Steven Kim · @CaliTrlolz8
6th Sep 2016 from TwitLonger
My Twitter AMA answers / LCS Aftermath
Wow. Time really flies. A year ago in Sep 6th 2015, I played my last LCS game in the promotional match against Team Imagine. Had T8 won the tiebreaker for 7th place against C9, C9 would not have been able to go through that magical Gauntlet run to World, or in worse case, even get relegated (RIP Impact). The year 2015 was hands down the best and most memorable year of my life all thanks to many people & redditors supporting my decision. I just wanted to take some time to reflect and answer any question you guys might have had. Here it goes.
Here are the questions that I felt many would be curious in:
How are you doing at school?
My school weekday schedule goes like this
5:00AM wake up, get dressed, eat, light exercise
6:00AM-6:30AM Drive to school
6:30AM-8AM study at a small break-out room at school
8AM-3PM go through classes
3-8PM study till traffic is gone around 8PM.
After I went through LCS, I had less distraction in mind which enabled me to focus on academics.
I'm doing quite well grade-wise and also mentally. What I like about professional school is that you only focus on subjects that are practical and useful in your profession. It's quite entertaining for me to learn about nutrition, drug, and biology.
Do you regret leaving right as the influx of VC$ was increasing player salaries? What do you think of the current LCS situation going on between Riot and the orgs?How much would it have taken for you to stay?
In 2015, the many of LCS player salary was close to minimum stipend given by Riot. I received $12,500 Spring '15 and $13,500 Summer '15 with every other utility/rent/food paid for by the organization. Many other bottom half LCS probably just paid same or little bit over that salary in 2015; hence, where the Sven's 5.5 Fucking K dude came out of. Currently in the LCS, although there is large gap between organizations I'd say most pros are promised at least 50K+ ranging up to 180K in NA. So salary-wise there was 100-200% increase in salary as soon as all the VC came during the winter of '15. Although it would have been nice to have had these kind of numbers as my salary, the current salary is hyper inflated compared to what revenues organizations can create given current Riot's restriction. Hypothetically, if I were offered 250k+ salary, it would definitely have made my decision to leave LCS much harder. But realistically, nobody is going to pay that much for some crap 8th place top laner :3.
If you had been offered the top lane spot on a more successful team (still love team 8), would you have taken it?
I loved my teammates and the organization. We worked together from the very start of the team in a crappy house in CA, eating hotdogs (that prob cost something like 30cents per one). I probably would've stayed with the Team8, knowing I only had a year to play on the LCS stage. In the off-season between Spring '15 and Summer '15, I was in talk of buyout from WinterFox and PaiN gaming. lol.
Do you feel that, as someone who has stepped away from LCS, it was something that you would recommend to someone else?
If that recommendation is to those at least Master/Challenger currently, sure why not. I really would not recommend someone lower than diamond 3 to actually give up all other responsibilities to become a League pro. Maybe look onto a newer game like OverWatch but League Pro scene is already saturated and will not have many open chances for new comers who will take a year or more to even catch up to knowledge/skill of current pros.
How were your teammates?
Slooshi feels like a younger brother I never really had, mischievous, fun, friendly.
Dodo feels like an older brother I do not talk to regularly but was always around me as a roommate and a teammate. Awkwardly, we started off speaking English to one another when we met although we both speak Korean more comfortably, so if we meet a korean person together, we speak Korean to that other person but English to one another. It gets pretty awk... lol
Maple is a self-less but emotional younger cousin that I liked to tease. He was the type of player who would give every single wave we ask for. Once slooshi was asking for the red buff as Xerath from him while he was killing it and he offers to give as a caitlyn lol. This character of his really defined T8 as Top centric team with me getting more resources as a naturally shot caller. (We never really went into a game saying let's get cali fed. It just turned out like that with Maple).
Porp is like a dorky college friend who would always talk about conspiracies and illuminaties. He usually had different ideas about the game but was usually accomodating when it comes to team decision. We lost contact with him after T8. Hope he is alive and well with his twin brother in Canada.
Nien was one of the harder working who strived to be the best. He was open to criticism and also had more conservative and smart approach to the game.
Goldenglue made me feel like I'm in the twitchchat everytime I turn left (he was sitting next to me) because he looked like Vaultboy. Cordial and fun to be around. He doesn't hesitate to make an official announcement that he fcked up when he messes up in game.
Best Top Laner you played against?
Impact was the best top laner back in 2015 but somehow he never really stood out on stage or in game. I'm finally happy to see him at the apex of his skill, showing how good he is. #TopDie
What do you miss the most from when you were a pro?
Waking up everyday knowing that the only thing I had in mind was League of Legends. I never really worried or thought about anything outside of League for a year as pro. More importantly, I miss the audience, stage, and fans who always supported me with kind words regardless of how shitty the outcome was.
Thank you for reading and best of luck to you guys for your future endeavors!! :)
Three more years to go to become Doctor of Pharmacy. R I P
(No proof read / change in sentence structure. I have to go do my HW now. Peace)