ladder. He achieved an Elo of 2252 during that season playing mainly Ezreal and Corki. Eventually, Balls started playing weekly Go4LoL tournaments and got a taste of the competitive scene.
League of Legends Career
League of Legends Career
After a few unsuccessful tournaments, Balls was introduced to mandatorycloud, Atlanta, LemonGoD, and wallstop, and they formed the team APictureOfAGoose, where Balls switched between AD Carry and toplane. The team qualified for IEM Kiev but were unable to attend due to external commitments[1]. The roster was later picked up bymTw.NA and soon transferred once again to Monomaniac Ferus. When AD player Aphromoo joined mTw.NA in August 2012, Balls switched to top lane.
In October 2012 Balls left mMe Ferus to focus on school, but in December of the same year he was picked up for the AD carry position of Meat Playground just before the NA LCS Season 3 qualifiers. When the team failed to qualify, they disbanded, leaving Balls a free agent. He was picked up by Quantic Gaming as their toplaner in April, and on May 2013, they qualified for thesummer split. After qualifying, the current Quantic roster reformed as Cloud 9. Balls has played for Cloud 9 since, winning two splits of the NA LCS, taking second place in the 2014 Summer Split, and qualifying for and playing in two World Championships.
Balls is widely recognized as one of the best toplaners in North America and is known in particular for his
Rumble play.
2015 Preseason
Cloud 9 was the North American team fan-voted to IEM San Jose.[2] They defeated paiN Gaming 2-0, Alliance 2-1, and then Unicorns of Love 3-0 to win the tournament.
2015 Season
Due to their IEM San Jose victory, Cloud9 qualified for IEM Katowice in March. They lost their only two games, first to GE Tigers and then to yoe Flash Wolves, and finished in 7th/8th place. Domestically, they underperformed at the start of the season, and were in 8th place at the end of the second week of the spring LCS split. However, they improved over the course of the season, ending with a second-place finish behind Team SoloMid and a playoff bye; after beating Team Liquid 3-2, Cloud9 lost to TSM 1-3 in the finals and finished the split overall in second place.
Cloud9 replaced mid laner Hai with Incarnati0n at the start of the Summer Split due to Hai's retirement. They performed poorly for the first five weeks of the split and replaced Meteos with Hai going into the sixth week. With Hai back on the team, Cloud9's record improved from 3-7 to 6-12 by the end of the split, and they finished in 7th place after a tie-breaker victory against Team 8, narrowly avoidingrelegations and retaining their Championship Points, though they did not qualify for playoffs. In the Regional Finals Gauntlet, Cloud9 reverse-swept both Gravity Gaming and Team Impulse before beatingTeam Liquid 3-1 in the finals. Their fourteen games played over the course of three days gave them North America's third seed to the 2015 Season World Championship, Cloud9's third-consecutive Worlds.
Considered an underdog at Worlds, Cloud9 were placed into Group B along with Fnatic, ahq, and Invictus Gaming and expected to place last. Balls's soloqueue performance in Korea was especially called into question, as he was demoted from Diamond I to Diamond II multiple times during the team's bootcamp in Korea. Instead, Cloud9 surprised with an undefeated 3-0 first week, with Balls suddenly picking up Darius. In the second week, Cloud9 needed only one win to advance to the quarterfinals but were unable to find it, losing four games in a row including a tiebreaker loss to ahq. They placed third in their group, ahead of only Invictus Gaming.
Trivia
- His favorite champion was at one point
Ezreal.
- His cousin, known as Professor Rice on the NA server, was a diamond player in season 1.
- He is also related to Shiphtur
- Used to play tennis and was a cross-country runner. As such, he spends a lot of time exercising.
- Benches 155/160 lbs (8 reps) with a max of 200 lbs.
An "BalIs" Van Le is currently the top laner for Cloud9.
Biography
Hai Lam comes from Grandville, Michigan and graduated from Grandville Highschool. During his high school life, Hai was an active participant in the Counter Strike community, and enjoyed many Warcraft III custom games along with climbing the ladder.
