League of Legends MSI preview: MEGA
By Josh Tyler
With MSI beginning next week, we are taking you around the world of League of Legends to introduce all the teams participating in the tournament!
The League of Legends Midseason Invitational kicks off next Wednesday. While the tournament features teams most League of Legends fans are already familiar with, the tournament boasts teams from all across the world. From the major regions like North America, Europe, Korea, and China, to the smaller regions like Oceania, Turkey, Brazil, and Japan, there will be a lot of new names and faces to become acquainted with.
Today, we introduce you to MEGA of the Southeast Asia region. Representing Thailand, this group of plucky unknowns is hoping to shock the world and make noise at MSI.
Who they are
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MEGA entered the League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) as the representative for Thailand after winning the national qualifier following several qualifying tournaments to secure that spot as Thailand’s representative along the way. After finishing the Thailand league’s regular season in third-place, MEGA managed to secure one of the four spots in that national qualifier tournament. They proceeded to sweep through both rounds of the national qualifier to win their spot as Thailand’s representative in the LST tournament.
Facing the other qualifying teams from Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia & Singapore, MEGA continued their perfect run through the tournament. First, the swept the Indonesian team Capital Esports. In the finals, they faced down Team Empire from Malaysia & Singapore, dispatching them as well in three straight games.
The roster
Top – Atit “Rockky” Phaomuang
Home country: Thailand
Most-played champions: Sylas, Hecarim, Jayce
Jungle – Kwon “Jjun” Jun-seok
Home country: South Korea
Most-played champions: Jarvan IV, Elise, Rek’Sai
Mid – Nuttapong “G4” Menkasikan
Home country: Thailand
Most-played champions: Lissandra, Zed, Orianna
ADC – Juckkirsts “Lloyd” Kongubon
Home country: Thailand
Most-played champions: Xayah, Kai’Sa, Kalista
Support – Ha “PoP” Min-wook
Home country: South Korea
Most-played champions: Braum, Galio, Rakan
Success and failure
There isn’t a lot of information or data on this team or the LST tournament. The most games they played in any one tournament this year was a four-game set during the round robin of their National Qualifier. As a result, it’s quite difficult to even eyeball how strong of a team MEGA is relative to their own competition.
Unfortunately for them, that quality of competition isn’t very high. Even though they have drawn into the “easier” of the two groups, they’re still wildly outclassed by teams like DetonatioN FocusMe and INTZ. Their closest competition will likely be Vega Squadron, but I’d expect that even Vega will have their way with the SEA representatives. Maybe they can surprise us, but I fear they’re in the same scenario as Isurus Gaming.
Winning a game or two is likely this team’s ceiling and it wouldn’t be shocking if they ended up going 0-6 in the tournament. If they do get blanked for this tournament, though, they should hold their heads high. Even making it to play on this big stage is an accomplishment for all these players.
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Do you think MEGA will surprise us all during the play-in stage? Let us know in the comments below.