The first time I ever heard about LMQ, it was through rumors
that a third rate Chinese team was coming to America
to compete in the belief that we'd be easy to beat. Never passing up the chance
to be irritated by anti-NA sentiment, I was determined to hate this new team
and hoped for their quick annihilation. From that point forward, their
appearance in my twitter feed came in drips and drabs. "Did you see the
Chinese team, LMQ?" "I hear they're really ripping it up in
Challenger." "LMQ is beating everyone."
I remember the first time I saw their photo, around the time
they had made it to the challenger series play-offs. They were, to me, four
identical looking dark-haired strangers and one really goofy-looking tall dude.
I didn't know their names and I didn't want to. I was annoyed that they were
still here, threatening to take a seat in our LCS. It was stupid to have a
fully Chinese team competing in an American league, especially since they
didn't speak any English. My ego said it shouldn't be allowed, and I wasn't
alone in that sentiment. Many fans voiced the same displeasure with their
unwelcome presence, sure we would have no way to connect or bond to this team.
When the Challenger play-offs started, I cheered against LMQ,
but I still remember how their AD Carry, Vasilli, immediately stood out to me. Wildly
aggressive, his 'balls deep' play style was one we didn't see much of in the
LCS, and even though it initially almost removed his team from the playoffs, (I
believe my first ever twitter post about the tilting Vasilli said something
like "This guy must be on drugs") it made for some exciting moments.
Fun moments. But somehow, despite their seemingly erratic play, they still
advanced into the promotion series.
Just prior to the start of relegations, poor quality videos
started popping up in my stream with titles like "Vasilli dancing
shirtless," "Vasilli twerking," "Vasilli goes 1 v 5." Vasilli,
I came to understand, was 'the tall guy,' and he was the first member of LMQ to
whom I placed a face to a name. It was a name that would soon start to flood my
stream as relegations started up, followed by words like "is a god,"
"is a beast," and "is a one man army." His crazy dodge
mechanics and man-mode like destruction lit up the twitterverse, and while I
still didn't like the Chinese team, I had to admit, that tall guy was
amusing.
After they unseated the struggling XDG, I started to learn a bit
more about LMQ as a team. Riot offered us subtitled interviews between clips of
the boys playing and laughing in a pool, but the light-hearted team
introduction did little to sway my opinion. They were still strangers and
invaders, playing in a league where they didn't belong - although, I could now finally place another
face, the good-natured, chubby-cheeked XiaoWeiXiao (a guy I mentally dubbed the
Chinese version of Scarra).
Vasilli's name popped up a lot in the first few weeks after LMQ's
4-0 entrance into the LCS, mainly as everyone's fantasy pick. To me, they were
the bad guys in every match; the LCS Dallas Cowboys, so the best part of those
early days was discovering they were beatable. Perhaps not by my beloved TSM,
but hey, at least Cloud 9 and Curse had their number. In retrospect, I think it
was knowing they could lose that started to make them more human to me. They
were, as a team, graceful and modest in defeat, and they all exhibited a certain
shy humility that made them feel less threatening, despite the fact that they
were starting to place a grip-lock hold on first place.
Over time, I started to learn all their names and recognize
their faces, as well as pick up on their individual personalities and
playstyles. Little things like Mor's tiny smirk when he made a great play or Ackerman's
uncanny ability to appear out of nowhere and turn the tides of fights, plus
NoNames' solo queue chat logs were downright hysterical and XiaoWeiXiao's
unending smile tried to chisel away at my shell. But unfortunately, their
interviews felt like long, boring, drawn-out Chinese babble, (made only
slightly more bearable by the presence of their endearing manager, Sharon) and
I still bore malice towards this foreign team.
It was Vasilli who started to change that for me in July of
2014, when he started to show up in videos speaking adorable broken English.
Something in his cute ducking, blushing face spoke of a guy who was trying his
hardest to assimilate, and for whatever reason, that mattered. Because suddenly
they weren't a Chinese team that was only here to beat us, they were now a "slowly
getting Americanized" team that wanted to be part of us, and as much as I
wanted to continue disliking LMQ, I couldn't.
Impressive and precious as Vasilli was, I still resisted
cheering for LMQ over any other team, mainly because they kept beating all my
favorites. Allowing Vasilli to have Tristana was to ensure your team's
deletion, and he consistently displayed both the mechanics and the guts to mop up
the floor in teamfights. Quadras and Pentas peppered his game stats, and he dared
to walk in and steal a baron from TSM in the middle of the summer Semi-Finals.
Just prior to the LMQ vs Curse game in playoffs, there was a
Riot made video speaking of what getting to Worlds would mean to each team, and
Vasilli's eye watered as he spoke of wanting to play just one more match with
his team. That tear was like a cannon ball, plowing through what remained of my
anti-LMQ feelings, and for the first time in my life, after seeing that
interview, I found myself actually pulling for these Chinese kids, wanting them
to make it into Worlds.
I remember having lunch with my mom before LMQ's last game
at Worlds, trying to relate to her the story of this Chinese team and how I
started out hating them but came to love them. Maybe it's fair, maybe it's not,
but LMQ had to work incredibly hard to earn their place...not in the NA LCS,
but in our hearts, and they really deserved it all along. They never once
complained, and despite their management hardships, they always remained
positive with a pleasant disposition.
When LMQ played at Worlds, I didn't see them as a Chinese
team or even a foreign team. I saw them as OUR LMQ, our beloved friends,
playing for America
and the NA LCS, and I was proud to have them there alongside Cloud9 and TSM as
one of our representatives, because there was no question in my mind they
belonged there.
So the other day when I read that Vasilli was leaving, I
felt a bit like Scarlet O'hara...because I don't want him to leave and I regret
not having fully appreciated him while we had him, and I lament falling in love
with him far too late. Part of me hopes we'll see him again here in the states,
and part of me knows we probably never will, but I'll treasure the fact that I had the
opportunity to be charmed and won over by some adorable guy from China.
Oh God! Wait...Vasilli...WAIT! VASILLI...Please! COME BACK!