Hai moved to East Lansing, Michigan, after completing high school in pursuit of a degree in Media Arts and Technology at Michigan State University. He was a prominent member of the League of Legends club on campus.
With the end of the Spring 2012 semester, Hai hit 2500 elo and a top 5 position on the Solo Queue ladder. Using his new-found influence, he was able to gather a team of his own to create No Fear.
Orbit Gaming
On May 25th, 2012, Orbit Gaming announced the acquisition of the roster form Hai's nFear Gaming.
Afterward, Orbit placed 7th/8th at the 2012 MLG - Spring Championship. At the Spring Championship, Orbit defeated vVv Gaming 2-0 in the first round, but lost 1-2 to Counter Logic Gaming Prime in the second round which placed them in the loser's bracket. In the loser's bracket, Orbit defeated Redact 2-0, Team Legion 2-0, and Team SoloMid Evo2-0. They eventually lost to Counter Logic Gaming EU 1-2 in the fifth round of the loser's bracket.
On June 30th, 2012, Orbit Gaming competed in the Leaguepedia North American Invitational. In the two day online tournament, they were able to finish in first place, most notably defeating Curse Gaming 2-1 in the quarterfinals and sweeping Team Dynamic 2-0 in the finals. On August 26th, Orbit took fourth place at the 2012 MLG Summer Championship, losing to Dynamic 1-2 in the third place match. This led to a tie with Monomaniac Ferus for eighth place in the North American Season Two Circuit Rankings. To decide the last spot forSeason Two Regional Finals Seattle, a best of three tiebreaker match was held. Orbit lost 0-2 to mMe and was denied a spot at the North American Regionals.
Quantic Gaming
With the tournament being done, on November 12th, 2012, Hai left Orbit Gaming and joined Quantic Gaming, along with teammates Nientonsoh, LemonNation, WildTurtle, and Yazuki.
This was short lived as Quantic Gaming disbanded due to lack of resources to support the team.
Hai later rejoins Quantic Gaming on Febuary 1st, 2013. He leads the team as they qualify for the Summer Season of the NA LCS.
Cloud9
Competing under the name "Team NomNom" and then Cloud9, Nientonsoh, Hai, Yazuki, Wild Turtle and LemonNation would secure a spot in the Season 3 North American Offline Qualifier for the League of Legends Championship Series. However, Cloud9 would be knocked out of the tournament in the group stage after losing to Team MRN and Azure Gaming.
Initially, Nientonsoh said that Cloud9 would disband in light of the loss. The team later decided to stay together, although Nientonsoh and Yazuki would leave the team and a massive roster swap would ensue. Hai shifted from jungle to mid, and new junglers and top laners were actively being tried out in online competitions. With their final roster of Balls, Meteos, Hai, LemonNation, and SnEaKyCaStRoOfinally being set, the team set out to qualify for the NA LCS.
Next Stop: LCS
On Febuary 1st, 2013 Quantic Gaming reforms. Shortly after on April 6th, 2013, Quantic's Roster was set with: Balls, Meteos, Hai, LemonNation, and SnEaKyCaStRoO.
On May 11th, 2013, Quantic qualified for the Summer Season of the NA LCS after cruising past Complexity 3-0 in the promotion tournament finals to earn their LCS spot. However, it would end up being the last game they played for Quantic, as Cloud9 resurfaced and re-acquired the team ahead of its LCS debut against Team Dignitas. Hai played
Zed in the first game and opened with a 1v1 kill on Scarra's
Orianna - after Scarra had just competed at All-Star 2013 as North America's mid-laner - en route to a 3/3/3 performance in a debut win. Cloud9 went on to become the first non-founding LCS team to become champions in their rookie split - a feat that is still yet to be replicated - they went on to make the quarterfinals of the 2013 World Championship.
2015 Preseason
Cloud9 was the North American team fan-voted to IEM San Jose.[1] They defeated paiN Gaming 2-0, Alliance 2-1, and then Unicorns of Love 3-0 to win the tournament.
