Looking Towards the Shore: A Story about The One Winner (EN Translation)
Disclaimer: This article was not written by me. This article was written by Cao Junmeng of Esports Magazine. The article (found here) was originally written in Mandarin. I have obtained permission by the original author to translate the article to English.
All images belong to their respective owners.
Additional note: The original article was published on 23 July, 2019.
Prologue
At a house in the middle of Shanghai, China, is where a group of 18-to-19-year-olds live, work, and play. That group, dubbed The One Winner (T1w), all have a singular passion — that is to get out of that house, and to make it across the Pacific Ocean to the biggest stage they know: the Overwatch League. For well over a year ever since the beginning of 2018, what this ragtag band of misfits had in them was faith. Faith in their coaches. Faith in themselves. Faith that, one day, the team will cross the shores to Los Angeles. Together.
But how would they arrive at the beaches of California? How long would it take? And would the Burbank Studios be what they had expected?
No one could’ve told T1w what to expect.
Chapter 1
The room is lined, wall-to-wall, with computers. Eight guys sit in front of them, their eyes seemingly locked onto the computers’ screens. The monitors of six computers are flashing various images: the bottom left displays an icon with varying portraits, the bottom right as though someone is grasping a weapon. Each individual computer shows a hero moving and fighting, but together, they depict an intricate dance of attack and defense.
The room is the training room at T1w’s team house. The team is currently in a scrimmage against Bilibili Gaming.
Another computer is occupied by Zhang “Jumpcat” Peng, the team’s coach, spectating the scrim. He moves his character model up high to capture the positions and movements of all the players below. “Hmph,” he purses his lips. The stoic figure of Jumpcat begins to crumble. He slams his mouse against the table, seemingly fuming.
“Can’t all of you figure out how to go around a corner!?” Jumpcat can’t control himself any longer. Even though the scrim session isn’t over, Jumpcat is already pointing out mistakes to the team over voice chat.
The first season of Overwatch Contenders 2019 had just ended. 12 days later, they would be attending the Pacific Showdown, a LAN event that showcased the top teams from various Contenders regions. The day after that, the summer season of Zhanqi’s LanStory Cup would begin.
The packed season meant a lot of things for T1w: the thrills of competition — both online and offline, the spoils of tournament winnings, the chance to prove themselves in front of an audience, and the subsequent exhaustion. Tremendous exhaustion.
The competitive scene in China never sleeps, with events large and small filling up the calendar. But even so, day after day of competition for T1w always bring up the same few faces in the Chinese scene. For T1w, these domestic tournaments almost feel like just another scrim to them, and their talents have never really been showcased to the rest of the world.
The Overwatch esports scene is seemingly unchartered territory to China. Even though Chinese players make names for themselves with high ranks in the ladders of competitive play, the underdeveloped professional scene seems to get glossed over by many. These tournaments are thus how to get the general populace excited in the scene.
The international tournaments that are few and far between also become important to further developing the Chinese scene. At the Pacific Showdown, T1w placed third, which was a fair bit below what the team had expected from themselves. Before the Lower Bracket Finals began, the fervent crowd was cheering wildly for the home team.
The other Chinese team at the tournament, LGE.Huya, had failed to meet expectations. Bowing out of the first lower bracket round, this cost the Chinese scene one spot to the Gauntlet in October. But if T1w could win the entire Pacific Showdown, that would restore the number of teams the Chinese scene would send to the Gauntlet back to two.
The entire crowd, nay, the entire Chinese Overwatch fanbase was rallying behind T1w to win. One of the audience members also at the studio was Sonny Xiao, the CEO for the Guangzhou Charge.
But win T1w did not. After being defeated by Korean team O2 Blast, the team left the game booths, where they ran into O2’s final opponent, Element Mystic.
T1w and EM had been frequent scrim partners. As such, the two teams forged a bond that transcended any language barrier. After the first day of competition, the two teams went out for dinner together.
At the end of the first day, in front of the cameras, EM said that they wished to meet T1w in the grand finals.
But T1w did not get into the grand finals as hoped. Despite the cloud over everyone’s heads, Liao “MoLanran” Yang raised his fist in solidarity with the Korean team, and exuberantly yelled, “Fighting!” Zhang “Highbee” Zening followed suit. EM smiled, and replied with the same gesture.
As the door of the game booth closed behind T1w, a depressing sense of realization swept over the players. Their journey in the tournament is over. Dejectedly, the team returned to their break room.
