Golden Guardians... The Young Guns

What’s up people, it’s ya boi Hoff (aka @belcam). I’m going to write up a little piece on a new face to the NA LCS, The Golden Guardians. This new team is backed by the Golden State Warriors, an absolute powerhouse in the NBA and they are wanting to bring that reputation to the eSports world. Lets dig into the roster they have ready to field in the 2018 season.

Source: youtube

THE ISLAND (TOP LANE)

Top lane in LoL can be a pretty lonely place, you are up there on a little island of struggle with your enemy and maybe a jungler will get lost on their way to mid and accidentally show up to visit. Manning this station for the GG squad will be Samson “Lourlo” Jackson, previously the top laner for Team Liquid. Lourlo started in the NACS in 2015 as a founding member of Storm, moved to CLG Black and from there landed himself the Top Lane position for Team Liquid. Now, I know what you are thinking.. TL had a rough year in LCS.. but despite that Lourlo has proven to be a reliable top lane player and being young he has a lot of room to grow. With a new team and new hopes for the 2018 season, I’m interested to see how much Lourlo will grow and what kind of plays we will see from him this year.

JINGLE JANGLE JUNGLE

Jungle is, in my humble opinion, possibly the most important role in the game. A good jungle can really turn things around for lanes who are falling behind, give that extra push for their team in a matchup that just breaks even, or completely snowball an already dominate laner. The one channeling the spirit of Crocodile Dundee on GGS, coming straight from Cloud9, will be Juan “Contractz” Garcia. Contractz is young, but this kid won Rookie of the Split in 2017 Spring Split on the C9 Roster. I’m looking to see some good things out of this young jungler and hope he brings the pain.

MID OR FEED

Mid lane is a key lane, you have access to both bot and top lane not to mention its the shortest distance to the goal, but it is also a tough lane to play. You can get ganked from both directions and have to really have your head on a swivel. Needless to say you want your Mid lane to be strong and experienced. The Golden Guardians’ looked to fill their mid role with some veteran experience, according to the coach Locodoco in an interview it was the one role they would not go with a rookie. To fill this role on such a young team will be Hai Lam. Hai fills the role of veteran quite nicely, being team captain on both C9 and FlyQuest. Hai is a solid player and proven himself over the years as a fantastic shot caller. He seems to be the right fit as someone who can lead the young talent on this team to grow and be a force to be respected in the NALCS.

PEW PEW (ADC)

ADC.. AD Carry.. the role where you spend most of the first part of lane phase feeling like a kid with a babysitter. Because let’s be honest, you pretty much are at that point. ADC puts out some serious damage when they start getting their fat loot and having a good one can mean the difference between shredding a teamfight or not. For this role the Golden Guardians are looking to a true rookie on the LCS scene, Matthew “Deftly” Chen, to fill this spot on the roster. Deftly has been active in the NACS and first found success on eUnited in 2016. This year he finds himself playing with the big boys in LCS and I think we are all curious to see if he steps up and how well his debut goes. He’s got some experience, even if it isn’t a whole lot putting Hai aside, surrounding him that will hopefully help him grow in the league.

SUPER DUPER SUPPORT

Last but not least we move on to the support role. It can feel a lot like a babysitting job being a support, you have to follow this adc around and make sure they don’t kill themselves till they are able to stand on their own. But the role is a lot more than that. You are an information source, you provide key vision on the map and awareness of what objectives and the like. Depending on the type of support you play you are the engage, the healer, the protector, and in some cases all of the above. Golden Guardians have picked up another former Team Liquid member to fill these shoes and duo it up with their rookie adc, Matthew “Matt” Elento. Much like Lourlo and the rest of Team Liquid, the last season was not kind to them, but Matt is looking to get back in there on this newly formed team and tear it up.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Guardians are a team of very low experience, putting Hai aside of course, but we really can’t count that as bad thing just yet. Each player shows promise, Contractz being a Rookie of the Split winner for example, and if Hai can bring his experience and guidance to the table good things can happen. They are also coached by Locodoco who was excellent on TSM and in interviews looks to have a solid mindset when it comes to the young team. I’m certainly not going to judge these guys based on their limited experience and wait to see what they can do on the Rift when everything starts off in full swing.