World Championship Team Highlight - Vulcun

Some think Vulcun’s rise to international play comes from their Support-playing shotcaller Bloodwater, while others attribute it to the drastic increase in skill from the Jungler Xmithie. Regardless of the reason, Team Vulcun has proven that they can be one of the top three teams in North America and compete at the Season 3 World Championship.

Weeks 1-3 of the Summer Split had Vulcun trade a loss for every win until they were able to hand Cloud 9 their first loss of the season. From that point on, Vulcun would continue to win their matches consistently, giving up at most two losses in a week to TSM and CLG. When the week 9 Super Week came around, Vulcun was the only team to leave truly victorious by winning all five of their games.

Due to their seed, Vulcun was allowed a bye in the first round of the NA Regionals, and once TSM beat out CLG, had to play against TSM with the 2-2 split record in their minds. Unfortunately for Vulcun, TSM had been able to turn the tides in their favor and beat Vulcun 2-0.

Put in a position to fight or die, Team Vulcun played Team Dignitas for third place and the right to play internationally. In both matches Vulcun played consistently well against Team Dignitas. Sycho Sid played an instrumental role in the succes, only dying once in each game and maintaining a minimum of six kills and a maxiumum of seven.

Along with Sycho Sid, Xmithie became a force to reckon with when he earned MVP in week 8 with his reliable Jarvan and Lee Sin plays. As shotcaller, Bloodwater has shown that not only is he a good leader, but that the team has the skill and mechanics mastery to back up his decisions.

The Team

Left: Zachary "Mandatorycloud" Hoschar - Mancloud has become a legitimate threat to every opponent he faces in lane. Equipped with a huge AP mage champion pool, he isn't afraid to bring out the extra AD with Zed, Ezreal and Jayce to help push down towers faster. Mancloud favors champions heavy on engage, giving him opportunities to showcase his skill. He holds the top spots in the Summer Split for Most kills in a season at 167 and top GPM at 397. In Group B, he'll be facing off against veterans like Alex Ich, xPeke and Dade, making worlds a big test for him.

Back Left: Jake "Xmithie" Puchero - Jungle - Xmithie nearly only ganks a lane to get a kill, or at least a summoner spell. Preferring to achieve a kill in a gank, Xmithie uses champions like Lee Sin and Jarvan IV to set up himself or his teammates with the killing blow. The jungler will be a deciding factor in the group stage matches, being able to apply pressure and set a team on the path to snowballing, making Xmithie's work cut out for him. 

Middle: Lyubomir "Bloodwater" Spazov - Support - Ever since Bloodwater joined Vulcun, the team has had the tendency to succeed. With the third highest KDA ratio at 5.8, Bloodwater's skill as a support player is only dwarfed by his ability to lead his team to victory through shotcalling. A big fan of Sona and Zyra, Bloodwater's success may be attributed to the AOE nature of his champions, but Crescendo and Stranglethorns can only do so much. Bloodwater holds the top spot on season total assists at 337. His decision making will have to be crisp and intelligent in order to make it out of the group stage.

Back Right: Benny "Sycho Sid" Hung - Top Lane - Just behind Bloodwater in the KDA standings, Sycho Sid comes in fourth with 5.3. Sycho Sid will either consistently farm his lane, or with the help of Xmithie snowball his lane very quickly, especially with his favorite pick of Shen. If his consistency carries over into the group stage matches, it'll be a big asset to Vulcun.

Right: Christopher "Zuna" Buechter - AD Carry - Zuna gets an average of 14k gold a match, making him fifth in that category of North America as well as fourth in season total kills at 138. A strong player, Zuna'z champion picks hover over the hypercarry category very often. Often having his favorite Tristana banned, Zuna turns to Caitlyn and Kog'Maw without any trouble. Zuna will have to perform well every game in the group stages in order to be an impact on Vulcun's games. Without his lane being fed, the opposing teams will likely focus on shutting down Mancloud or Xmithie, blunting the main force of Vulcun's power.