Preview of GPL Summer 2015: SEA Has An Ocean Of Undiscovered Talent!

Once regarded as one of the five major regions in LoL eSports, South East Asia’s Garena Premier League was relegated to wildcard status after its teams continually disappointed in international competition. Now free from the domineering presence of Taiwanese teams, the GPL is starting to come into its own as a strong league with worthy Wildcard contenders. Set to begin officially on 24th June, the likes of Full Louis, Impunity Legends, Bangkok Titans and everyone’s favourite underdogs from Season 3 Mineski will do battle for a shot at the International Wildcard Qualifiers, to be held in Turkey.

If you ever wanted to watch the league but had no idea who the teams were, look no further, as I give my verbose, biased opinions on each of the teams competing in GPL Summer 2015.

Before that, here’s a breakdown of the regions’ representatives:

Region	Slot
Vietnam	6
Singapore/Malaysia	4
Philippines	3
Thailand	2
Indonesia	1

The format:

• Group Stage #1
  • 16 teams divided into 4 groups of 4 (8 Seeded, 8 Unseeded)
  • Single Round Robin, Each match is Best of Two.
    • 2:0 Winning team receives 3 points.
    • 1:1 Both teams receive 1 point.
  • Top 2 teams from each group advance to Group Stage 2.
    • All Ties Broken by Head-to-Head Record before the tie-breaker.
• Group Stage #2
  • One group with 8 teams.
  • Single Round Robin, Each match is Best of One.
  • Top 4 teams advance to the Bracket stage.
    • All ties broken by Head-to-Head Record before the tie-breaker.
• Bracket Stage
  • Single-elimination bracket of 4 teams, Group Stage #2 Winners vs. 2nd place of opposite group.
  • Each match is Best of Five.

I’ll be covering each of the four groups and predicting the teams’ rankings, to give you an idea of which teams you should be watching and which others will be, to use a crude word, snooze-fests. 

Saigon Jokers (GPL Spring: 5th-8th) 

	Auzeze	Lê Hoàng Nguyên	Top
	NIXWATER	Mai Nh?t Tân	Top/Mid
	Safety	Hu?nh V?n Tân	Jungle
	Jinkey	Tr?n Công Cam	Jungle
	Carrot	?oàn V?n Ng?c S?n	Mid
	Minas	Ph?m Minh Ph??c	AD
	Tsu	LêAnh Duy	Support
	Prince	MaiNguy?nMinhTh?ng	Sub/AD

Veteran team only in name, the Jokers had yet another reshuffling after GPL Spring. NIXWATER (moving from Top to Mid…again), Safety (jungler) and TSU (support) remained on the side while Auzeze and MINAS joined from Saigon Fantastic Five.  

But the org has done this for a long time with their two sister teams, so this is not particularly surprising. Currently, the new iteration sits in joint 5th place in their domestic league, the Vietnam Championship Series.  

They’ve managed to take wins off teams less experienced than themselves through superior rotations and macro play, but have faltered against mechanically stronger teams such as Boba Marines and Gigabyte Full Louis. 

Their most recognisable player NIXWATER is still playing quirky mids like Malzahar and Anivia (with varying success), and Safety, once considered a strong jungler in SEA, is looking a shade of his former self. The rest appear to be role players, although TSU will be one to watch. Possibly the most mechanically-skilled player in SAJ, TSU makes plays on a consistent basis as he attempts to drag his team out of their usually-poor early game phase. Minas is like Space, and yes, I’m comparing TSU to Madlife because he’s pretty damn good. Minas is alright, but having someone like TSU in the laning phase helps him immensely.  

SAJ should not have too much difficulty getting out of their group given their experience. Their biggest enemies will still be their Vietnamese counterparts, and much will depend on the ability of NIXWATER to lead, as well as TSU to make dem plays. I just wish they’ll use Jinkey instead of Safety though, because Safety is looking pretty poor at present. 

