UCI’s League of Legends team started their season today with a match against Boise State University. The starting lineup included Justin ‘Tower of God’ Choi in the top lane, Youngbin ‘Y0UNGBIN’ Jung in the jungle, Jeffrey ‘Descraton’ Du in the mid lane, James ‘Lattman’ Lattman as the AD carry, and Lyubomir ‘Bloodwater’ Spasov playing support.
UCI Picks & Bans Game One
- Shen, Janna Ornn – Bans 1
- Kog’ Maw, Sejuani, Azir – Picks 1
- Sivir, Tristana – Bans 2
- Nami, Illaoi – Picks 2
BSU Picks & Bans Game One
- Camille, Vladimir, Zoe – Bans 1
- Orianna, Jarvan, Maokai – Picks 1
- Jayce, Alistar – Bans 2
- Varus, Karma – Picks 2
First blood was secured by UCI in a skirmish in the mid lane consisting of both UCI’s and BSU’s mid and jungle. The kill went over to Descraton with the assist from Y0UNGBIN.
By the 08:20 in-game time, Tower of God had accumulated a 40cs lead against BSU’s top laner who only had Ninja Tabi and a Doran’s Shield. At the same time, the other four members of UCI’s squad were setting up for a 4-man tower dive in the bottom lane. Lattman and Bloodwater shove their lane for minions to tank tower shots, Descraton approaches from bottom side blue sentinel, and Y0UNGBIN sneaks around from the jungle entrance near the tier two bottom lane tower. Y0UNGBIN lands a Glacial Prison on Karma with the ice storm AoE slowing Varus. Lattman gets the kill on Varus and Descraton is on a spree after killing Karma. At this point in the game, UCI had a 4.4k gold lead with all three lanes winning.
BSU no longer had the option to go for duels or skirmishes as their entire team was severely behind. Their win conditions had dissipated quickly as UCI’s proactive play left no breathing room. With superiority in vision and macro plays throughout the remainder of the match, UCI ended the first game in less than 30 minutes with all enemy structures brought down.
UCI Picks & Bans Game Two
- Shen, Janna, Sejuani – Bans 1
- Ornn, Braum, Vayne – Picks 1
- Alistar, Lulu – Bans 2
- Zoe, Kha’ zix – Picks 2
BSU Picks & Bans Game Two
- Vladimir, Camille, Azir – Bans 1
- Jarvan, Maokai, Sivir – Picks 1
- Lee Sin – Bans 2
- Ekko, Morgana – Picks 2
First blood goes to Lattman with the assist from Bloodwater in the bottom lane. Bloodwater used Stand Behind me to jump to an ally minion which allowed him to land a Winter’s Bite and auto attack onto the nearby Sivir applying two stacks of Concussive Blows. Bloodwater used exhaust on Sivir, landed another auto attack, and Lattman lands an auto proccing Concussive Blows’ stun effect. Soon after first blood, Y0UNGBIN approaches Ekko from blue side wolves and secures the kill as Descraton had already brought Ekko to low health.
At 07:30, Descraton is faced in a 1v2 situation against BSU’s Jarvan and Ekko. Descraton began the fight landing Paddle Star onto Jarvan bringing him down to less than 50% HP, then dodges the Demacian Standard/Dragon Strike combo and Time Winder. Descraton cleans up the fight by first killing Jarvan with a long-range Paddle Star, and then with some assistance from Tower of God ends Ekko’s life with Paddle Star as well. UCI had a 3.6k gold lead and 7 kills to to BSU’s 0 at this point in the game.
Like game one, UCI’s dominance in the early game and superiority in overall macro play lead them to a quick victory. BSU losing all lanes and being behind in the jungle throughout the early to mid-game once again leave them with limited to no win conditions as the game progressed. UCI won their lanes, capitalized on their advantages, and had consistent vision on enemy champions allowing them to maneuver effectively across the map.
