The Enigma of NaJin e-mFire Article: thejuju February 24th, 2015 21:09 GMT



Korea was in complete chaos. Rosters imploded after the World Championship due to team mergers and adventurous Chinese managers, with Samsung Galaxy’s losing their entire roster and replacing their championship-winning players with new faces. CJ Entus was left with the old Frost roster and Ambition, and four members of NaJin e-mFire left and decided to make their own new team with the eternally struggling Smeb from Incredible Miracle.



By the end of this tumultuous preseason, two teams clearly stood out among the rest. One of these was SK Telecom T1, who looked revitalized - potentially the best team in the world with top laner MaRin coming into his own as a carry top laner. The other was NaJin, who managed to retain enough star talent to form a strong roster. NaJin finished the preseason with a dominant record of three wins, one loss and one tie in matches, and a total 7-3 game record. NaJin appeared to be a strong contender for a top two finish in the regular season, the only threat to SKT running over the rest of the region.



Fast-forward six weeks to the end of the first half of the regular season. NaJin currently sit in fifth place at 3-4 with a mere 8-9 record in games. They are the only team besides the winless Samsung who has yet to beat a top four team, and also gave Samsung one of their two victories in games with the worst throw thus far in this season of Champions. What happened in the span of a month and a half to turn the fortunes of this NaJin squad around? How could NaJin have lost the edge that they seemed to have over their competition?



Ultimately, NaJin appear to have not substantially improved over the preseason, and with most of the other Korean teams levelling up their game during the regular season, NaJin have not adapted to the increased competition in Korea. The issues that were mostly obscured during the preseason have been starkly exposed as the regular season has progressed, and NaJin have made little progress towards patching up their holes.



This isn't to say that NaJin has suddenly dropped off in raw ability. Indeed, NaJin have been competitive in pretty much every match they've lost - they are still a decent League of Legends team. Paradoxically, they're good at everything except winning games.



Unfortunately, the recently-exposed holes in NaJin’s play seem to be holding them back from further success. Had a few things gone their way, they could easily have been 6-1 with a comfortable playoff position in virtual lockdown.



Substitution Shenanigans







On the other hand, Zefa has been ‘just good enough’ in his entire career on White Shield, and Pure is an inexperienced substitute - a far cry from Cain’s years of experience that features an OGN championship and two Worlds appearances. In any case, the best combination in the bot lane seems to be Ohq and Cain, with all other combinations being a clear downgrade.



Ohq and Cain as a duo lane are able and perfectly willing to make aggressive plays in and out of lane. Zefa is unwilling and seemingly incapable of making these plays, and while Pure isn’t a bad support, he lacks the experience and synergy with Ohq to create this kind of opportunities.







When Ohq and Cain play, Ohq becomes another carry threat for NaJin, and he has proven more than capable of becoming the team’s win condition, as seen on his brief stint on Sword. On the other hand, besides having a relatively high KDA, Zefa has not been impressive ever since White Shield's miracle run in regionals, and certainly hasn't played well enough to justify his appearance over Ohq's.



NaJin’s synergy has been compromised as a result of their constant bot lane changes. The development of Ohq and Cain as a duo has slowed down, and NaJin’s best roster has had less on-stage experience as a complete team. With all the problems that have stemmed from NaJin’s insistence on mixing up their bot lane, one might wonder why they continue to do so.



NaJin management have stated that they switch their bot lane in order to play different strategies in their games. Ohq, the more aggressive player, would play when NaJin wanted a more aggressive AD carry, and Zefa would play when the team wanted to play more passively. While sound in theory, Ohq arguably is a better AD carry than Zefa even when playing a more passive playstyle, so essentially NaJin is taking a downgrade if they want to change their strategy. Ohq, unlike Zefa, offers NaJin more freedom in picks and bans to pick pretty much any AD carry champion, as he can play both hyper carry champions and team-oriented carries with equal proficiency, as seen on some of his games with both Tristana and Sivir.



