Reapered: "I'm not sure how long we can keep being the best in all the world, but we will try to stay there." eSports Central

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It all came down to this.

The best of North America, Team Solomid, got their second chance at Azubu Blaze after losing to them 3-0 on Friday. This time they only needed 2 wins to be crowned champions and to change the public opinion that Azubu Blaze was the new king.

Being a Westerner, I wish I could tell you that happened but it didn't.

The first game, the Korean team came out guns blazin'. Azubu was able to get Shen on Reapered, who he had already destroyed Curse with earlier in the day. The story of the game was just how Azubu Blaze played so well together and it showed in the scoreboard at the end: 14 to 4.

Reapered's Build on Shen He obviously would be heading towards a Randuin's Omen for his next item.


The next game was ridiculous nail biter as both teams looked like they'd be able to take the win at one point or another in a game that was winding down to the last few minutes. However, there was a problem with the internet at the MLG studio which caused everyone to disconnect. Since this was on the Tournament Realm, there was no way for the players to reconnect or for the match to be restarted at the time of the disconnect. So, the only option was a shocking restart with the same bans and same picks. Meanwhile, the Azubu squad tried to cheer each other up and keep from getting too frustrated.

"Whenever these technical problems happen that aren't caused by us but outside problems, where ever we go at these tournaments they all have their own rules about these situations," explained Reapered. "So we try not to get effected by it too much emotionally. Once technical problems happen and we can't do anything about it, and we get frustrated or upset it only effects us. That's why we think communicating with each other and cheering each other up is important. And I think we proved that this game."

The teams headed back in for game 2 attempt 2 with the same exact lineup which Azubu Blaze didn't like because TSM could have a better feel for their team composition this time around. Fortunately for the Koreans, TSM played like a bunch of suicidal maniacs throughout the early game, with their team composition of Ashe, Singed, Twisted Fate, Janna, and Nocturne. Their composition was all about ganking once the team hit level 6, the problem was going gank heavy mode before level 6 and having nothing work out. Another problem was the lack of protection for Chaox and all the armor that Blaze was building through Ryze and Urgot. The North Americans ended up surrendering after a lousy team fight that put them down 11 kills.

Reapered's Irelia Build in Game 2

That result meant that Azubu Blaze 5-0'd the best of North America, a feet that some in the community attributed to the way the team practiced leading up to this event. Some figured that the Blaze squad used their second team, Azubu Frost, to play with other teams and learn their strategies and play styles. Then, they would play Frost to perfect the match up.

"I think we won because we practiced a lot more than other teams just for TSM," confirmed Reapered. "Azubu Frost who lives with us figured out what TSM's strategies and style were. They would play TSM and then we would play against Frost, so that's how we would practice."

The only game that Azubu Blaze lost was game 2 to Curse. This was the only team coming into this event that Azubu Blaze mentioned being afraid of. While Curse looked to be in excellent form during that game, Reapered attributes that loss to something else.

"We won the first game, which meant we already got into the finals," said Reapered. "So going into the second and third games, it was more experimental for us because we are playing other matches right after we get back to Korea. We won't have much time to practice so we thought the second and third games would be our experimental games for when we get back to Korea. Like scrims."

The dominating top laner later told us that the team was confident in their ability to beat foreign teams even though they had played very few of them. However, as they played more and more foreign teams they realized the competition was tough and they were really impressed by the play. The results brought a bold statement from Reapered, saying "I'm happy about the result. I'm not sure how long we can keep being the best in all the world, but we will try to stay there."

One of the key factors that will play into whether they can stay at the top or not is the team's confidence level. As our discussion with Reapered came to an end, he mentioned one of the ways he tries to keep the team's confidence up.

"In all the interviews we did, we probably turned out to be cocky," explained Reapered. "But our mindset is always not to think about losing ever. So saying all of that is to make us confident, never to think of losing."

Azubu Blaze take the first crown of the MLG LoL Arena, a first of hopefully many more. The team heads back to Korea, $10,000 richer. Hopefully the money, the fame, and the travel don't distract them from their next challenge: Azubu The Champions round of 8.

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