Prediction: 1st 

ZOTAC United (GPL Spring: did not qualify) 

	Young	Tr?nTu?nAnh	Top
	Exo	Tr?n Quang H?u	Jungle
	Henry	Nguy?n Thành Phúc	Mid
	SAD	Nguy?nMinh Trung	AD
	3RB	Phan T?n Trung	Support
	TieuQuy	Nguy?n Vi?t Ti?p	Support

ZOTAC blitzed through VCS Spring with a 22-8 record to qualify for GPL Summer as the 4th seed from Vietnam, but I’m not really sure how it happened. This season they’re languishing domestically with a 6-7 score, drastically reducing their chances of requalifying for GPL next year.  

Their Group A partner SAJ also defeated ZOTAC earlier in the season, but SAJ was using Curot mid and NIXWATER top then. Neither team has a particularly strong top laner, so the battles will likely be fought in the mid and bottom lanes.  

Henry is an avid Leblanc and assassin player in general; he’s probably the best hope for ZOTAC if they want to do well in the GPL. Meanwhile, their support BaRoiBeo’s claim to fame is that he was one of the first professional players in the Vietnamese scene, but hasn’t done anything significant that I know of. Exo appears to be pretty competent, and has a pocket pick in Pantheon.  

Despite their middling status domestically, I wouldn’t underestimate Vietnamese teams. There’s a reason they have 6 seeds in GPL; it’s because competition is the highest among the SEA regions and although they have a terrible Best of 1 format for VCS, there are still 16 teams, of which maybe 5 would dominate in any other domestic league.  

Unfortunately I don’t think they can go up against TCH man-for-man, so I’ll give the edge to TCH. This may end up biting me in the arse, of course.  

Prediction: 3rd 

Thirsty Chinchillas (GPL Spring: did not qualify) 

	Charmander	Zhuo Jia	Top
	Zeidan	Jonas Kang	Jungle
	Ease	Royce Tang	Mid
	windowlicka	Wong Wenkai Ryan	Sub
	Lustreless	Jolene Poh	Sub
	AMELIA	Liaw Zhi Yong	Sub

One of three teams from Singapore and the 2nd seed, Thirsty Chinchillas would perhaps have been a contender for reaching the semi-finals prior to their bot lane abruptly leaving to join Impunity Legends. Unfortunately, now they’re unlikely to go that far because TCH’s ADC PessChap was undoubtedly the best player on the team.  

Because the qualification system for GPL Summer is horrible, the winner of TLC Spring, Nyan Zone, did not qualify. Qualifications were based on an event held from January to March, the Legends Cyber Arena, and NyZ wasn’t in it. However, Shinsekai, the MVP top laner from NyZ, has made it onto TCH and looks to continue his carrying ways in GPL. 

Word is that FatBoi and Kra, both from Nyan Zone, will be taking over the bot lane, making it three players from Nyan Zone in TCH. While the new bor lane is not as known as PessChap and Skarm, they do have a solid core of players remaining in Charmander (who might not start) and Ease. Charmander is proficient with Gnar and Rumble, although his Maokai and Hecarim leaves much to be desired, while Ease’s claim to fame is his Azir, which was banned out often in TLC due to his reputation on the Emperor. He falls back on Cassiopeia and Kassadin whenever he cannot have his Azir. In an environment where regional teams may not know of his Shurima fetish, Ease can single-handedly take the Chinchillas out of the group stage. 

The addition of three Nyan Zone members makes things a little more interesting too. I’m tempted to put them above ZOTAC, but you never know with Vietnamese teams — any of their top 10 can easily go up against any top 3 team from the region. Last season, all 6 VN teams made it into the second group stage. This time, maybe ZOTAC will be left behind.  