2015 Season
Due to their IEM San Jose victory, Cloud9 qualified for IEM Katowice in March. They lost their only two games, first to GE Tigers and then to yoe Flash Wolves, and finished in 7th/8th place. Domestically, they underperformed at the start of the season, and were in 8th place at the end of the second week of the spring LCS split. However, they improved over the course of the season, ending with a second-place finish behind Team SoloMid and a playoff bye; after beating Team Liquid 3-2, Cloud9 lost to TSM 1-3 in the finals and finished the split overall in second place.
A few days later, he announced his retirement from professional League of Legends. He cited his wrist injuries and the fact that his support carry playstyle was not viable anymore as reasons for his retirement. He would continue to be a part of the Cloud9 organization in an administrative position as Chief Gaming Officer.[2] However, when Cloud9's Summer Split record was 3-7 after the first five weeks, and they were tied for 7th place with Team 8 and Enemy, Hai returned to competitive play, but switching from mid lane to jungle and replacing Meteos. Cloud9's record for the remainder of the split was 3-5, which was enough to place them in 7th after a tie-breaker victory over Team 8; they avoided relegations and retained their Championship Points, though they did not qualify for playoffs. In the Regional Finals Gauntlet, Cloud9 reverse-swept both Gravity Gaming and Team Impulse before beating Team Liquid 3-1 in the finals. Their fourteen games played over the course of three days gave them North America's third seed to the 2015 Season World Championship, Cloud9's third-consecutive Worlds.
Considered an underdog at Worlds, Cloud9 were placed into Group B along with Fnatic, ahq, and Invictus Gaming and expected to place last. Instead, they surprised with an undefeated 3-0 first week, with Hai suddenly performing well on Lee Sin. In the second week, Cloud9 needed only one win to advance to the quarterfinals but were unable to find it, losing four games in a row including a tiebreaker loss to ahq. They placed third in their group, ahead of only Invictus Gaming.
Trivia
- Hai was a sub for Salce on Epik Gamer and nearly went to Dreamhack.
- Favors tanky/utility junglers, including Maokai, Shen and Skarner.
- When he returned to the jungle after coming out of retirement, he was successful playing non-meta junglers such as Rengar and Shyvana.
- Hai has played in many positions for professional teams, and previously was a jungle main before switching to the midlane. His emergency call-up out of retirement to stand in for Meteos marked his return to the jungle.
- Prefers AD mids like Kha'Zix and Zed
- Is also known for playing Teemo during the customary final rematch against TSM on the opening day of the 2014 Spring Split.
- While hospitalized with the collapsed lung that forced him to miss All-Star Paris 2014, he streamed from his hospital bed and was joined by Doublelift. Part of his lung was removed and he was unable to speak, but he was still able to communicate via chat.
- His brother Bao works for Riot as a recruiter.
Hai "Hai" Du Lam is a support for Cloud9. He has previously been the team's mid laner and jungler, while also being their main shotcaller in-game.
Biography
Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg was born in 1996 in Denmark.
League of Legends Career
Bjergsen began his professional League of Legends career at a very young age, and so during the Season 3 European LCS, he was unable to play with his teamCopenhagen Wolves until the third week of the spring split due to age restrictions put in place by Riot Games. For the first two weeks, he was temporarily replaced by the team's sub cowTard. After he turned 17 years old on February 21st, he was able to rejoin the main lineup and play their remaining LCS matches. At the end of the spring split, he joined the rest of the Copenhagen Wolves starting lineup in moving to the organization Ninjas in Pyjamas, where he played in the summer split.
2014 Preseason
On November 2nd, 2013, Bjergsen left NiP to move to NA and join the Team SoloMid starting lineup as their mid laner, replacing Reginald and becoming the second player to move from the European LCS to play in the North American LCS after Edward left Gambit to join Curse during Season 3.[1] Bjergsen debuted at the Battle of the Atlantic, where TSM played against Lemondogs. They won their series 2-0, and North America beat Europe in combined score.
