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Rebuilding Fnatic Part 2: A Korean Odyssey
Fnatic's manager gets a tour of the Korean League of Legends scene, and finds future of the team.
The new Fnatic with their fans at EU LCS
© Riot Esports
Rebuilding Fnatic continues in part 2 with a dramatic trip through Korea in an attempt to rebuild the once legendary team following their breakup in part 1.
A month before Worlds in 2014, Fnatic League of Legends manager Oliver Steer was trapped in Incheon Airport. None of Steer's bank cards worked in Korea, so he was temporarily penniless the moment he stepped off the plane, unable even to afford a train ticket. The rest of the Fnatic organization wouldn't arrive for a week, so no help was on the way. His dream trip was turning into a shambles.
This travel disaster turned out to be the best thing that would happen to the Fnatic team during Worlds in 2014. While Steer didn't know it yet, the Fnatic roster was about to crumble, and it was this travel debacle in Korea that would lay the foundations for recovery.
An eSports Pilgrimage
"I went [to Korea] as a manager who wants to be a better manager," Steer said. "I just wanted to go to as many gaming houses as possible. To learn. To be better."
This is characteristic of Steer. Across a few different careers, Steer has pushed himself to learn by watching and doing. By age 18, he was a pastry chef working under a Michelin-starred chef. Though he's moved on from that, the methods and discipline he learned in an elite kitchen inform his approach to everything else. Steer's visit to Korea was a chance to learn recipes for success from the greatest teams and players in the world.
But first he needed to get out of the airport.
Fireworks over the Worlds stage
© Riot Esports
Steer decided to take a chance on a Korean Fnatic fan he'd talked with on Skype a few times, and see if there was anything he could do. Steer hit the jackpot: not only was this guy willing and able to help, but he also turned out to be shockingly well-connected and informed about Korean League of Legends.
"For three days, this guy paid my food, he paid my transportation. He helped me with everything," Steer said. "I said, you know man, I want to to go OGN one day. That's my big dream. He made a phone call ...got me in at the last minute. And I saw the NaJin Sword - SKT match live from the first row. Faker was next to me, almost sitting behind me."
Steer is cagey about the man's identity, partly because he doesn't want his eSports oracle to become too popular with other managers. But he also insists the man has a position where he neither needs nor wants publicity. He's never asked Steer for a favor, and he's quick to give Steer advice when asked. And it's always been great advice.
Fnatic's Huni looking pleased at EU LCS
© Riot Esports
The Pickup Game
One of the places Steer's friend took him was the Samsung gaming house.
"We weren't allowed to go into the gaming house before the head coach arrived. So we were waiting in the lobby. And basically we just rang the doorbell to call one of the players down," he said. "What you have to know is that the Samsung gaming house is [inside] like a 50-floor building. And each floor is like a house. Samsung has three floors. One for StarCraft 2, one for League of Legends, and one for their League of Legends training team. It's for like high-rank solo queue players."
This is how a team like Samsung finds and develops talent. The very best players on the Korean server get to train with coaches in a focused practice environment. They aren't really a part of the team, but they're being groomed for a pro career.
"So we rang the doorbell, and [Heo "Huni" Seung Hoon] came out. ...And I have no idea who he is. We spend like 20 minutes in the lobby speaking to him. My friend was translating."
As they passed the time waiting for the Samsung coach to arrive, Steer asked Huni what he thought of Fnatic's chances at Worlds. Huni was blunt: he didn't think Fnatic would do well. Their players weren't on Korea's level, much less his own level.
Steer was both amazed at Huni's cockiness and curious whether he could back any of it up. So he arranged a scrim: Huni plus whatever training-team players he wanted, versus Fnatic. One of the players Huni recruited was Gamsu, who currently plays for Dignitas.
On a couple levels, the results were a sign of things to come.
"And pretty much these random 5 solo queue guys, four times in a row, just took a dump on Fnatic within 20 minutes. They just annihilated us," Steer said. "And this Huni kid, in front of my eyes, I watched him play sOAZ, and he was winning!"
Months later, when the Fnatic roster had departed, and Steer and Fnatic support player Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim knew they were you going to have to rebuild the team, Steer flashed back to that pickup game.
"I had a call with YellOwStaR, and I was like, 'Do you remember those Samsung training players?' And he clearly did. Gamsu, Huni. He remembered the games, what champions they played. It clearly had an impact on his memory," Steer said. "There was a reason he remembered it so clearly."
Fnatic's jungler ReignOver at work in EU LCS
© Riot Esports
Going Up
Huni accepted Fnatic's offer, but that left Steer with another problem: Huni's English was shaky, and there was nobody else on the team with whom he'd be able to converse easily. So once again, Steer reached out to his Korean friend.
"I asked him to help me find a jungler. Who speaks English and plays very well. And he found ReignOver. And Huni had met ReignOver in the SKT house, so they knew each other," Steer said.
This move provoked some resistance, Steer admitted. Huni was well-known in Korea, but Kim "ReignOver" Yeu Jin was much less prominent. Both Patrik Sättermon, Fnatic's Chief Gaming Officer, and YellOwStaR also thought Steer was crazy for giving so much weight to his Korean friend's opinions. But Steer was adamant, and he got his way.
But it would be a mistake to think that Steer just lucked into finding good Korean players, he argues. A lot of teams recruit from the same market, and while Steer maybe been fortunately to find the right advisor, he also insists he took a different mindset with him to Korea.
"I found young players who were hungry for wins, who would do anything they can possibly do to win. Where other teams picked up these old school veterans who were once good names, big names, but now they're just. You know… they're on their way down. And I'm picking up players who are on the way up. Who ...will be even better [in the future]."
Steer's Korean trip placed the foundation for Fnatic's recovery after the departure of their old, legendary roster. The rest of the pieces would fall into place as YellOwStaR stepped into a leadership role, and the new lineup learned how to be a team worthy of the Fnatic name.
Check back next Tuesday and Thursday for the third and fourth parts of Rebuilding Fnatic, a four-part series about the revival of Fnatic's League of Legends team during the offseason.
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