Moving to major region - 2018 and beyond

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Hello, for those reading that do not know me, my name is Tae Hyung “Ryoo”, I am from Sydney Australia, and I play Heroes of the Storm for Mindfreak.

Background

I started playing HotS back in June 2017. Prior to playing HotS I competed in SC2 (under ZeNeX) in Korea and LoL(OPL) in OCE.
When Arcaner and Robadobah left for EU HGC I managed to join Nomia in August and fast track my way onto a top team in the region.

The 2017 Blizzcon qualifier was the first tournament I played in which we ended up losing in the grand finals. It was devastating at the time because every iteration of the team before I joined had never lost in the region.
Looking back we were very under-prepared and I wasn’t ready to win.
Leading up to the finals most of our team were complacent and decided to play less because the best practice options we had were either scrimming ANZ open division teams or playing hero league matches mixed with gold players neither of which we decided was worth our time.

2018 Season

We ended up sticking together with the same lineup and managed to redeem ourselves going undefeated in the first half of 2018. Though we barely came out on top in the finals (4-3) I was so happy that we had won and attended my first premier event at MSB.
MSB really put things into perspective for me. Even though we kinda expected to get our asses beat by the top teams in the world I was upset because we played nowhere close to our own potential.

The logical reason is that there is no reason to get better. This was when I realised the shortcomings of a minor region to the full extent.
In order to compete with the top teams we have to try twice as hard as they do to catch up with less than half their resources and for less reward. The 8th place team in a major region gets paid atleast 3x more money (50K USD) than if we were to win everything in our region and attend every international event (16K AUD).
Knowing this I can’t ask of my teammates to try harder for less when everyone on the team has other commitments like work or study. This resulted in a lot of frustration and conflict while we were over in Sweden which attributed to our poor performance.

Regardless I came back from Sweden having learnt alot about the game (having only played for a year) and even more hungry for success. Me and Ben (FAT94) basically lived and breathed the game, watching almost every HGC match and talking about Hots while we were awake. I put in much more effort than I did previously and set our goal to go to Blizzcon. I personally tried to take on more responsibility and initiative, wiped out all the excuses in my head and really tried to do everything that I could. I took charge of drafting, I tried to learn every role, I tried to learn more about my teammates on a personal level and keep them happy outside of game.

Two of my teammates went through role swaps and we also picked up a new player (Madhax), and again leading up to the finals we weren’t able to scrim for a whole month (other teams stopped playing or disbanded after the regular season ended) but this time we were able to win in such a decisive and dominant manner compared to last time. This made me so relieved and proud because it felt like the passion we put in the game really paid off and it really meant more to me when I poured my heart into it.

Blizzcon and beyond.

My motivation and confidence is at its peak because I’ve accomplished the goal I’ve set for myself for 2018 by becoming the best in the region. When I look towards the future the only way I can see advancing is moving to a major region. I feel limited by things that are not my skill level, and I just want the same opportunities that players are given in NA and EU. This tweet is me setting my next goal of getting there and letting everyone know of my intent. Whether it take weeks or months I’m going to set out to do it. I’m conscious of the roster change period that's going to probably happen right after Blizzcon and wanted to start opening myself to options and prepare things like finances and visas etc.

I’ve talked this over a hundred times with my closest friend and teammate FAT94. He and I share the same ambitions and frustrations and have helped each other to achieve our goals. The dream would be for us to move together to NA or EU, NA seems to be more sensible because we’re more accustomed to their culture and speak english (we wouldn’t even know where to start looking to live in Europe), because I think we complement each other very well. I have a very analytical and methodical approach to the game where he has a more instinctive approach, which is why his greatest strength is shotcalling - his ability to make quick judgements and decisive calls on the fly(come here c***s we’re doing this).

We are still part of MF and are going to try out best to have a good showing at Blizzcon. It is a privilege to be a part of MF as they are really accommodating and have awesome sponsors and branding, always trying to give us the maximum possible opportunities - some that even teams from major regions aren’t given like bootcamping in Sweden, Brazil (and about to in USA) this year.

Whether we find a new home overseas, bring MF with us, ride solo or duo, this year or the next, I’m excited for the future. Thank you for reading.

See you at Blizzcon.


Tldr: I achieved all my goals for 2018. My next goal is to move to a major region. FAT94 and I want to move together. We are still part of Mindfreak but allowed to explore options for the future. Retweets,spreading word, and advice would be sooo much appreciated. Feel free to DM. Much love <3

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