If any of you are fans of Ming, you know that one man is God’s gift to World of Warcraft – and basketball.
Since entering the league as the most mega-hyped #1 overall draft pick in history, he’s lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past the first round of the playoffs in each of the past three seasons. His 27.4 PPG ranks among the very best in the NBA since his arrival in the league.
That same man has become synonymous with Boston basketball over his eleven-year career as the Celtic’s biggest star and sometimes only star in that time period. Last year, his loyalty paid off as he finally got the supporting cast to win the championship.
Just a few months ago, he made his mark in his World of Warcraft tournament debut, taking ESL Philadelphia by storm, leading the Trade Chat Allstars to an improbable victory over perennial favorites GotGame East.
Yes, that man is Ryan Lebron Paul “Realz” James Pierce Masterson.
Point Guard, Rogue hero, Power Forward, and now SK Gaming professional, can Realz lead his team to Ming’s “promised land”?
It’s easy to see that SK’s new lineup of Serennia, Realz, and Sck will be epic. Whether it’ll be epic success or epic failure, though, is another story.
There’s a lot to like about the team; they have experience winning tournaments (and losing them),
Additionally, they play what we like to call “ArenaCast comp”: Death Knight, Hunter, Paladin. Predicted by the ArenaCast staff to be the top dog pre-Wrath, ran by every member of the cast save Kintt (Ohnoes: learn Hunter), adopted by last season’s king of class switching, x6tence, the composition has plenty of potential to dominate the tournament scene this year. Similar to Warrior, Warlock, Druid, it has few weaknesses and played correctly seems to be able to beat anything thrown at it, so far.
So what’s not to like?
We’ve all laughed about and berated Serennia’s antics on his way to winning the first ever ArenaCast “Epic Fail of the Year” award, and, while his tactical knack and skill as a player is undeniable, so is his headstrong and combative attitude. He’s had trouble finding the proper mix of players to deal with his tendencies in the past, and while I doubt we’ll see Sck yelling at Serennia to “get on” his former teammate, we have seen Mr. Quick leave in the middle of a match at a Blizzcon where he experienced some understandable frustration.
Neither Realz nor Sck are the type of people to give in to Serennia’s overbearing, competitive, and sometimes seemingly psychotic personality, but they also are not the type to ignore it, either.
Realz himself has a streak of the Serennia competitiveness and isn’t afraid to support his own opinion with a stubborn tenacity that mimics his teammate. It’s unlikely both agree on every issue, so how they handle such situations will ultimately determine how the team progresses.
Sck may not have played the same leadership role as his compatriots in their prior endeavors, and he certainly proved he can does not need the spotlight during his time with Pandemic, but he isn’t going to pull a Chumpjohn and idly sit in the corner. If someone pushes him, he’ll push back.
It’s going to take effort from all three to make this work.
For all the flak Serennia has taken this year, especially after his first tournament, he’s made strides towards improving both his image and attitude in person, and the difference was noticeable at later events; the Swarm thing wasn’t an issue with him. Last year should have taught him it takes more than talented players and sound strategies to win in a team environment, despite some recent online developments that point to otherwise.
“If Serennia can keep his ego under control and let Realz be the coach of this team, they are going to clean house,” wrote Ming. This may be true, but in reality that’s going to be a role reversal I doubt Serennia could fully handle, and one that may be detrimental to the team overall.
In order for them to have success, both him and Realz will need to learn when to defer to each other. Both can contribute to the team tactically, and it’s going to be a balance that could be tough to master.
I’ve played in a dysfunctional team environment before and it can work as long as you are winning, but once there are problems things turn sour quickly. In World of Warcraft at this point, no matter how good you are there will be things you need to overcome together as a team.
Can SK do it? Probably.
Will they do it? We’ll find out soon enough, and it’ll be entertaining to watch either way…
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good read :>