The V3 Esports squad (Source: V3 Esports Twitter)

With a three to zero victory over AXIZ in the LJL 2020 play-offs, the V3 Esports squad managed to sweep their way into the second stage of the play-offs. The team is looking unstoppable, as they are currently on a impressive six game winning streak. With Bugi as one of the main contributors to their wins, the team looks into a bright future where maybe one day they could be the team that LJL fans root for.

In this article we will not only look at their success stories, but also their development on how they managed to get from the bottom to the top of the LJL structure!

High technology school

V3 Esports team in the High tech school (Source: ht-school.jp)

The team is owned by a high tech school from Kobe since the summer of 2018. The school called: 学校法人神戸学園 which translates into Kobe High Tech School, is one of the first schools in Japan to do courses for gaming. Located in the Hyōgo Prefecture in Kobe, the school is in the same prefecture as the famous Himeji castle, the Osaka bay and many other sights.

A normal school day in the Kobe High Tech School goes for example like this; On the Mondays, they get game theory on the first two hours. The following hours the students get game training and on the last hour they get intercultural education. In this screenshot below, you can see exactly how a school week goes.

A normal timetable, translated in English (Source: ht-school.jp)

When you think about it, a League of Legends pro team owned by a high tech school isn’t the usual ownership that you see. You nowadays mostly see ownership or partnership with big football, baseball or basketball clubs. Such as Fukuoka SoftBanks Hawks, who are a baseball team that has a team in the LJL.

A very interesting coach

After some stints as a professional player, the Canadian bot laner Maplestreet joined V3 Esports as coach for the LJLCS qualifier on the 30th of May in 2017. It has been the fourth time a non-Korean foreigner has joined the Japanese circuit, as Claire from OCE, 1onz from NA and Pascal from EU have previously played or coached in Japan. The acquisition of Maplestreet has been responded with incredible excitement from the V3 fans, as they were beyond curious on what Maplestreet could do for the young V3 squad.

Challenger series

Maplestreet alongside the LJLCS squad (Source: V3 Esports Twitter)

V3 Esports qualified through an open qualifier in June 2017 with Maplestreet as coach. This was their following roster in the LJLCS:

Top: Cogcog Jungle: Smile Mid: E Hi Bot: KEYMAKER Support: Kazu Coach: Maplestreet, 1onz

Immediately the week after the open qualifier, the LJLCS of summer 2017 started with the new participants. Included in the LJLCS were SCARZ, Crest Gaming Act, Rampage Quintet (the sister team of former LJL team Rampage) and V3 Esports as notable participants.

The team went two to three in match score, before turning their season around with a five winning streak. Alongside SCARZ, they managed to qualify into the top two positions in order to participate into the next promotion rounds.

In the LJL 2018 Spring promotion tournament, they faced off against Burning Core. Burning Core was no match against them, as they won three to zero against their opponent. With various picks such as Cassiopeia, Kassadin and Taliyah, E hi dominated the enemy midlaner Hollis. With this, V3 Esports locked themselves successfully into the LJL 2018 Spring split.

E hi pentakill on Kassadin in the challenger series:

The rise to the top

The following seasons went as expected from them, but with mixed results. With fourth in spring and fifth in summer — which meant promotion matches in spring 2019 — the team had to requalify for the next LJL split. V3 Esports managed to sweep AKIBA ENCOUNT, which meant they were back in the LJL.

V3 Esports in Summer 2019 (Source: Riot Games JP)

Their roster in 2019:

Top: Paz Jungle: Neo, Savage Mid: Ace, Recap Bot: Zerost, Masyo, Yutorimoyashi (summer) Support: vivid Coach: HW4NG

With the new format change in the LJL, it was impossible to relegate since there was no promotion / relegation system anymore. The LJL also changed to an eight team structure, where the top three teams play in the play-offs. In spring, the V3 Esports line-up finished on the sixth place spot, but in summer they managed to qualify in play-offs by ending third in the regular summer split.

In the play-offs they faced off against their well known rival that they have faced a million times by now: Crest Gaming Act. In a nail-biting back and forth match, the boys in green won against Crest Gaming Act with three to two score. It was made possible by both Ace and Yutorimoyashi with impressive Akali and Caitlyn performances. On finals day, the team faced the unstoppable DetonatioN FocusMe. The team managed to win the first game of the match, but the following games went over through DFM’s side. DFM won the finals and qualified for worlds, as V3 Esports could held their heads up high with their successful season.

Back to square zero

The current V3 Esports squad (Source: Riot Games JP)

Their current squad in 2020, which they qualified onto the next play-offs stage:

Top: Paz Jungle: Bugi Mid: Ace Bot: Archer Support: Raina Coach: HW4NG, Son

In less than three days, the V3 Esports squad will face off once again against Crest Gaming Act to determine who will participate in the next round against the loser of DetonatioN FocusMe and Sengoku Gaming. V3 Esports has a good chance of making it into the next round, as they are regarded as the favorites against Crest Gaming Act. The series should be an exciting one, like previous series. We will have to see who will be the winner and if V3 Esports will be successful in continuing their story.

Are you going to root for V3 Esports? Tune into the next LJL match!

Interested in the LJL? Come and watch the next LJL broadcast either on the official Japanese broadcast or the English broadcast! Starting this saturday at 5 AM CET, the LJL Spring play-offs will be played with the first match being DetonatioN FocusMe vs. Sengoku Gaming and the second match at 6 AM CET being V3 Esports vs. Crest Gaming Act. You don’t want to miss that!

Join our LJL English Discord to discuss and learn even more about the LJL!

I hope you had a wonderful read about From challenger series to LJL; The success story of V3 Esports, and on every Thursday I will post an new article which features various things about the LJL as well. So stay tuned!