On January 23rd, 2014, Bjergsen received a competitive ruling for having violated the LCS rules by approaching and encouraging a contracted LCS player to leave his position at Lemondogs. He admitted to having committed the violation and was fined $2,000.[2]
2014 Season
TSM's spring split went better than their season 3 summer split had, and they ended the round robin with a 22-6 record - just two games behind Cloud9. However, once again they found themselves lacking in the finals of the playoffs, losing to Cloud9 in another 3-0 series. With TheOddOne retiring and Xpecial replaced by Gleeb going into the summer split, TSM struggled early on but started to rebound with the addition of Korean import Lustboy replacing Gleeb. They accomplished what they hadn't been able to since Cloud9's entry to the LCS, and won the playoffs with a 3-2 victory over their rivals.
TSM once again received North America's top seed to the World Championship, and they placed second in their group, behind Star Horn Royal Club and ahead of SK Gaming and Taipei Assassins. It was the first time that TSM with Dyrus had advanced past their initial seeding location at a World Championship, though they lost in the quarterfinals to eventual tournament winners Samsung White.
2015 Preseason
TSM were the North American team invited to IEM San Jose, the first event that they played with the roster Dyrus, Santorin, Bjergsen, WildTurtle, and Lustboy. They were seeded directly into the semifinals, where they lost 0-2 to Unicorns of Love.
2015 Season
TSM began the 2015 Spring Split with an 8-2 record after five weeks, holding first place during every week after the first. By virtue of their standing after the fifth week of the split, TSM was invited to the IEM Season IX World Championship. There, they defeated Team WE, CJ Entus (marking their first tournament win over a Korean team), and the yoe Flash Wolves to advance to the finals of the event, where they swept Team WE 3-0 to win the title. Though TSM themselves did not play against the GE Tigers at all (then undefeated in the LCK), or against any Korean team in a multi-game series, they still made history by being the first North American team to win an international event with Korean teams present since Chicks Dig ELO at the 2011 World Cyber Games and the first Western team to do so sinceGambit Gaming at IEM Katowice in 2013. Bjergsen won the title of MVP for the event.
TSM finished the spring season with a 13-5 record, giving them the top seed into the playoffs. After defeating Team Impulse and then Cloud9, TSM won their third North American championship, tying Cloud9's record of most North American LCS championships won to date. Their victory also gave them the North American seed to the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational, where they looked to replicate their IEM success. However, the team underperformed in the group stage, winning only their match against wild card Beşiktaş and not qualifying for playoffs.
In the summer split of LCS, TSM started relatively strong, sitting at a 8-2 record at the end of week 5. However, they fell to fifth place by week 9, their lowest regular-season placement to date. In theplayoffs, TSM beat Gravity Gaming and Team Liquid in the first two rounds, winning both series 3-1. In the finals, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, they faced off against long-time rivals CLG and lost in a convincing 3-0 series. TSM had already qualified for Worlds after their semifinal win due to their Championship Points from the spring split, and they ended up with the second seed from North America.
TSM were drawn into Group D, which instantly became known as the "Group of Death" or the "Group of TSM's Death" due to LGD Gaming and KT Rolster being favorites to win it; Origen was the last team drawn in. LGD massively underperformed expectations, however, and TSM took a game off them in the first round robin. However, at the same time Origen overperformed, and ultimately KT Rolster and Origen made it out of groups; TSM lost their second game against LGD and ended up in last place with a 1-5 record.
Triva
- His favorite champions are Syndra, Twisted Fate, Elise , Nidalee and Zed.
- His favorite food is Lasagna.
- He has a dog called Ozzy.
- He hates Shaco more than any other champ in the game.
- He was at one point Riot's youngest featured Streamer.[3]
- He scored the first pentakill in the EU LCS on Syndra against the team against All authority; this was also the first game that the Copenhagen Wolves won in the LCS.
- Subbed for TSM in a few online tournaments during Reginald's surgery.
- Bjergsen reached Challenger in EUW on October 31, 2013.
- After joining TSM and moving to NA, mentioned that he looks forward to laning against mandatorycloud.
- Was the second player to play to cross over from EU to NA LCS (the first being Edward).
- Recorded 70K viewers on his first stream after joining Team SoloMid.