Prediction: 2nd 

Jakarta Juggernauts (GPL Spring: 13th-16th) 

	Luffy	Vandy Nugraha	Top
	TwoJ	Henry Louis	Jungle
	Cruzher	Bayu Putra	Mid
	Rofens	Kyle William	AD
	Pokka	Hartanto	Support

Ahhh, poor poor Juggernauts. Indonesia is the newest added region to the GPL, and it showed heavily during GPL Spring, where they ended the group stage without a single win to their name. In other words, Indonesia is the biggest wildcard in a region of wildcards. 

However, JKJ are still the best team in Indonesia, going undefeated in the LoL Garuda Series. 

The level of competition will likely still be too high for JKJ this Summer, but they can take these 6 group stage games as another round of experience for future seasons when Indonesia has embraced LoL a little more. Currently, Dota 2 is still the prevalent MOBA there, which makes things hard for JKJ given a lack of good teams to play against.  

Prediction: 4th 

Group B 

Saigon Fantastic Five (GPL Spring: 1st) 

	Row	HoàngDuyPh??ng	Top
	Sena	Tr??ng Tu?n Tú	Jungle
	Lovida	MaiVi?tLong	Mid
	Tartarus	Nguy?n H?ng Th?nh	AD
	Sunny	Nguy?nThanh Phong	Support
	Genz	Nguy?n Chí Anh Cao	Sub
	ProE	Tr?n QuangHi?p	Sub
	Puf	?àm ?ìnhThu?n	Sub

They were the King of Spring, qualifying them for the International Wildcard tournament in Turkey, but visa issues forced them to decline the slot. We were unable to see the region’s strongest at the time compete internationally as a result.  

This time, the roster has been overhauled, as several players wanted to leave. The majority have moved over to Saigon Jokers to ensure that both teams reach at least the regional playoffs, which leaves SF5 as a question mark regionally. Will 1st place be possible again this season? 

SF5 currently holds a 7-6 record in the VCS, but a dip in performance is to be expected given how the entire roster from last season disappeared — notably Optimus, their star ADC, who left to join Boba Marines.  

Row really likes to play Riven, no matter the matchup, but this may only hurt them in the long run. The burden of carrying will undoubtedly fall on Lovida and Tartarus, although Row can go off at any given moment if he gets the chance. I wouldn’t put him on a Fantasy team though, given his erratic play.  

There’s no real reason to bet against them not getting out of the group stage unless IPT or Wargods step it up massively, so it’s between Fate Team and them for 1st and 2nd place — my bet is on Fate given their head-to-head record in VCS, where SF5 attempted to gimp Slay’s Ryze with an Annie top/Kha’zix jungle combo.  

Great early game top ganking, mediocre mid and late game. And Slay still snowballed anyway because Sena gave up too many deaths.  

Prediction: 2nd 

Fate Team (GPL Spring: 5th-8th) 

	Slay	Nguy?n Ng?c Hùng	Top
	MeoU	Nguy?nMinhHoàng	Jungle
	Jinky	Ph?mTr??ngGiang	Mid
	LySna	?inh Thái Anh	AD
	Akiho	Tr?n ??c S?n	Support
	LoliTa	V? Hoàng Vi?t	Top
	Jully	Lê ?ình D?ng	Sub/Jungle
	Yamaa	Tr?n Thanh Toàn	Sub/Support

Another team from Vietnam — one who’s actually gone up against SF5 and Wargods in GPL Spring, AND hasn’t made any roster changes in between seasons, making analysis a little easier.  

They’re actually in a HIGHER spot than SF5 in VCS with a 10-3 record, so SF5’s dominance on the group is not guaranteed. As mentioned earlier, Fate survived some hardcore camping from SF5 to win their VCS matchup. As for Wargods, Fate went 4-0 against them in GPL Spring, so the difference in quality is pretty apparent.  

Fate generally plays the patient game, not going for a gank unless there’s a 100% chance of a kill, although they will not hesitate to dive you under your turret if the composition calls for it (Alistar is key to this). In one game, their jungler MeoU got a Quadra Kill on Gragas while having about 20% health throughout. Later in the game he took a 2-man Baron with Jinky (their star player).  Given enough time, they’ll eventually naturally accrue enough of a CS lead to have an advantage in teamfights. It’s not often you see a Kassadin farm more than a Syndra in lane, but that is the sort of thing that Jinky, their mid laner does. 

