From Relegation and Onward: The Team Coast era
After getting relegated with XDG, I was ready to go home and finish my schooling as I had already finished 3 years of my undergraduate degree and figured I had my time in the spotlight. I am a very realistic person and most of the time this is disadvantageous for me when I try to bring my dreams to fruition; I knew how rare an opportunity I had just been granted by playing with XDG in the LCS and figured it was unlikely to happen again. Also, I was not ready to invest another great deal of time into the challenger scene for one opportunity to make LCS, given the fact that you are almost guaranteed to be at a disadvantage as a challenger team against an LCS team simply because of difference in resources. Even if we finish first in both challenger series splits and playoffs leading up to relegations, we would only make around $5000 each, as a team, for 4 months of work. Not bad for playing videogames, but also not a sustainable living unless you are free of food, living expenses etc., Without going into too much detail as to why I changed my mind I will simply say that if it was not for the Team Coast organization and especially Dontmashme convincing me to continue to play and of my capabilities as a player, I probably would be back in Canada right now finishing my schooling.
So far we are doing great, we won the first North American Challenger Series split in London at the end of June, and are in the top six for the ongoing second NACS split. As such, we are guaranteed a first round BYE in playoffs and will only have to beat one other challenger team in a best of three to guarantee a spot at relegations. I am confident in my team’s abilities and that we will be able to improve tremendously by September as we secure our LCS spot for next year.
Overall I have to say I am very happy with how everything worked out. For the first time in my life I feel like I am where I belong and doing what I should be. I have gained a new perspective on life, and the value that family and friends have to me no matter where I am. I also finally realize that success comes at the cost of sacrifices and overcoming your fears. This has truly been the greatest learning experience of my life. I truly believe Mashme and I have the capability to be one of the best bot lanes in North America if we continue practicing as hard as we are, and I am more confident in the rest of my team than ever before. When we make LCS, I can guarantee we will practice harder than any other team currently in the league, and I will do my best to become a contender for top support in North America.
I want to say thanks to all of the fans who continued to support and believe in me after relegations, to all of my family for continuing to support and love me no matter what path I choose to follow in life, all of the XDG management and players for sharing such a great experience with me, and to the Coast management for providing us with a gaming house and covering our other expenses as we fight to make the LCS.
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