Gravity Gaming closed out week eight of the League Championship Series by winning both of their matches, boosting the team to 9-7 and making them a favorite to secure a spot in the playoffs.
On Saturday, they upset returning champions Team SoloMid, who just won the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice tournament the week before. Gravity pulled out a surprise Urgot pick, showing a little of their trademark creativity and capitalizing on an uninspired draft from SoloMid. On Sunday, Gravity trounced Dignitas in a rather easy game. And in that time, team captain Brandon āSaintviciousā Dimarco, one of League of Legendsā elder statesmen, didnāt miss the smite, as the jungler is famously derided for often doing.
Gravity is becoming one of the more decisive teams in the LCS.
He managed to secure Dragon in a key early smite-off before leading his team to a commanding victory. Saintvicious also didnāt die, at least until he met Dignitasā fountain, after the game was essentially won. His 0/1/10 Sejuani, an ultra-tank who built a solid farm lead and landed the perfect crowd control, wasnāt flashy. It maybe wasnāt the kind of play youād expect from the Saintvicious you saw in 2011 and 2012, when he was the king of the jungle and in the conversation for the best player in League of Legends, though it still showed off his talent for farming up in the role. But itās what Gravity needed to win.
Unlike many of Leagueās original stars, the 27-year-old Saintvicious has managed to extend his career as contemporaries like Andy āReginaldā Dinh, William āScarraā Li, and George “HotshotGG” Georgallidis fell by the wayside, taking roles in management and coaching as their skills eroded and their drive to perform waned. To do that, Saintvicious has had to reinvent himself both in and out of game, morphing from a more me-first and egotistical player into a leader and team player.
Itās worked. As the shot caller for Gravity, Saintvicious has led one of this seasonās biggest cinderellas to a 9-7 record, just a stone’s throw away from securing a spot in the LCS playoffs. Not bad for a team that entered the league from relegation.
Rising up the standings
Of course, Gravity wouldnāt be on the cusp of playoff qualification if they hadnāt pulled off a surprising win over SoloMid. But while the community was largely surprised, Saintvicious wasn’t.
āGoing into this week, I thought it was going to go really good for us since scrims were going so well,ā he said. āIt came to the point where when we were scrimming weād literally pick whatever we wanted.ā
Early in his career, he was famed as the original carry jungler.
When he says literally, he means it. Picks like Jarvan IV mid lane donāt exactly scream viability. But “it doesnāt matter what we pick,” he says. “Itās coming to the point where the picks donāt matter. We can just play what we want and just win the game just because we understand the game better than the other team.ā
You are forgiven if you think that sounds a little hokey, like the blind monk who transcends normal senses and reaches a zen state of higher understanding. But in some ways thatās an apt analogy as Gravity has found their ācomfortable zoneā where everyone knows what theyāre doing (at least, when they arenāt diving Bjergsen with stars in their eyes, Keane).
Itās taken a combination of things for Gravity to reach that point, from simply grinding games together for months to the addition of Nick āLSā De Cesare as coach. De Cesare goes over every Gravity scrim and points out their mistakes. āHe helps a lot with the rotational stuff,ā Saintvicious says. But a bigger factor may be Saintvicious himself; heās getting āa lot more confidentā in his shot calling.
That shows in-game, as Gravity is becoming one of the more decisive teams in the LCS.
āYou have to evolve. So, weāre always looking to evolve,ā he says. āItās so tight in the middle of the pack to get to playoffs, so I think weāre a lot hungrier than the other teams too.ā
Gravity: the chillest team in the LCS
One thing that seems to separate Gravity from many of the other teams in the LCS is their team attitude. The squad gets along extremely well and seem to have figured out the perfect balance of taking professional video gaming seriously, but not too seriously. And much of that comes from the top.
