LMS Promotions/Relegations Day 1: Machi Relegates Dream or Reality

The History

Machi and Dream or Reality had quite a bit of history coming into this anticipated relegation match. The LMS qualifiers for Spring featured Machi and an amateur team known as Team HopeLess in the same group. The group came down to a game between Machi and Team HopeLess for LMS qualification. Machi, being a decent team during their tenure in the GPL, figured to be the heavy favorite. However, Team HopeLess defeated Machi and secured their own berth into the LMS.

Funnily enough, Machi would come in and sponsor Team HopeLess, naming the team Machi Crew. However, the team would rebrand in a number of weeks to the much maligned label, Dream or Reality. Its not that the name is bad, but rather that Dream or Reality was considered by many horrible to watch, ending the season without a single victory at 0-21. It will be forever remembered along with Velocity eSports and Team Coast.

The Players

Machi has done much to change their roster in order to compete in the Summer Split of the LMS. FoxYa, their previous jungler had left the team. Aching, their mid laner had been suspended from competitive play, while Ender had to leave for compulsory military duty. Fiesta and Republic came in as two Korean imports to fill the vacant jungle and mid lane roles, while BoBo, former HKA Priest player, was brought in to replace Ender. Their bot lane of Dee and Dreamer remained unchanged.

Top: BoBo

Jungle: Fiesta

Mid: Republic

AD: Dee

Support: Dreamer

Dream or Reality, like many of the bottom four teams made immediate roster changes in order to qualify for the upcoming LMS split. On their third mid lane change, they would bring in LuciferYYY to replace Kawaii for the series. However, since he is from Hong Kong, he played from home for the series. Xiao Xiao would also be brought in to replace HoneyRain. The remaining positions remained unchanged.

Top: ArJuan

Jungle: HanJi

Mid: LuciferYYY

AD: XiaoXiao

Support: ThreshMelon

The Matchup

Dream or Reality was seemingly outclassed at every position over the course of the split and this trend continued in this series.  Aside from a good early game performance from LuciferYYY against Republic in Game 1, the team was overpowered player by player over the course of the series. There are no simple standout performances as the team had quite easily taken apart Dream or Reality at every position.

Machi brought more cohesive compositions and much stronger team fighting, coupled with a vastly superior laning phase after some initial hiccups in the first game. In Games 2 and 3,  Machi would close out the games with gold leads of 23k and 16k, even ending Game 3 before the twenty minute mark.

Machi will bring a breath of fresh air into the LMS Summer Split, with some more refined talent and better understanding of team play. Although they may not be competitive, I don’t expect them to end the season 0-21.