- Had two Challenger accounts on the NA server within two weeks of joining TSM: Bjerg (formally TSM BjergsenNA) (main) and I am BjergerKing (alt).
- His name originates from him last name "Bjerg"
Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg is the mid laner and tactical caller for Team SoloMid.
Biography
2015 Season
Placed directly into the finals of the gauntlet-style playoffs, they once again won the season, this time beating Hong Kong Esports 3-0 and automatically qualifying for the 2015 Season World Championship.
At Worlds, ahq were seeded into Group B, along with Fnatic, Invictus Gaming, and Cloud9 and went 3-3, advancing to the playoffs after a tiebreaker victory over Cloud9 (giving the North American team their fourth loss in a row that day). Their World Championship run ended in the quarterfinals, where they were drawn against tournament favorites SK Telecom, earning a top 8 finish.
Date | Event | Result |
---|---|---|
2015-07-26 | 2015 LMS Summer Playoffs | |
2015-07-12 | 2015 LMS Summer Season | |
2015-05-09 | 2015 Mid-Season Invitational | |
2015-04-12 | 2015 LMS Spring Playoffs | |
2015-03-22 | 2015 LMS Spring Season | |
2015-01-29 | IEM Season IX - Taipei |
Chen "Ziv" Yi is the Top laner for ahq e-Sports Club.
Biography
Hong "MadLife" Min-gi started playing StarCraft at the age of 7. He found himself enjoying the Aeon of Strife game-type, and so when a friend introduced him to League of Legends in September 2010 he started playing. His first champion was Akali. The first role he favored was AD Carry, but when he began to play professionally he switched to support.
During his career, MadLife has become world-renowned for his exceptional support play, particularly on play-making skillshot-based champions like Thresh and Blitzcrank. He became particularly well-known for aiming hooks in the direction in which he predicted a player would Flash and landing them dead-on.
Season 2
MadLife's first professional team was MiG Frost, which he joined alongside Woong, CloudTemplar, RapidStar, and Locodoco. The first tournament they participated in wasAzubu The Champions Spring 2012 where they played well but ultimately fell in the finals to their sister team MiG Blaze. Locodoco left the team shortly after and Woong became MadLife's new lane partner. Frost and Blaze were both bought by Azubu and participated in Azubu The Champions Summer 2012 under their new organization. Frost ended up reverse sweeping CLG Europe in the finals and qualifying for the Season 2 World Championship. Unfortunately for Frost, they dropped in the finals 3-1 to the Taipei Assassinsand took second place.
Season 3
In the beginning of Season 3, MadLife and Frost attended IEM Season VII - Global Challenge Katowice but lost in the semifinals 2-0 to Gambit Gaming. Not long after OLYMPUS Champions Winter 2012-2013ended and Frost dropped in the finals 3-0 to NaJin Sword. After Frost attended the IEM Season VII - World Championship and lost 3-1 to Blaze in the finals, Woong left the team and Hermes became MadLife's new AD Carry. MadLife was voted in to attend All-Star Shanghai 2013 where he and his teammates placed first, winning Korea another spot for the Season 3 World Championship. At OLYMPUS Champions Spring 2013 they got swept by Blaze in the semis and by SK Telecom T1 2 in the 3rd place match so Hermes was benched in favor of the sub AD Carry, Space. Frost's next tournament wasHOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 where they once again disappointed, placing 4th after being swept by the KT Rolster Bullets and losing in a close 3-2 set to MVP Ozone. MadLife and Frost attended theSeason 3 Korea Regional Finals with aspirations to go to worlds but were swept in their 2nd round by the Bullets.
2014 Season
Frost's decline continued as they were knocked out of the quarterfinals of PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 3-0 by Samsung Ozone. Frost qualified for IEM Singapore where they lost in the finals 2-0 to Invictus Gaming. The new year didn't start well for Frost as HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014 saw them lose in the quarterfinals 3-1 to Samsung Blue. Frost failed to make it out of groups for the first time ever at HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 which caused them to miss the 2014 Season Korea Regional Finals.