These guys aren’t flashy, but they sure know how to play League of Legends — or at least the Farming Simulator version. Sorta like a less refined Boba Marines.  

They even stuck to their guns against Full Louis, a team notorious for their insanely aggressive playstyle. Unfortunately, this meant giving up every dragon for “muh precious farm”, and the Dragon buffs arguably gave GFL an edge in teamfights. 

Given that they’re a far more consistent team than SF5, I believe they’ll end up in 1st place getting out of the group. Like SF5, their best players are in the mid and ADC positions, but Jinky appears better than Lovida (by a slight margin) and Lysna has a better support. 

Prediction: 1st 

Imperium Pro Team (GPL Spring: did not qualify) 

	Hero	Jordan Pamintuan	Top
	Haith	Josef Adrian Cabero	Jungle
	Light	Roybie Segovia	Mid
	ZNS	Jyro Pascual	AD
	Poysanity	Jesse Florence Hieras	Support
	Snoy	Elijah Joshua Guerrero	Sub/Top

After a one-season break missing out on GPL Spring, IPT makes their glorious return in Summer…but their chances of getting out are slim, to say the least. The last time they appeared in GPL, they had Snoy and Kaigu in top and jungle respectively and went 1-9 in a group stage crowded with teams like TPA and ahq Fighter, even losing out to Bangkok Titans, who back then was considered the whipping boys of GPL. 

But that was a year ago, so has things changed since then? 

The only point of reference I have is from their performances in PGS (Pro Gaming Series), where they shared the same record with Wargods in the regular season of Spring, but lost out 2-1 in the playoffs.  

They met Wargods again in PGS Summer, and Haith was playing ADC. He seemed far better than his Wargods counterpart, while the rest of IPT matched up relatively equal. However, that’s not saying much about the quality of the games, featuring a lot of solo queue-esque scrappy play. Teamfights were disorganised, players were getting caught and missing skillshots left and right, and…oh, right, the result. Wargods won 2-0.  

Given these results, and IPT’s lack of individual ability, I don’t see them getting out of 4th place, let alone out of the group.  

Prediction: 4th 

Wargods (GPL Spring: 9th-12th) 

	JLC	Jaiby Paglingayen	Top
	Skill	Ken Garcia	Jungle
	Otchie	Robert Conrad Pascual	Mid
	VYY	Neil San Juan	AD
	Stronger	Ronel Tan	Support

Let it be known that Wargods only managed anything more than 13th place in GPL Spring because they had a worse Filipino team in their group — Diamond Team. The scenario hasn’t changed. Wargods are probably better than IPT and even Mineski, but like the case of Jakarta Juggernauts, that doesn’t say much about their ability to compete regionally.  

They did manage to take a game off BKT during Spring off the back of cocky play from the Thais, but they were stomped in their three other games, leaving me no choice but to predict their 3rd placing based off their past results. SF5 and Fate Team are just stronger, although one cannot predict the ability of SF5 to throw given their inconsistency.  

It’s like, MAYBE Wargods can somehow get their preferred champions and outdraft SF5 AND play well enough to win, but I wouldn’t let that form the basis of my prediction.  

So, 3rd place, because they’ll probably beat IPT. Moving on.  

Prediction: 3rd

Group C 

Impunity Legends (GPL Spring: 4th place as Insidious Gaming Legends) 

	LY4	Lim Yang	Top
	DDan	Daniel Lua Pin Ren	Jungle
	HaRleLuYaR	Jason Koh Wei Hao	Jungle
	BBTY	Chua Kim Han Wayne	Jungle
	Dream	Richard Chew	Mid
	Cralix	Wayne Aw	Mid
	Rune	Jordan Lum	Mid
	PessChap	Darren Toh	AD
	Skarm	Chua Jia Jun	Support
	Zappy	Lim Zhi Ping	Support

The death of the Singapore Sentinels resulted in a relative monopoly of the SG scene – Insidious Gaming Legends grabbed the best known players and were expected to dominate with ease.  

While they did do pretty well during GPL Spring, recent results saw them drop 2-3 to Nyan Zone in the TLC Spring finals after going 2-0 up. 

Following IGL’s defeat, Impunity bought over the team and picked up PessChap and Skarm from Thirsty Chinchillas, as well as Cralix from Nyan Zone. As they like to say, if you can’t beat them, buy them.  

In bolstering their push for regional and international dominance through these play acquisitions, Impunity still represents Singapore as their brightest hope in international representation, but they will have to break the Vietnamese monopoly first if they are to reach Turkey and beyond. 

IGL with Valkyrie and Vera had a tendency to play too slowly and hesitantly past the early game, which does not take advantage of their skill level. They rely on getting picks off to snowball leads, but against safe teams this just will not do. A poor drafting phase also appeared to plague IGL especially against Nyan Zone, giving away Ryze in Game 4 and allowing NyZ to play the game out until Karthus and Ryze hit their power spikes.  

Time will tell if Impunity’s playstyle will change with the addition of PessChap and Skarm, because Valkyrie’s M.O. has always been to farm, farm and farm. PessChap is much more aggressive.  

IGL will definitely have their work cut out against Full Louis, due to the latter’s batshit crazy playstyle, but should face little difficulty against their SG/MY counterparts in KLH and Proioxis. More importantly, their biggest enemy will be themselves, having underestimated enemies several times in the past. If they treat every game professionally like they should, they can easily achieve first place.  

Personal bias for Full Louis forces me to place them in 2nd place though. Sorry, my Singaporean brethren; maybe you’ll finally surprise me and win GPL, because that’s been overdue since 2012. Let me have my SG pride for once.

Prediction: 2nd 

Full Louis (GPL Spring: 5th-8th) 

	Violet	Ngô M?nh Quy?n	Top
	SofM	Lê Quang Duy	Jungle
	KoW	Nguy?n ??c Hi?p	Mid
	Shyn	Nguy?n Khánh S?n	AD
	Scary	Nguy?n H?i Hà	Support
	Fury	Ph?m Xuân Ti?n	Sub/Jungle
	Starfall	Nguy?n H?u Long	Sub/Support

If there is one team you absolutely have to watch in GPL, I’d say Full Louis is easily worth your time. They won me over with their aggressive playstyle in VCS, which has so far gone unchallenged except by the Boba Marines. They now share the same score at 12-1 apiece, but could not have been more different in playstyles. 

Much of their playstyle can be attributed to their star jungler SofM, a kid so far ahead in the jungler pack in Vietnam that his Lee Sin is nearly constantly banned, and when it isn’t, he goes off like no other on the opposition. To complement his Rush-like playmaking tendencies, his contemporaries Violet and KoW frequently pick Lissandra and other assassins with CC to assist him. Yes, in Full Louis, the team plays around the jungler. That should be enough to tell you how scary SofM is.  

Although they failed to make the bracket stage in GPL Spring, GFL’s role swaps appear to have paid off, at least domestically. The previous iteration of KoW top/Shyn mid/Violet ADC never looked as good as the current one does now. 

Of course, with such a HAM playstyle, casualties are to be expected. Their playstyle is also somewhat predictable and was exploited by BKT in GPL Spring, causing them to not reach the semi-finals. Despite their domestic dominance, they can and have been figured out by regional opposition before, so their passage isn’t as safely guaranteed as you think.  

Banning out SofM is practically impossible, since he can also play meta champs like Sejuani and Rek’sai. Teams are better off making GFL uncomfortable in champ select than allowing them to run rampant with snowbally champions in game. Shutting down SofM is a priority as he is the literal heart of the team, without whom the team falls apart. 

Unfortunately I don’t see any team capable of doing this in Group C (not even ISL), so into the 2nd group stage they go. 

Prediction: 1st

Kuala Lumpur Hunters (GPL Spring: 9th-12th) 

	13Ghost	Jasper Tan Kah Guan	Top
	MooN	Ow Yang Jian Hao	Jungle
	OzoraVeki	Poon Kok Sing	Mid/AD
	JaeYoong	Jason Yoong	AD/Jungle
	QaspieL	Sia Sze Pin	Support/Mid
	Shu	Atuf Aimullah	Sub/Support

Veterans since the very first season of GPL, the Malaysians (and one Singaporean) hasn’t had much luck in GPL in, well, ever. However, they were lucky enough to qualify for GPL once again, in a climate increasingly difficult for Malaysian teams due to having to share qualifying spots with Singapore.  

After several role swaps, KLH has settled on a steady lineup of JaeYoong in the jungle, QaspieL in ADC and MooN on support. This has translated into a 12-2 streak in TLC MY Summer and a bye into the bracket stage, but dominance domestically has never been anything new. With any luck, this lineup will also seek unprecedented results in the GPL.  

The recurring trend is of MooN picking Leona every…single…game, while for a former ADC JaeYoong is surprisingly capable of playing in the jungle, particularly on Jarvan. 

13Ghost heavily prefers Hecarim and Irelia. From these picks, you can kinda tell that KLH wants to teamfight a lot. 

That plan may be good enough to beat solo queue stars (aka Proioxis), but perhaps not quite at the level to challenge regionally. Will Summer be their year? They’re going to have to get past Impunity as well as Full Louis to do so.  

Luckily for them, defeating Impunity is not out of the question, as they split a series 1-1 during Spring. However, iGL’s return 2-0 banished KLH to 3rd place in the group. Defeating Vietnamese teams also isn’t out of the question; a similar 1-1 series was had against 269 Gaming who reached the semi-finals last season but failed to qualify again by virtue of not finishing in the top 6. 

That kinda tells you a lot about the Vietnamese scene, when a top 10 team domestically reaches a regional semi-final. There’s a lot of catching up to do, and KLH may find the going too tough against Singapore and Vietnam…again. 

Prediction: 3rd  

Team Proioxis (GPL Spring: did not qualify)

	Wrath	Top
	Kuremento	Jungle
	BaneMystic	Mid
	Brooom	AD
	Faaa	Support

Because this team has three changed members, any prediction will be solely based off their performances at the Legends Cyber Arena, the convoluted event held 6 months before GPL Summer began. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to hold qualifiers so far ahead in advance has got another think coming, because although Proioxis qualified for GPL Summer by mere inches (winning a Best of 1 tie-break), they failed to qualify for TLC Spring, meaning there was a full 3 months of not seeing them play in a competitive match.  

That’s not the organiser’s fault, of course, but you have to understand that regional and international competition should be among the best teams currently in the region. Proioxis may not even be top 4 in Singapore, let alone in SEA. They do have a lot to prove, all of them being first-time GPL players, and will thus be lacking in terms of competitive experience and macro play as a result.  

It so happens that KLH did face off against Proioxis during LCA, and KLH won 3-1, racing ahead to a 2-0 lead. The same may just happen again in a Best of 2 scenario, depending on who Proioxis sends out.  

Given their complete lack of experience, I wouldn’t bet on them getting out of the group. I’ll still commend their valiant effort to get in, however. They had no business being in GPL as a semi-pro team, but they made it in regardless.  

Prediction: 4th 

Group D

Bangkok Titans (GPL Spring: 2nd) 

	WarL0cK	Pawat Ampaporn	Top
	007x	Chayut Suebka	Jungle
	G4	Nuttapong Menkasikan	Mid
	Lloyd	Juckkirsts Kongubon	AD
	Moss	Sorawat Boonphrom	Support

You can say that the Titans finally started living up to their name in 2015. Long seen as the whipping boys of GPL with absolutely horrid records, they started improving slowly but surely in 2014, although the presence of Taiwanese teams did not allow them to go as far as they could have.  

Then the Taiwanese separated from SEA, and BKT woke up from their years-old slumber. 

Suddenly, BKT found themselves the only team able to beat the Vietnam monopoly. Fate Team. ASUS Ultimate. 269 Gaming. Full Louis. It was literally a gauntlet of Vietnamese teams, one after another, and BKT dispatched of them as if they were cosplaying a Taiwanese team in the GPL pre-2015. 

The one time they faltered was in the final, against SF5, but they had destroyed IGL 3-0 along the way, so as far as they were concerned, 2nd place was already amazing.  

Despite having little to no competition in the Thai scene, BKT proved that some grit, hard work, stability and dedication could go a long way…all the way to Turkey that is. After the victors SF5 had to drop out due to visa issues, BKT stepped up to the plate to represent SEA at the International Wildcard Invitational, acquitting themselves by coming in 3/4th place and taking games off pretty much everyone along the way. Imagine that! Anyone who followed GPL since its inception would NEVER have seen this coming. They did what they did in Turkey with a sub support as well, Moss.  

Moss has since taken over the starting support role following his good performances, and indeed, BKT will be closely watched in GPL, having grabbed the world’s attentions at an event where they were not fancied to go far. The sole Vietnamese kryptonite in Spring will be asked to dispatch of another behemoth in Boba Marines. 

BKT may not be the strongest or the most mechanically-gifted, but this band of Titans have stuck together for an obscene amount of time and can only get better. Their games against Boba Marines should be close, but I have to give the advantage to BKT because they are a far more decisive team than BM is.  

Prediction: 1st 

Boba Marines (GPL Spring: did not qualify)

 

	Archie	Tr?n Minh Nh?t	Top
	Tik	Bùi Hoàng	Jungle
	QTV	Nguy?n Tr?n T??ng V?	Mid
	Optimus	Tr?n V?n C??ng	AD
	Junie	Tr?n H?u Nh?t Minh	Support
	?c	Tr?n ??c Huy	Sub/Support
	Kent	L??ng Hoàng B?o Anh	Support

Next to Full Louis, Boba Marines has been taking the VCS by storm, and looking at their lineup it’s not hard to see why — the team boasts ex-Saigon Jokers veterans such as Archie and QTV, and they also picked up Optimus, a huge reason for SF5’s success in GPL Spring. Given a stacked lineup like this, there’s no reason to believe they won’t be at the top of the standings come the end of summer.  

To understand Boba Marines completely, think of the description I gave for Fate Team — and multiply that with huge international experience. Now that Saigon Jokers and Saigon Fantastic 5 aren’t quite as good as before due to roster revamps, top 4 is not impossible for Definitely Not Saigon Jokers. 

Their playstyle can best be described as Fate Team, but better. While it’s not uncommon for BM game to be 0-0 at 15 minutes, all they need is one well-timed teamfight to take the victory, ensuring you don’t get too bored while watching them. Their jungler Tik prefers to farm in the jungle and pop out when there isn’t anything left to farm, for pressure purposes rather than gank opportunities. Usually he’ll get in position for a counter-gank to take advantage of his farm and higher level. Pretty much the opposite of SofM.   

BM have amazing teamfighting and disengaging abilities, contributing to the low kill counts early game. It’s not because they’re being passive — they know that if their enemies don’t successfully get ganks off while Tik is farming, they’ll come out ahead in teamfights. They’re usually right to think this. 

Interestingly, their playstyle is very reminiscent of Cloud 9 back in 2013 and 2014. They don’t prioritise objectives quite as much as C9 did (even giving up Barons and Dragons), but their teamfighting and overall strategy are eerily similar. There’s only one problem; they take their time, sometimes for far longer than is necessary. This can make their games relatively hard to watch past the early game, but they’ve always somehow won out in the end, no matter how many Barons their opponents take. Scary, scary teamfighting. 

Prediction: 2nd (by the narrowest of margins) 

Go To Sleep (GPL Spring: did not qualify) (formerly known as Team Toxic)

	Renrin	Top
	Einsteinium	Jungle
	NletSz	Mid
	Elesis	AD
	LowGravity	Support

The team is new, but the players certainly aren’t. Most of them have been in the pro scene since at least 2013, and they were the only team in Thailand to take a game off the Titans back in the Thailand Pro League (TPL), losing 3-1 in the Grand Final.

Unfortunately, they haven’t had such good results in TPL Summer, getting knocked to the Lower Bracket by 3 Piglets, a team with an even stronger record than BKT (9-1 in the group stage) and possible contender next GPL Spring.

But now we have Go To Sleep competing, so we’ll talk about them instead. Their mid laner NletSz has a wide and varied champion pool, including but not limited to Irelia (!!), Corki and Xerath. He’s no Faker Jr, although I’m sure he takes some inspiration from God himself. Einsteinium, meanwhile, has a reputation of building damage even on Nunu (!!!) and has pulled out Master Yi in the past. He doesn’t seem to be playing in recent Team Toxic matches though, sadly, having been replaced by a jungler who plays meta and hence booooooring. No wonder they lost to 3 Piglets.

Or maybe it’s him. I’m not overly familiar with the Thai scene, so pardon me if I’m wrong.

If there’s a weak link, it’ll be in the bot lane — Elesis gets outplayed by other Thai bot lanes, so I’m not holding out hope for him suddenly being able to match up to the likes of Optimus or even Exo (!!!!).

New team, high hopes, but low chances. MAYBE they’ll take a game or two off Mineski, but no further. 

Prediction: 3rd/4th (does it matter?)

Mineski (GPL Spring: 9th-12th)

	Tgee	Gerald Gianne Gelacio	Top
	Kulit	James Calumpag	Jungle
	Yume	Danyll Jann Balisi	Mid
	Exo	Eric Allen Gubatan	AD
	Kaigu	Jon Lance Hernandez	Support
	CED	Cedrick Daez	Sub
	Noel	Noel Cruz	Sub

Ahh, good ol’ Mineski who made it to Worlds in 2013 after Singapore Sentinels goofed in the Regional Playoffs. They hardly belonged among the region’s elite, let alone the world’s best teams, but gained support from the crowd anyway thanks to their underdog charm. Two years on, they somehow managed to draw 1-1 against SF5 in GPL Spring, giving false hope, but then ended their Golden Age in 3rd place in their group, failing to qualify out of the group stage. 

How a team can go 1-1 twice with the winners of the Spring split and then lose 0-2 to Ultimate (the eventual winners of their group) still beggars belief. 

They have been bested by Wargods domestically for the past two years. Although 2nd place is not such a bad thing, Wargods isn’t exactly the strongest team, so you do have to wonder if Mineski will EVER play any better than they did in 2013. 

At least they have a good record against Thai teams, bringing up their chances of not actually finishing 4th. You’ll notice I don’t rate Wargods or IPT highly either, and that’s because Filipino teams completely lack in macro play in general, and doesn’t even have the mechanical skill to compensate, so going up against better regions and hoping to even win is being highly optimistic. Of course, they could prove me wrong (as they have in the past), but past domestic and regional play inspires very little hope and leaves me no choice but to dismiss Mineski’s past accomplishments as freak occurrences which can’t be replicated.

Prediction: 3rd/4th

So, there you have it! Congratulations if you’ve made it this far; you must really be interested in GPL, which takes a great deal of hipsterism. Now you can show off your increased knowledge of GPL and link your friends to this article so they can too learn about the Greatest Professional League in the world! 

With references to: eSportspedia, Garena

---