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The Korean LoL scene: A hidden tiger?

Dotrobot

Mon 30th Jul 2012 - 7:47pm

Korea, a tiger or a mouse?

The Korean LoL scene, completely shrouded in mystery and gaining victories against top-tier teams such as CLG.NA, Fnatic, and Dignitas. Who knows much about them? They work covertly and professionally, scrimming for hours on end, having professional coaches, and generally being treated like mini-celebrities. They don't broadcast solo queue games or scrimmages like the NA and EU teams do, their tournament VoD's are usually protected by copyrights and livestreams are hard to watch with the time zone difference.

The only information that is generally known is that South Korea is a E-sports haven, where they consider E-sports to be important as actual athletic sports. What exactly does this mean? It means when the Korean teams make their appearances, they are sure to leave a mark. Because unlike the NA and EU E-sports scenes, Korea's E-sports scene is much more developed and most likely, better prepared. 

MiG.Blaze, MiG.Frost, Startale (with the new addition of Locodoco), Najin e-mfire, and Incredible Miracle (with the new addition of players from TeamOP and MKZ)  are probably the biggest contenders for the Korean regionals. All of them have made into the top 10th, with the exception of Startale and Incredible Miracle, in the OnGameNet Spring tournament. Every single one of these teams has serious backings such as LG, Razer, Azubu, BenQ, Red Bull, and many other varied sponsors.

The only thing certain right now is this, Korea's best will be a contender for the Season 2 championships. Then we will see whether or not if they truly are a force to be reckoned with.