#ELEAGUESFV Group C: A Villain Thrives Once More

“I don’t care. Bring it on.”

These are the words Wolfkrone used regarding thoughts on being perceived as a villain.

Called out and often hated by many, villains still prevail in an esports environment. You need look no further than popular representatives such as Greg “IdrA” Fields in StarCraft or Konstantinos Napoleon “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou in League of Legends.

However, claims against the legitimacy or value of these esports villains run contrary to the constant attention, the clamouring of fans in which these players take part in.

But villains need not worry about the fans, or “haters”, for they have burdens of their own. Sure, they need not fear walking on eggshells or concern themselves with political correctness, but must handle their own tumultuous inner dialogue, lest it brings them to the a defeat only as bitter as their mischievous minds at their worst.

The focus is on winning, and your feelings do not matter.

Controversial or not, Wolfkrone’s path thus far at ELEAGUE has been one of success. Skipping the quarterfinals stage of his group, Wolfkrone was seeded directly into the semifinals of Group C with a 6-1 start. His first opponent? Xian’s Ibuki.

Watch the Wolfkrone v Xian VOD below:

Xian was a cold and calculated player, but Wolfkrone unveiled predatorial instincts of his own. Knowing patience would be a virtue in the matchup, Wolfkrone’s Laura proceeded to read Xian by poking and jabbing at him until he saw openings. When the openings revealed themselves, Wolfkrone was quick to fully exploit them.

Wolfkrone quickly found himself up 2-0 in the set, but Xian was not going to go down without a fight. Reading Wolfkrone’s aggression and countering in such a way that would tilt any human being, Xian came back from a 0-2 deficit to knock Wolfkrone to the loser’s bracket.

To add insult to injury, Xian Perfect KO’d Wolfkrone — that is, defeated his opponent without getting touched — on the last game of the final set. The only question is: would this negatively impact Wolfkrone’s performance for the rest of the evening, or would it become just the fire he needs to prove everybody wrong?

Wolfkrone’s next opponent would be Tokido, a powerful Akuma player hailing from Japan. Tokido dropped to fellow Japanese player, Fuudo earlier in the set, but defeated other powerhouses such as Splyce | FChamp and Wolfkrone’s previous opponent, Xian.

Watch the Wolfkrone vs Tokido VOD below:

The set was looking grim for Wolfkrone, but through calculated reads and proper counterplay, Wolfkrone was able to take the next two games, and thus, the first set.

1-0.

Tokido, wanting revenge, found vulnerable windows to abuse from his opponent, and looked extremely close to closing the first game of the next set, but Wolfkrone played the patient game. With a fabulous overhead swing with an aerial and proper guarding, Wolfkrone was the one to take the first K.O. of the next set.

2-0.

Playing slow, they said?

Wolfkrone need not care what those within the scene and casters feel about his play, even if it does yield results. The exceptional Laura player would prove to be anything but a one-trick patient pony, opening up the next set wrecking Tokido aggressively without taking a blow in a perfect K.O. Short work was made of the Japanese Akuma, and Wolfkrone had fire in his eyes.

3-0.



Wolfkrone would rematch his previous opponent who knocked him into the loser’s bracket, Xian, to see who would advance to the playoffs at the end of the month. Now was the time to determine if Wolfkrone was shaken from his last encounter and would fall prey in a close set once again, or if he would prevail.

Watch the Wolfkrone vs Xian rematch VOD below:

Ambitious and hungry, narrowly losing the first set to his opponent meant little to him, as he sent a statement by perfect KOing Xian in the first round of the set.

Xian would return with a hard-fought KO of his own, but not before Wolfkrone took the final one to close out the first set of the BO5.

Xian battled valiantly but had little answer for Wolfkrone’s aggressive Laura, dealing the first blood with 1-0. Xian answers back, 1-1. Xian begins to play more defensive, but Wolfkrone crushes Xian’s walling tactics, 2-1.

But this would not be so easy, as sweet satisfaction rarely is for a villain — we’ve all consumed our share of fairy tales. An epic power struggle would ensue for Xian to put a point on the board.

Xian made a strong statement with his return victory in the set. Mirroring the end of the previous set, Xian breaks down Wolfkrone’s walls, bringing the set up 2-1.

Games continued to appear so close, with differences in ending HP bars barely distinguishable, almost as if the matches were scripted. Xian tied the set 2-2.

Alas for Xian, good guys don’t always win, and Wolfkrone turned heads and proved everyone wrong, advancing to the playoffs and closing the book on Group C.

One could fire any barrage of excuses to discredit Wolfkrone’s wins. Sure, he wasn’t in the group of death; he didn’t have to face the likes of Daigo or PRBalrog. Some of the more difficult opponents were already taken care of within the group.

You can call him disrespectful. You can call him a ragequitter. You can even call him the — recently disproven — online ladder only hero. But you cannot take away the indisputable key factor: results.



“I don’t feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.”