In between scrim sessions, MoLanran instinctively pulled up a new window and opened a tab to a website. The site began to display images of cute little animals at their centres. MoLanran moved his mouse around slowly, with each click bringing up more images of cute little animals. His gaze never shifted away from them.
As last, however, the break was over. MoLanran switched his monitor back to the familiar world, and his focus was now all over the game ahead of him.
The expression on MoLanran’s face grew stern, a strong dichotomy between it and his excited and goofy self on camera.
After the Pacific Showdown, T1w took a one-day break. But this short vacation didn’t wipe the fatigue the players had after the long competitive season. The next day, the practice room was a mess, with Jumpcat unable to control his anger.
“If you don’t know how to do anything right, don’t try asking me for advice!” Jumpcat’s face was filled with anger. His words have seemingly frozen over the entire room, with only him doing any of the talking. The players just stared at him wide-eyed, afraid to make a squeak.
In this moment, the players look nothing like the jovial, vibrant youth they should be. They were slumped in their gaming chairs, tears streaming all over their faces.
The team has gone through numerous difficult times, such as when finances were involved. As one of the very few self-funded organizations in Contenders, T1w’s expenses have come from general manager Xiao “TianDao” Cheng and Jumpcat. TianDao has frequently worried over the team’s bills.
The players’ salaries have to be paid, rent has to be paid, meals have to be catered for. But even after saving here and there and everywhere, the overhead was still tens of thousands of yuan. Initially, TianDao and Jumpcat both got salaries, but afterwards the two agreed to stop receiving their pay. Eventually, team manager Zheng “ExTrA” Jiawen also stopped getting paid either.
There was a point in 2018 where T1w didn’t even pay their players either. “We just had no money left,” TianDao said.
The team’s cook also remembered that period of time. She didn’t get her salaries paid on time either. For two months in a row, the team cook didn’t receive her paycheck, yet still had to spend about 1000 yuan a month [approx. USD $160] on groceries.
The team members said they didn’t mind that difficult period too much, despite not being paid.
“I wasn’t really bothered [with not being paid],” MoLanran said. To him, not getting paid for two months wasn’t really such a long time. “I don’t really care about my salary. If I have money, I’ll spend. If not, I won’t. Even though we’re really poor, TianDao promises to pay as soon as possible. If he’s late, I won’t blame him.” According to Molan, the unpaid cook still comes every day to cook for the team. Even though everyone jokes about being starving, no one has ever truly made a fuss about not being paid.
Highbee has a pet cat named Xiji. To raise this little fellow, Highbee says that it takes “an arm and a leg” to do so. If he had only himself to take care of, he would get some takeout, and have some money leftover.
“The pressure is on Jumpcat. I can cope for myself just fine, but if the cat is out of food I’d get a bit anxious.”
As the big brother of the team, Highbee is willing to take the extra mile to help his team out in whatever way he can. Even with a lack of finances he’d come up with solutions to get over it, as opposed to taking the easy way out. Once, Highbee went to ask his own sister for help.
In addition to the tightening finances, the team’s also perplexed by their recent results. Every single person on the team wants to be the best, wants to reach the Burbank stage. The mantra of being “the number one Overwatch team” isn’t some superficial thought. That goal is burned into the hearts and minds of all the players here.
An abundance of resources does make for a better team environment. And it brings stable salaries for players, allowing them to elevate to higher standards of play. So the arrival of the Overwatch League in 2018 would appear, and has turned out to be, a defibrillating opportunity for the development of the Overwatch esports scene.
But to be in the League requires worthy results. The team has only achieved, in recent results, a silver in Contenders and a bronze in the Pacific Showdown. Perhaps, for T1w, the dream to get into OWL is just that: a dream.
Jumpcat began to review the footage of a recent scrim. Everyone turned their chairs in the direction of the monitor. Jumpcat began to mash at the spacebar button, causing the video to start and stop, then furiously circling the positions of everyone using his mouse.
“There has been no meaningful actions taken, there has been no calling of abilities, only feeding to the enemy team!” He then asked everyone to sound out what they were thinking about in-game. Just like in a classroom: everyone has been called on one-by-one by the teacher to read the textbook out loud. Those who could had their lives spared, those who couldn’t had hell to pay.
Highbee’s pet Xiji was lying on the router in between the wires in front of the monitor screen. Suddenly, it leapt up and out of the room that seemed to have gone to a standstill. Highbee, who was sitting at a corner, and the rest of the team seemed to reached a dilemma between Jumpcat and little Xiji. None of them dared to take even a peek at the scurrying feline.
Highbee isn’t a great talker — and when he does talk he’s usually very critical about himself — but when it comes to his teammates, he is relentless in his praise for them. But his largest compliments is left for the coach, Jumpcat. TianDao, in an attempt to maintain the rigour of any professional team, has set a fair number of strict rules. Nonetheless, he and the team regard Jumpcat as the best coach in the Chinese Overwatch scene.
“The heart of the team is Jumpcat.”
While Jumpcat understands that he is nowhere near the top echelon of coaches, he soberingly points out the shortage of manpower in the scene. However, he still claims to be the best Overwatch coach in China, and is setting the standards for the Chinese scene for everyone else on T1w.
Chapter 2
T1w was officially established on the 1st of January, 2018. Its precursor was Miracle Team One (MT1), and the foundations of the team were built from the many years of friendship between Jumpcat and TianDao.
Jumpcat had tried to make a name for himself in StarCraft I. Despite many attempts, he couldn’t stand out at the World Cyber Games. Right at his lowest of lows, addicted to Warcraft and beginning to self-loathe, Jumpcat suddenly received a YY message from TianDao, asking Jumpcat to teach him how to play StarCraft.
Each day of practice spanned 10 hours and 40 to 50 games. TianDao was moved by the amount of dedication Jumpcat would put in to teach how to play the game, and before long, the two developed a soon-to-be long-standing camaraderie. But as StarCraft I faded away to be replaced by its sequel, the two went about their own separate ways. Jumpcat left the esports scene, regretful that he couldn’t leave a legacy during his pro career.
But after a stint at developing his own office automation software, Jumpcat returned to the esports scene. In 2016, Blizzard Entertainment released Overwatch — its newest IP — and teams big and small sprouted up. The Chinese scene was flourishing.
That was the year when Jumpcat joined Team Skadi’s Gift (SKG), first as a player and shot caller, and eventually transitioned into a coaching role for the team.
“Every time I see a player who truly wants to get better at the game, I get that sense of joy and pride at them, just like with TianDao.”
But just a year later, a blizzard halted the growth of the entire grassroots scene. The number of competitions held was reduced, prize money shriveled. Blizzard was putting their eggs into the basket that was the mysterious Overwatch League, and the Path to Pro ecosystem that will grow alongside it.
Many Overwatch teams at the time found it difficult to find their footing during those treacherous times, as there weren’t nearly enough resources to go around. Hence, they were forced to disband. The Overwatch Premier Series (OWPS) in 2017 was rife with teams disbanding left, right and centre. It was sarcastically dubbed “the disbanding cup” by many. Even the champions of the OWPS Grand Finals, Miraculous Youngster, had to close down its doors by the end of the year.
The devastating blizzard rocked the roots of even the tallest pines.
Meanwhile at SKG, Jumpcat had a different vision for the team than the management had, which broke into a shouting match between the two parties. An unrelenting Jumpcat decided to part ways with SKG. While most of the players sided with management, Highbee, who also played for SKG, stood up for Jumpcat.
According to Highbee, management wanted to court sponsors, and thus they privately contacted their players without informing Jumpcat. This broke an agreement between Jumpcat and management that they had previously made.
Sponsors for such a cash-strapped scene is indeed quite a financial relief, but “Jumpcat doesn’t want us to stream and be distracted from our practice,” Highbee said. While Jumpcat and Highbee admit that they might be disrupting the team’s rice bowl, they nonetheless stand by their position.
Part of the difficulty in maintaining a healthy Overwatch scene is also the competition with other games. With the release and subsequent rise in popularity of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), many players have been tempted to jump ship.
At MT1, where TianDao worked, management hoped for the entire Overwatch team to transfer to PUBG instead, even promising to put in a large investment into the team if the players did so. Surprisingly, no one on the team wanted to make the switch, including then-members MoLanran and Cai “Krystal” Shilong.
To MoLanran, the decision to stay with Overwatch and not transition to PUBG wasn’t a watershed moment for himself. Making the jump did sound tempting, especially if it came with a pay raise. It would certainly help the kid, who did not come from one of the best homes.
But when he started playing Overwatch, MoLanran held this mantra, “I don’t care about the pay. Just feed me and keep me alive and I’ll be fine. If I haven’t got the results to show for it yet, I’ll grind harder. After I win a couple championships then I’ll consider switching it up.”
To this day, that doctrine still holds true to him, which gave TianDao the confidence to start a team from scratch.
Not many teams have survived the culling after the Overwatch League and Contenders system began. But the show must go on. Blizzard wasn’t going to shut it all down just because one region had it rough.
At this moment, details about the Overwatch League began rolling out. The inaugural season of the Overwatch League consisted of 12 teams whose players were considered the first batch of “truly professional” Overwatch players. The organizations backing these teams were no slouches either: behind the Boston Uprising was the Kraft Group, home to 5-time Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots. The head of the NYXL is the COO and son of the majority owner of the New York Mets. Behind the owner of the LA Valiant, the Immortals, is a panel of investors with massive global reach…
Meanwhile, the sole Chinese team in the League was the Shanghai Dragons, backed by NetEase. According to expert opinions, there is no way one of the largest esports markets in the world could be satiated with a single local OWL team.
Furthermore, the immaturity of the League, combined with its hasty formation, could mean that the environment is nowhere ideal to develop player talent.
To a person who had the talent but not the funds for an OWL team like TianDao, building a team to attract OWL investors was worth the shot.
And so, TianDao invited Jumpcat to join his lofty project.
Word about Jumpcat’s new team spread to Highbee, who brought over Qi “Wya” Haomiao, Han “Silver3” Haibo, and team manager Zheng “ExTrA” Jiawen to support Jumpcat’s new endeavour.
As MT1 would leave the Overwatch scene, TianDao and Jumpcat reached a common goal: to soldier on, with an Overwatch team in tow.
Several veteran talents were out of the team in favour of young upstarts with massive potential, and this new team would take over the Contenders spot of the now defunct MT1. This new team, funded half each by TianDao and Jumpcat, would be now christened “T1w”, made by turning over the M in MT1 into a W and reshuffling the letters, indicating a rebirth.
Chapter 3
It was back to square one for the team. These kids who wanted to be the Overwatch world champions had their very first goal in mind: to get into the Overwatch League, known colloquially as “getting to shore”.
For this dream to become reality, the core would have to come from coach Jumpcat.
MoLanran didn’t use to have the bubbly, cheerful personality that he does today. When T1w first started out and Jumpcat had just met him, Molan used to act impulsively and couldn’t reign in his emotions well. Every time he threw a temper tantrum, Molan would refuse to continue playing, and on occasions even smash equipment. Sometimes he would be on less than speaking terms with his teammates. One of them being fellow DPS partner Krystal.
“The two of us didn’t really see eye to eye.”
One day, during a break period, MoLanran was playing on the ranked ladder on his own, while two of his teammates were horsing about in the practice room and tripped over an electrical cable. Suddenly, the screen in front of a laser-focused Molan turned to darkness. His hard work climbing the competitive ladder was now reduced to nought. Fury engulfed the entirety of Molan.
But before he reached a boiling point, MoLanran was tackled to the side by Jumpcat. The team’s coach yelled, “Stop throwing tantrums and calm down! You need to control yourself, otherwise you’ll be like this for the rest of your life! Stop it, at the very least right now!”
MoLanran really did stop. And since then, he has learnt from those poignant remarks from Jumpcat. It took a lot of effort, Molan admits, but he now controls his temper in front of his teammates.
Meanwhile, as Jumpcat attempted to resolve the differences between the players, MoLanran tried to learn from Krystal.
“Under the advice of Jumpcat, we both found each other’s strengths, and he [Krystal] was really good.”
Now, MoLanran’s emotions don’t get the best of him, and trust between him and his teammates is building. He even began taking over the role of shotcalling for the team.
“When working with my teammates, I’ve realized that they have a lot of confidence in me. And that allows me to achieve my fullest potential.”
Helping out what is arguably the most important member in the team wasn’t enough for Jumpcat. He wanted to plant a seed within every member of the team, one that would sprout into a hardy and resilient tree. A flourishing forest that bounded the team together, helped one another. The seed was a dream — the dream of reaching the Overwatch League, together.
Compared to the other members on the team, Highbee knows Jumpcat the best. After all, the two have known each other for the past three years, and both were teammates on SKG. When Highbee was still a rookie, Jumpcat would often bring him out for interviews or to meet other people. Now, Highbee follows in Jumpcat’s footsteps, and attempts to do the same with the other members of T1w.
Highbee has no doubt that his personal improvements can be attributed to Jumpcat. “He’s a man of his words,” Highbee said. No matter what team they’ve been on, Highbee truly believes that whatever Jumpcat does is for the best of the team and its members, which is why Highbee sided with Jumpcat during the SKG fiasco.
T1w is now the baby of Jumpcat, as well as Highbee. The latter is always complimenting the other members of the team, and cherishes this rare but amazing team environment.
As for getting into OWL, Highbee has been cautiously optimistic. “I’m afraid that after I get in, I won’t have the confidence like what I have here. I don’t want to be just another player.”
As for his future, Highbee didn’t have much to say. “I think it’s pretty good around here [on T1w].”
Getting into OWL is undoubtedly the number one goal for T1w, but MoLanran echoes the same sentiments as Highbee. “Even if you gave me a choice to go now [alone], I still wouldn’t go.” MoLanran added another “caveat” to his dream of getting into the League, “I still want everyone on T1w to get into OWL together. We’ve been together for one, two years now. We want to get into OWL, get better, become the best in the world. Together, just like RunAway.”
Peng “Assassin” Yulin joined T1w much later than the rest of the members. But he realized very early on that the goal was to join the League as a team. If an offer landed on him, he didn’t want to treat the team as a means to an end. Of all the players vying for that bigger stage, many are more talented than him, with more incentives to get better. But, “not everyone’s hearts are in the same place”.
“When the team yells ‘3, 2, 1, let’s go!’ before a match is when you can feel the camaraderie most clearly between the players”, says Assassin. “You think you’re the loudest, but the others around are much louder. It’s surprising.” This is the infectious positive energy exuded by T1w that Assassin is fortunate enough to experience.
“The best case scenario is for the of-age players to be in the League right now. The underaged ones can hang around in the academy team until they are 18, in which case we’ll welcome them to the main team,” Highbee sums up his ambition for T1w. “If we can get better, we’ll bring Krystal back. We’ll buy him back.”
Chapter 4
Highbee misses Krystal. He was an integral part of the team.
At the start of 2018, the start of the Overwatch League captured the lion’s share of the attention on Overwatch esports. But at the same time, the Path to Pro system that would complement the League was beginning to be unveiled.
While the inaugural season of the Overwatch League progressed into its second stage, Blizzard announced the launch of Overwatch Contenders China in Guangzhou. As part of the first 12 invited teams to Contenders, T1w would begin its official journey into the secondary development league.
No matter how talented the team at Blizzard were, no matter how much time, resources, and effort was put in, no matter how large its partners were, this unprecedented experiment into a franchised global esports league is still in its infancy. With teams joining year after year and existing teams wanting to remain competitive, the demand for talented players remains high.
And Contenders is the place where talented players in the Overwatch League are nurtured.
In 2018, T1w had ended their Contenders run in the semifinals twice in a row. But the core of the team — Krystal — had been eyed by a Chinese OWL team.
According to Blizzard regulations on contract transfers, Overwatch League teams can directly contact a player, but only if they contact the player’s current team within 24 hours of reaching the player. And if a player accepts an OWL contract and the Contenders team agrees to it, the latter team must let the player go.
Around July of 2018, Jumpcat received a notification. An Overwatch League team wanted Krystal to trial for them.
Between the higher level of competition, greater fame and notoriety, or the greater pay and benefits, the offer to go to the League was tempting for Krystal. At the same time, it also showed T1w that at least one of their players was OWL-worthy.
Now, it was a test, to see whether the entire team was.
That September, the grand finals for the NetEase Esports X Tournament (NeXT) Summer Edition began in Guangzhou. One of the teams invited was Runaway, the number one team in Contenders Korea.
This Sino-Korean standoff featured the best of the best, and winning it would pretty much earn the team the opportunity to join OWL wholesale.
T1w held an unquenchable thirst for competition, for the chance to face Runaway in the final. And so they did. Heading into the finals, the players figured they had up to a 60% chance to win, Jumpcat felt that the match between them and Runaway was a coin toss, while TianDao figured the team had a 40% shot.
T1w’s desire to win was still not enough to overcome the butterflies in their stomachs as their Korean opponents sat across them. Racked up with nervousness before the match began, their traditional “let’s go” chants sounded more sonorous than before.
First map: Lijiang Tower. T1w’s Doomfist and Pharmercy composition was no match for the triple tank, triple support lineup Runaway fielded, and T1w gave up the first point. On the next point, Night Market, there was constant back-and-forth between the two teams. But as the dust settled, T1w emerged the victor. On the final tiebreaking point, the competition was furious, with T1w unleashing ultimate after ultimate, but to no avail. Runaway ended up taking the first map of the series.
Despite T1w’s valiant efforts, Runaway had repeatedly shut them down fight after fight. They were starting to lose steam.
Next maps, Numbani and Dorado. Both times, T1w’s payload failed to reach point C. But Runaway’s sailed right through the maps, as though nothing could stop them. Two more defeats for T1w.
Zero to three. The team was on thin ice.
The fourth map was Volskaya Industries. Runaway is at match point. T1w attacked first, and their DPS duo of Sombra and Genji tore through the backlines of Runaway as their two ultimates were combined. T1w capped both points, but it took everything they had.
On Runaway’s attack, it seemed T1w was running on empty. Heading into overtime, despite Krystal being able to take down member after member on Runaway, it wasn’t enough for T1w.
One word flashed over the screens of T1w: Defeat. Inside the players, a candle had just been snuffed out.
The presentation ceremony was held, and the champion team was presented with the trophy. T1w was just sitting on the sidelines. Jumpcat tried to cheer the players up, but to no avail. Highbee dashed out of the practice room, and sobbed in a corner, away from the eyes of everyone. Silver3 planted his face on his desk. No one could see him, they could only hear him sobbing. MoLanran tried to control himself, but you could see tear stains on his sleeves on the ride home. Krystal sat silently to a side, tears streaming down his face, unable to realize what he had lost.
For T1w, the takeaway message from that tournament was that they wouldn’t get to go to OWL as a team. On the other hand, after sweeping the finals 4–0, Runaway would finally get what they wanted. The entire Runaway roster was signed to the League, and in a flash the Runaway Contenders team was now representing Vancouver on the Overwatch League stage. And as of Stage 3 Week 2 of the 2019 regular season, the Vancouver Titans have a match record of 18 wins — and zero losses.
In the Pacific Showdown of 2019 that ended not long ago, T1w couldn’t even defeat the runners-up of Contenders Korea, O2 Blast, let alone have a chance to face the Korean champions — Element Mystic — in the grand finals.
After the team’s loss to Runaway, Jumpcat held a meeting at their team house. He announced that Krystal and Highbee had received offers from Overwatch League teams, and persuaded the two of them — in front of the rest of their team — not to accept them.
In Jumpcat’s eyes, only Krystal is worthy enough to set foot on the Overwatch League stage. But without the entire team being signed, no matter who decides to go to OWL, they’ll be alone in a foreign country. They won’t have any existing teammates to synergize with. They won’t have any friends to get through difficult times together with.
Even though Jumpcat gave Krystal and Highbee the right to decide on their own, it was clear what they would choose after Jumpcat made his passionate case in front of the rest of the team.
Highbee decided not to accept the offer, but it was just the contrary for Krystal. After the fact, Jumpcat remarked, “After we lost [to Runaway at the NeXT finals], the first thing I saw in Krystal was the fact that he would no longer be with T1w anymore.”
Before the 2019 OWL season began, Krystal didn’t return home to Beijing. Instead, he went to Shanghai, to watch T1w play their games, and to eat and have fun with them afterwards. It wasn’t much different from when Krystal was with the team back then, only now, Krystal’s gamertag was preceded with “HZS” (Hangzhou Spark).
Chapter 5
Highbee made a compeletely different choice from Krystal.
A Chinese [OWL] team contacted Highbee on WeChat. Standing outside the door to [T1w’s] base, he listened to the WeChat voicemail the team left for him. And politely declined the invitation to trial with them.
“Thankfully I didn’t go,” Highbee breathed a sigh of relief as he recounted the incident. “To be honest, I have too little experience. Going to that sort of place alone, who knows what could happen.” Highbee has little confidence in himself, at least without his coach. “Without Jumpcat I don’t think I will play as well. I don’t want to rot on the bench, to be chased back [to China].”
When Jumpcat found out about an offer for MoLanran, a few months had already elapsed since it was sent. Jumpcat had already delegated communications work to ExTrA, but the team still sent the invitation to trial to his email.
Molan was undoubtedly disappointed by this missed opportunity — after all, this was his dream. “But to be very frank, I can’t speak the language. There would’ve been a communication barrier.” There was also nothing in Molan’s mind that could be better than being with T1w, even the all-Chinese Chengdu Hunters.
There could be a million reasons why he didn’t want to leave, but the important one would be that Molan wanted to stay. Being together for over a year, building up the fraternal bonds between the players and even coaches, not even the highest stage in the lands could shake them. “My goal is for everyone (on T1w) to go [to OWL].”
“Completely understandable,” is what Silver3 had to say about Krystal heading to OWL. When Jumpcat broke the news to the rest of the team that Krystal was leaving for OWL, no one batted an eye. At the time, it was agreed he was the only person on the team that deserved OWL.
“He really wants to go at it alone, it’s understandable. Not that I agree, but it’s understandable.” As Krystal’s long-standing teammate, Highbee sighed, “I don’t really support it, but if I were in his shoes, I would have different thoughts.”
When Krystal first went across the pond, the hostile foreign environment somewhat proved Highbee’s fears. Everyone in T1w knew Krystal called TianDao when he was feeling down[, presumably to ask to return].
“We all joked about it. Well half-joked. We were all still concerned about him, but it would be not right or productive to say it out loud. Highbee had his head in his hands, interlocking and wriggling his fingers. “We were all afraid that he would disappoint [in OWL]. He wouldn’t have a good attitude when practicing alone.”
“Where he has been this year has also concerned us,” said Jumpcat.
After Krystal left, Jumpcat took a look at Mijia, who was going back and forth between a professional career and playing recreationally. Nonetheless, Mijia was signed as T1w’s new DPS player. At the beginning of 2019, at the grand finals of Contenders 2018 Season 3, T1w finally clinched their first trophy. 11 days later, they fell to the hands of LGD in a close 3–2 at the NeXT semifinals. After the lunar new year, and following a season of competition, T1w lost to LGE.Huya 4–0 in the season’s grand finals, becoming the runner-up team in the first season of Contenders China 2019.
A month before T1w’s second place finish, across the ocean at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles, Krystal took to the Overwatch League stage for the first time under the Hangzhou Spark banner.
Chapter 6
To these kids, what does a professional career mean?
For T1w, a professional career involves well-acquainted friends and reliable coaches. During scrims spanning afternoons and evenings for six days a week, and the heart-wrenching competitions and matches in between, there’s that hope that they’ll “reach the shore” together.
After the team lost in the Pacific Showdown, during the mid-June NeXT Spring offline playoffs, T1w took down the fourth-placed team in Contenders Korea, Gen.G. But then they lost to (a brand new) RunAway who came in third in Contenders Korea, then got revenge exacted on them by Gen.G. T1w, once again, succumbed to a Korean team.
Earlier on in scrims, Jumpcat told the team to take it easy during the LanStory Cup, as he was more concerned with the NeXT results. But after a disappointing finish at NeXT, T1w missed out on the grand finals at the LSC, ultimately finishing once again at third.
T1w finally took a long overdue vacation. To Ocean World, Trampoline Park, the Wildlife Park. At last, the young lads took a short break away from the world of Overwatch. Accompanied by Guangzhou Charge special correspondent, Li “ChiXiaoTu” Qiong, the boys finally had a real taste of the sun.
After their vacation, MoLanran posted on Weibo, “Life only has one ideal, that is to face the harsh truths of reality while still enjoying what life has to offer.”
On the second of July 2019, the day after Contenders 2019 Season 2 began, the Guangzhou Charge posted a Weibo, adopting T1w as their academy team. For the remaining season of 2019, T1w shall now play under the name T1w.GZA.
It began to rain as the post was published at noon. As the rain accumulated on the ground, it coalesced into a new ocean. And these young men, their souls weathered through the past storms, were heading towards a shore. A giant ship was taking them there, guided by their faiths who were watching over them.
Credits
Original author: Cao Junmeng (junmeng.c@esport.cool)
Publisher: Esports Magazine (@电子竞技杂志 on Weibo; china_ea on WeChat)
This article was originally published in issue #296 of Esports Magazine.
English translation by: sgbros1
Special thanks to Emery Winter for vetting through the article before it was published. Thanks tamagao!
Also shoutout to the Los Angeles Valiant for finally bringing the boys together in OWL, but your organization is still a total piece of shit.