Lattman interview by Loc Tran
What was going through your mind in game two that made you hold the AD pick instead of picking Kog’ Maw on first rotation?
We wanted to prioritize the Zoe pick, and we also wanted to try and bait out the Ornn pick. Then we’d pick Braum into the Ornn to counter the Ornn ult. But in the end, they just ended up giving us Ornn and Braum anyways. Once they picked Sivir, I really wanted to pick Vayne into Sivir. As long as you can avoid getting pushed in the entire laning phase, Vayne will mess up a Sivir pretty badly. They picked Morgana which is also a character that Vayne is pretty sick against. So, it was like a no brainer at that point.
How does it feel to be a collegiate League of Legends player at UCI?
It’s been a very humbling experience. Being a part of a program at such a reputable school is something that I will always be grateful for and its cool.
What do you think was the main reason you won this series?
I think the biggest reason we won this series was because of our control around mid. Our jungle-mid control was phenomenal this series. We never really didn’t know where the Jarvan was since Youngbin was doing such a good job of tracking. There was never a situation where their mid laner had priority and could roam off it because Descraton was dominating mid. It’s really easy to win a game when you have full control of mid.
What do you think is the main difference between this year and last year besides the obvious roster changes?
There’s a difference in mentality this year. Last year we kind of became a little complacent towards the middle to end of the season. This year, since we lost last year, everyone’s been humbled by it. Our work ethic is much higher this season compared to last season. For me personally, I’m playing 10-12 games a day during the week on top of school. I tried to use Descraton’s number of games played to see how much I should be practicing.
What do you think about the coaching staff?
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a permanent coaching staff throughout the entirety of this season as well. That being said, I still really respect and enjoy having the coaching staff that we have this year. Our coach is a great dude. His name is also James. That’s always a plus. It’s nice to have more than one James on the team. We have a group of analysts that are very committed and that helps a lot.
Do you have anything to say for your fans?
Thanks for the support guys! We love you all!
Dreamweaver interview by Loc Tran
What are your goals with the team?
We’re working on winning. I think we’re doing a pretty good job currently.
How long have you been coaching this team?
It’s been a little over 3 months
What’s your coaching background?
I used to be a small-time mentor. I used to help Bronze and Silver players get up to Gold or Plat. One day my friend just said, “oh you should try to coach a better team and see what comes of it.” I just said ok. I started messaging challenger teams and asked if they wanted a coach. They said yes, and I just did that for a while and then I ended up on Fnatic and of just went from there.
What advice would you give to a solo queue player that’s trying to get better, but is hitting a wall?
There’s two major things that I would say. The first thing is, lots of solo queue players are going to focus on “oh it’s my mechanics that are the problem. This is what’s holding me back.” Often that’s not the case. The mental state that you get into is a lot of times what holds people back in solo queue. The second thing is, review your own games. It’s something that I do. I’m a bad player. My mechanics are awful. If you look at my response time, it’s horrible. But a lot of times just by reviewing my own games, I can put myself in situations where I don’t have to make those clutch responses that I would have to because I recognize “oh I’ve been in this situation before I know what to do.” I just react appropriately to begin with and not put myself in that situation. Finally, be willing to tell yourself that you’re wrong.
What do you think of the players? Do you like working with the team here?
Yeah! Of course! I like working with this team! It’s sort of unique. Collegiate teams don’t have to interact with each other as extensively as professional teams do. For example, when I worked with Fnatic, they lived in a house all together. It wasn’t just a generic house, it was a very small house. That changes the dynamics where a lot of players will sort out personal issues between themselves as professional teams because they’re living together. That’s something that doesn’t exist on college teams, but at the same time it’s not as big of a problem.
UCI’s League of Legends team had an excellent performance and have made it very clear that they’re goal is first place this season. Congratulations to Tower of God, Y0UNGBIN, Descraton, Lattman, and Bloodwater on their first win of collegiate season!