āItās so funny because I was looking at posts, and Liquid pretty much had the same standing as us going in the last week, and people were asking to bench players, move this, change that!ā Saintvicious says. āBut like hell. We could get seventh place and [Gravity owner Davis Vague] would be like, āWell, good job guys! See you next split! Do better next time!ā And I think that takes a big burden off people. Everybody tries hard on their own, everybody pushes each other.ā
Gravity is a āself motivatedā team, he says, and theyāre also very self sufficient. They have to be with a young rookie owner in Vague, the enigmatic teen who purchased Curse Academy after they earned a spot in the LCS in the expansion tournament. Vague is āreally hands off,ā Saintvicious says. But thatās just fine with the team. āWe were a really self-reliant team when we were in [Curse Academy]… So weāre a really independent team.ā
āI think weāre a lot hungrier than the other teams.āĀ
But Vague has provided them the tools they need to perform. Saintvicious believes their living situation is one of the best in the league; everyone has their own room. They have a top-notch coach in De Cesare who provides them with any analysis they need through his own team of analysts. āWe never feel like we need something and we canāt get it,ā Saintvicious says. āWe have everything we need to succeed, for sure. Gravity has been really good to us. [Vague] has been really good to us. I just feel like weāve all helped out along the way.ā
Of course, it hasnāt all been sunshine and roses. The team had a bit of a dust-up in the middle of the season, when young coach HughBo āSoulDraā Shim stepped down because he couldnāt handle the role. That lead to talk of the hard-headed Saintvicious as a coach-killer, a veteran notorious for his stubborn attitude failing to give a rookie a chance. But Saintvicious says thereās a simple way to earn his respect.
āThe same way you earn respect as a player to a player,ā he says. āYou need to show me that you understand the game and that youāre motivated and you put the effort in. Every person on the team works their ass off. They eat, breath, and sleep League of Legends. This is my particular problem with Souldra. If youāre going to show up youāre not going to have the same heart in it as me, the effort, the knowledge, Iām just not going to respect you. I feel like LS really cares about the game and he understands it well and he really cares about us doing well too. Itās really easy to show mutual respect there.ā
That mutual respect is what makes Gravity run. Theyāre down to joke around and have fun, as long as theyāre on point when they need to be. Theyāre okay with Keane picking off-the-wall champions in scrims, because they know heāll perform when it counts. āIf you donāt enjoy scrimming and enjoy the game, youāre just not going to do well at it,ā Saintvicious says. āThe team gets along really well. I think we have one of the best team atmospheres.ā
That stands in stark contrast to Saintvicious’s teams in the past, like on Team Curse where he got into an infamous shouting match on stream with teammate Cody āElementzā Sigfusson, or one of the many disputes with Counter Logic Gaming owner Hotshotgg. Itās also a contrast to the team Saintvicious in his Team Liquid days.
āI think that, just from me being on Team Liquid before, thereās too much pressure to perform,ā he says. āIt just becomes a really tense environment, and that doesnāt lead to healthy growth. Yeah, there needs to be structure in place, but there needs to be flexibility within that structure as well.ā
Team Liquidās management takes a very proactive role in the team, handling conflicts by sitting players down with each other to hash things out, talking to every player individually after every match to figure out what they perceived were potential issues. Itās a system methodically designed to produce results, but one that also produces stress. For a squad like SoloMid, itās working. But maybe not for Team Liquid (though Saintvicious also lays blame on Liquidās picks and bansāātheyāre really faltering in thatā), and maybe not for Saintvicious.
Of course, much of tension within Saintviciousās past teams came from his own abrasiveness and competitiveness. On Gravity, it works in part because of personalities surrounding him. But heās also managed to soften some of his rough edges.
Saintvicious: re-inventing himself
In October, 2013, Team Curse was heading for a shake-up after a disappointing year saw them in relegation. Saintvicious moved out of the starting lineup and into a coaching role, like so many of his old-school contemporaries. It looked like the end of the career of one of League of Legendsā greatest pioneers and smartest players, forced to step down as young guns with quicker fingers fill the competitive ranks. But Saintvicious wasnāt finished.
āI really think this split is a split for us to get ramped up and next split is the split weāre going to make our run.ā
Aside from thankfully short-lived cameo appearance as a Curse support (āI am not a support player,ā he says adamantly), it would be nearly a full year before he returned to competitive League of Legends. But it was a year well spent.
āWhen I took the time off I was really burnt out and I started to play really badly,ā he says. āI didnāt enjoy the game much at that pointā¦ not really the game, but playing at the competitive level. I was just burnt out on it.ā
Instead of competing, he spent his time relaxing and learning. He started his āLoL Lessons with Saintā video series, in which he interviewed various players, coaches, doctors, and whoever else he could get to apply their knowledge to League of Legends. āI got to interview a whole bunch of really cool people like coaches, Chris Kluwe, people from the Lakers, grandmaster chess players,ā Saintvicious says. āAll these different minds, and I got to get all this information, the way they viewed things, competition and teamwork. It made me a much more well-rounded player.ā
When he decided to make a return to competition, he was ārefreshed.”
