World Team 2012 – Group A

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ggChronicle’s End of the Year Awards highlight the finest professional League of Legends players and teams in 2012. Be sure to visit our 2012 Awards hub to access all of the articles, including Team of the Year, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and our All-World Teams. Remember to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep up with the lastest news and articles in LoL eSports!

ggChronicle’s 2012 Awards continues with our list of World’s Best!

With this next set, we awards 10 players out of a swiftly growing international field that are the exemplars of their roles, splitting the list into two fantasy teams. If the 10 players chosen can be considered the nobility of their respective roles, then Team A are the kings of their ilk.

Travis Gafford’s former roommate is known primarily for two things. The first is having probably the biggest mouth of the scene – though originally said in jest, the words “everybody else is trash” will continue to haunt him into 2013 as pressure mounts to live up to the claim.

But a jesting arrogance can be readily forgiven if the claim is backed up. Peter Peng wins this year’s award for his knockout performance in Season 2. Pentalift is another good moniker for him; there isn’t another ADC on the scene with as splashy and dramatic a tournament presence. He makes a habit of all-killing teams. At IPL5, both Curse.EU (game 3) and Fnatic (game 1) were brought under the gun for jaw-dropping pentakills. There is no disputing Doublelift’s mechanical genius – the carrying capacity of those seemingly scrawny shoulders will determine CLG’s Season 3 presence.

Before Azubu acquired the team, some said that MiG – Maximum Impact Gaming – had an altogether different meaning: MadLife Is God. Though the support position is often overshadowed by the AD carry and other offensive roles, Hong Ming-Gi has more than earned the prestige.

MadLife is the living antithesis to the popular opinion that the support cannot carry the game. His emphasis on playmaking support champions helped ensure Azubu Frost’s common recognition as one of the very best teams in the world, even as it is often counter-claimed that Woong, their ADC, is weak as far as Korean players go. Hong’s Lux and Zyra support, in particular, are nightmares to play against, as he hits seemingly every skill shot.

There is a badly kept secret about bottom lane: there is no good AD Carry without a great Support. It is a lesson that MadLife’s former partner, Locodoco, ruefully learned during his short stint with North America’s Counter Logic Gaming: there is no victory without the blessings of God, and there is no God but MadLife.

The Taipei Assassin’s Hong Kong-born AP carry was a relative unknown prior to their dramatic performance at the Season Two World Championship: Kurtis Lau joined TPA in April, almost halfway into the tournament year, and spent most of the time competing in the scantly regarded Garena Premier League. Against Alex Ich’s Ryze (and, later, Evelynn) or Froggen’s Anivia, TPA’s midlaner was afforded little attention.

But there was one factor that nobody had accounted for: Toyz had balls. That is, he had one ball – a big one, bristling with hard steel thorns. And it was angry. It was, in fact, a wrecking ball to the hopes of Korea and Europe’s very best, smashing down Najin Sword, Moscow 5 and Azubu Frost.

It was the Shockwave felt across the world, drawing attention to the tiny isle of Formosa.  Among an entire team of titans and playmakers, and facing much the same, the hero of Hong Kong left a mark of his own.

Who ganks the ganker? While laners fear what may come out of the shadows and bushes, the true threat in any game against Moscow 5 is to those complacent enough to believe that being in the fog of war is any form of protection. The fog offers no salvation from the fire — when all that is left of your jungle are the slash-and-burn remnants of buff creeps, and when a terrible reptilian roar greets you to an unexpected fate, you will know that Diamondprox holds reign.

Daniel Reshetnikov was not the innovator of counter-jungling. But the impact and aggression he first demonstrated in IEM Kiev and Hannover had no prior peers: he single-handedly proved Shyvana’s capability and reintroduced Dr. Mundo from obscurity by demonstrating just how much impact raw clear speed and mobility have upon a game. By forcing his enemy jungler to be under-leveled, under-farmed and under-equipped, Diamondprox led his team to many victories through the deceptively simple-sounding task of making the games 5v4.

The undisputed ace of Najin Sword, and one of the most personable players out of Korea, was not always such a crowd favorite. Yoon Ha-Woon started the year on a low note, receiving direct blame for NaJin em-Fire’s early exit from OnGameNet Champion Spring’s Round of 8. It was a bitter moment, being kicked off the team he founded, but it was not the end of his story. NaJin Industries demonstrated an unprecedented level of faith in Maknoon: they trusted that the problem was not, as many blamed, in his relentlessly aggressive playstyle. Rather, a mismatch of personalities was holding NaJin back. Thus was the birth of NaJin Sword, a team built around one man and given a name to reflect their play philosophy.

When commentators talk about Korean aggression – and the teams that best exemplify the phrase – Maknoon and NaJin Sword are at the top of their lists. His bubbly personality belies a ruthless drive to win at all costs. You don’t want to face his magic-penetration Malphite, you don’t want his Irelia to be anywhere near your carries, and – no matter what – you should never let him have Nidalee.

Tags: 2012 awards, diamondprox, DoubleLift, featured, madlife, maknoon, toyz

Category: End of the Year Awards