2015 Season
CJ Entus was forced to combine the rosters of Blaze and Frost after the changes to the OGN rules but the bot lane pair of MadLife and Space remained unchanged. They were invited to IEM Katowice in March 2015. They finished in 5th/6th place, after defeating Gambit Gaming but then losing to Team SoloMid and Team WE. CJ participated in SBENU Champions Spring 2015 where they lost in the semifinals 3-2 to SK Telecom T1. Max was called up to the starting roster prior to the start of SBENU Champions Summer 2015 to share the starting support position with Madlife. CJ placed third in the regular season of Champions Summer but lost 3-0 to the KOO Tigers in the second round of the playoffs. CJ had enough circuit points to qualify for the 2015 Season Korea Regional Finals but they lost 3-2 to the Jin Air Green Wings. CJ played in the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup where they lost 3-0 in the finals to Ever.
Trivia
- Among Koreans, it was jokingly said that MiG (A previous name of CJ Entus Frost) stood for "MadLife is God." They also say "MAmen" whenever he shows exceptional play.
- Earned over 80% of the allstar vote in season 3, giving him the highest percentage vote of all players in all regions.[1]
- Enjoys playing the game Osu! as it requires concentration and good hand-eye co-ordination skills which are useful when playing LoL.
- Favorite champions are Alistar, Blitzcrank, and Thresh.
- Had the nickname "Machine" in Korea as a result of his lack of expression and his favorite champion being Blitzcrank. [2]
- Known as a god within the community for his 'godlike' support play.
- Is well known for being one of the top skill shot based support players in the world. His excellence on Blitzcrank and Thresh is put down to brilliant micromanagement skills.[3]
- His pioneering of heavy AP champions as support such as Lux and Zyra caused some to believe he was trolling or purposefully playing inefficient champions. This style of play has since come into the mainstream support meta.
- Known for his stylistic and aesthetically pleasing play. He is often the subject of videos which praise his ability pull off complex and difficult plays.
- Possesses a deep champion pool with no known support champions that he is weak with.
- Prefers to be known by his full name (Hong Min-gi) as opposed to MadLife.
- Stated in interviews that he meditates to relax and finds it a good way to prepare for important matches.
- Awarded Best Support at 2012 Korean e-Sports Awards. [4]
- The only fan-voted player participates in all three All-Star events.
Hong "MadLife" Min-gi is the Support player for CJ Entus.
Biography
2014 Season
Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-Hwan first joined the competitive scene when SK Telecom T1 1 was formed around him on October 12th, 2013. The team renamed to SK Telecom T1 S a few months later. They qualified for PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 where they failed to make it past the group stage. At HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014, S failed to make it out of groups once again. The team's best result came at HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 where they made it to the semifinals but ultimately placed 4th after losing 3-2 to the KT Rolster Arrows and then being swept 3-0 by Samsung White.
2015 Season
With the changes to the OGN rules, S and their sister team SK Telecom T1 K were forced to merge to form SK Telecom T1. With K's top laner, Impact, departing from the team, MaRin was given the starting position for top. The team participated in SBENU Champions Spring 2015 where they won the championship after beating the GE Tigers in the finals 3-0. SK Telecom's victory qualified them for the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational where they made it to finals but lost 3-2 to EDward Gaming. SKT placed first in the regular season of SBENU Champions Summer 2015 after only dropping one set the whole season. They beat KT Rolster 3-0 in the finals of the playoffs to qualify for the 2015 Season World Championship as the top seed from Korea. SKT was placed in a group at worlds alongside EDG, Bangkok Titans, and H2k Gaming. They went undefeated all the way to the finals, beating AHQ e-Sports Club and Origen in the playoffs along the way. They met the KOO Tigers in the finals and beat them 3-1 to give the organization its second World Championship. SKT played in the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup where they lost 2-0 in the semifinals to Ever. This series is widely considered to be one of the greatest upsets in League history. MaRin left SK Telecom in November of 2015.
Trivia
- Reached rank 1 and 11 in Challenger 1 (KR) on multiple accounts.
- Known for his plays and roams in the top lane.
MaRin Gyeong-Hwan (장경환)
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