āThat gave me a big edge on everybody that had been playing the game,” he says. “Also, this whole time Iāve been watching the game, looking at it from an outsider perspective.” During his time off, he still lived at the Team Curse house. Being around that squad, but not actually a part of it, was a learning experience too. āJust being on the outside of that and just coming back into a team, itās a lot easier for me to address things and to work as a team.ā
It also helped open Saintvicious up to more varied play styles. Early in his career, he was famed as the original carry jungler, farming up to become a team fight monster before William āMeteosā Hartman made it cool. Heād build a huge lead and crush the enemy jungler to give his team an advantage. But heād scoff at playing some of the babysitting roles many teams require of their junglers today.
āBoth Hauntzer and Keane in solo lanes are able to carry, and Cop is also performing really well, so what they need is someone to back them up when they need it,ā he says. āThatās my job in the meta right now.ā
Would he be able to do that two, three years ago? He laughs. āProbably not, no. I would have been like, āI gotta farm everything and do this!āā
Back in action
Last week, SoloMid became the first American team to win a major international title at a tournament featuring Korean teams when they took the IEM Katowice title. Saintvicious won an IEM title of his own in Cologne way back in 2011, nearly four years ago. But donāt think he got all nostalgic watching SoloMid trot on stage and hoist their trophy.
āI refused to go to Katowice! They actually asked me if I wanted to cast,ā he says. āThe trip is just too long! I canātā¦ itās just way too long. Itās like snowing thereā¦ itās so sunny here! Why am I going to leave this right now? Iād rather just prepare with my team right now.ā
The international experience is always nice, he says. But, as SoloMid jungle Lucas āSantorinā Tao Kilmer Larsen lamented in an interview, the team didnāt even get to play Koreaās best, GE Tigers. āThey played last place WE instead,ā Saintvicious says. āI feel like [TSM] didnāt really get any experience out of it anyways, so. That tournament Iām down to miss out on.ā
The one heās not? The Midseason Invitational, which will hit Tallahassee, Florida in May. The number one team in each of the top leagues in the world will earn an invite. For Gravity to get there, theyād need to not only reach the LCS playoffs but win it. Saintvicious is confident in his teamās form right now, but not ready to go that farāyet.
āI really think this split is a split for us to get ramped up and next split is the split weāre going to make our run,ā he says. āThatās what weāre looking for.ā
That sounds reasonable,Ā if a common sentiment among many teams in the LCS this season. But the team has come a long way from where Saintvicious and company started with Curse Academy,Ā entering the challenger series with dreams of the LCS. Mission accomplished.
āWe have everything we need to succeed.ā
āI thought we had a good shot at LCS,ā he said. āThe team that we put together was really strong. Itās pretty much what I predicted. I thought weād be about where we are now. I definitely think we can climb up to the top ranks though. I feel really confident with our team.ā
Confidence, of course, is not something North Americaās genius jungler has ever lacked. But it seems especially well-placed in his Gravity teammates, a rag-tag band who has emerged as a rising team in the LCS this season. Itās not just any season of the LCS, eitherāitās more competitive than ever.
āOrganizations have gotten of course more professional,ā Saintvicious said. āEspecially in the NA scene; teams have gotten astronomically better as a whole. There are not that many weak links. Thereās Coast, and thatās it. I know that Dignitas and Winterfox are down there, but theyāre not as weak as the weaker teams before. Thereās a lot less easy games and easy teams to prey on. Then the top five is starting to get really, really close too. NA as a whole has progressed as a region. We definitely can compete with any region on the level right now.ā
But for Gravity, topping North America needs to come first. They’ll face Cloud9 on Saturday and finish their regular season with a bit of a grudge match against Team 8, another 9-7 cinderella directly competing for that coveted spot in the playoffs. The two are familiar from their time during last yearās challenger series. But Saintvicious isnāt worried.
āI feel really confident against Team 8, to be honest,ā he said.
Thatās no surprise. Right now, Saintvicious and Gravity are confident against everyone.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr