Who is SuperMassive eSports? – An exploration of the IWCI representative
Flying two times around the world on their way to Mid-Season Invitational, the Turkish SuperMassive eSport is looking stronger than ever. Since taking a convincing first place finish at the 2016 International Wild Card Invitational in Mexico last month, Dumbledoge and co. look to make their mark on the highest international level.
The Turkish super team had a rocky start in the first split of the Turkish Championship Tournament 2016 (TCL), despite an all-star lineup consisting of the star players Asım “fabFabulous” Karakaya, Berke “Thaldrin” Demir, Koray “Naru” Bıçak, fan favorite
Mustafa ” Dumbledoge” Kemal, jungler Furkan “Stomaged” Güngör and the newcomer Nicolaj “Achuu” Ellesgaard. They became team that was expected to win everything, but also the team that struggled even against weaker opponents after the laning phase. So they decided to bring in a coach to fix their teamwork problems. They found their solution in the form of Adrian “hatchy” Widera. Since Hatchy joined SuperMassive eSports the team improved their teamwork problems by bettering the work environment. Week after Week the team that was playing as a group of five guys started to work as an unit.Just in time for playoffs they were ready to show the other turkish teams how good they have become. After a close series against Team Aurora, where SuperMassive won the first two games but let Team Aurora take it to game five, SuperMassive headed to the finals of the TCL to play against Beşiktaş.OH. Only dropping the second game against Beşiktaş.OH, they adapted to Beşiktaş.OH teamfighting strategie and took the last two games in dominating fashion to be able to go to Mexico.
Supermassive E-Sports came into the 2016 IWCI as one of the favourite teams by many experts and casters of the participant regions. Supermassive have some very interesting strategies around their two top laners and their off meta picks like Karma and Fizz top lane, but also their Poppy and Elise support were very successful in the Turkish Championship Tournament (TCL).
As one of the Wild Card teams residing in Europe, Supermassive eSports impressed the other teams with an aggressive play style and surprisingly solid lane swaps. This aggression relied on their jungler Stomaged to play carries and strong early game junglers and mid lane picks from Naru that are able to create early game pressure using his powerful laning, like Azir and Karma. This combination was often able to create pressure around the mid lane area that the team would often attempt to force pick off of. This pressure would be further facilitated by mid lane roams after successful lane swaps by their support Dumbledoge.
But lane swaps weren’t the only surprises the team had under their sleeves. They could alter their playstyles by starting different top laners. Thaldrin on tanky champions and fabFabulous on carry lane laners unlocked several strategies During the split the high skill level of these two top laners allowed SuperMassive eSports to play a variety of champions in a more open meta.
The versatility of these powerful top laners was only bolstered by Dumbledoge’s off meta picks and reliability. In addition to his high level Bard play, Dumbledoge has also shown proficiency on Poppy and Elise support – opening up powerful flex picks for his team. His consistency to set or follow up on roams or to hit impressive Bard Cosmic Bindings and Tempered Fates to decide or initiate crucial team fights for his team shines in a meta reliant on support initiation.
[Photo Courtesy : SuperMassive eSports Facebook Page]
While the team prepares for the Mid-Season Invitational, their coach Adrian “Hatchy“ Widera took the time to reflect on their experience in the Wildcard Tournament in Mexico,“We do feel prepared, but we are more aware of our flaws than ever before. Some of our weakness got exposed at the Wildcard Tournament and we need to work hard to fix them. I don’t think we can fix them all in time for MSI. So we are going with a lot of motivation to improve and learn from the experience we will get in China.”
While Hatchy seemed to have realistic expectations about MSI, he seems hopeful moving forward, “We want to become a much better team by the time Worlds comes up, to qualify and put up a good fight there. I’m proud of what we achieved so far, but we look at the season as a whole and want to be ready in the long run and have a strong showing by worlds time.“
Despite SuperMassive being an Wild Card team, they definitely shows a good level of play, including the ability to adapt and evolve throughout a tournament. If a team slips up and gives them the chance to play their aggressive playstyle, or underestimate their quality of play, they may make upsets happen. SuperMassive is stacked with talent and are hungry to improve,. So watch out as we cheer for Dumbledoge to achieve his second kill against Faker. When SuperMassive hits the stage at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational, get ready to be surprised.