Just putting Ohq and Cain together isn't the complete answer to everything, however. Ohq and Cain played together for nine of NaJin’s 17 games, and as a duo went a combined record of 5-4. While this record is better than Zefa/Pure’s record of 2-4, it is far from the cure-all to NaJin’s play, but certainly the first place to start. At first glance, this appears to be by far the most obvious reason for NaJin’s disappointing results. With rising star Ohq and veteran Cain, NaJin possesses one of the strongest bot lanes in Korea. They have impressed since they began to play together on the NaJin Black Sword lineup, and have put up many great performances this season.On the other hand, Zefa has been ‘just good enough’ in his entire career on White Shield, and Pure is an inexperienced substitute - a far cry from Cain’s years of experience that features an OGN championship and two Worlds appearances. In any case, the best combination in the bot lane seems to be Ohq and Cain, with all other combinations being a clear downgrade.Ohq and Cain as a duo lane are able and perfectly willing to make aggressive plays in and out of lane. Zefa is unwilling and seemingly incapable of making these plays, and while Pure isn’t a bad support, he lacks the experience and synergy with Ohq to create this kind of opportunities.When Ohq and Cain play, Ohq becomes another carry threat for NaJin, and he has proven more than capable of becoming the team’s win condition, as seen on his brief stint on Sword. On the other hand, besides having a relatively high KDA, Zefa has not been impressive ever since White Shield's miracle run in regionals, and certainly hasn't played well enough to justify his appearance over Ohq's.NaJin’s synergy has been compromised as a result of their constant bot lane changes. The development of Ohq and Cain as a duo has slowed down, and NaJin’s best roster has had less on-stage experience as a complete team. With all the problems that have stemmed from NaJin’s insistence on mixing up their bot lane, one might wonder why they continue to do so.NaJin management have stated that they switch their bot lane in order to play different strategies in their games. Ohq, the more aggressive player, would play when NaJin wanted a more aggressive AD carry, and Zefa would play when the team wanted to play more passively. While sound in theory, Ohq arguably is a better AD carry than Zefa even when playing a more passive playstyle, so essentially NaJin is taking a downgrade if they want to change their strategy. Ohq, unlike Zefa, offers NaJin more freedom in picks and bans to pick pretty much any AD carry champion, as he can play both hyper carry champions and team-oriented carries with equal proficiency, as seen on some of his games with both Tristana and Sivir.Just putting Ohq and Cain together isn't the complete answer to everything, however. Ohq and Cain played together for nine of NaJin’s 17 games, and as a duo went a combined record of 5-4. While this record is better than Zefa/Pure’s record of 2-4, it is far from the cure-all to NaJin’s play, but certainly the first place to start.



Exposed in the Jungle







On top of all of this, arguably the five best junglers in Korea (DanDy, Kakao, Spirit, Daydream, Swift) all left the region, leaving Bengi and Watch as ‘the best of the rest’. During the preseason, this was all great for NaJin, because none of the other teams could punish Watch’s historical weakness to extensive counterjungling. There was no KaKAO anymore to solo kill Watch in both ways of a Nocturne-Elise matchup, as KaKAO did in games 3 and 4 of the Arrows’ comeback against White Shield in the Summer 2014 quarterfinals. Watch was subsequently allowed to act as he pleased during the preseason, knowing that he still had the edge.







Once the regular season started, this brief paradise for Watch came to an abrupt end. Lee and Chaser developed into the two best junglers in Korea, giving Watch and the rest of NaJin huge woes in the jungle. With only eight teams in Korea now, having those two develop into superior junglers was extremely detrimental to NaJin's chances for top two. Ambition and Score both also grew into their roles and proved capable of challenging Watch, putting Watch firmly into the middle-tier of junglers.



For a team that looked to be a lock for the playoffs, having Watch drop from a clear top-two jungler to a mid-tier jungler was a clear stumbling block. Watch’s overall lack of pressure compared to Lee and Chaser ended up costing NaJin opportunities that they would have otherwise reclaimed easily. NaJin must seriously consider if Watch is the right fit for the team, even with his veteran experience and magnetic draw to Worlds, or they may run into the same frustrating results.



Fortunately for NaJin, they have a new substitute jungler known as Peanut who can start for them in the second half of the season. He has been ranked in the top of the Korean Challenger ladder for a while, but was ineligible to compete due to his age. Once he turns 17, he could make a possible appearance in the booth. Whether this move would be a strict upgrade is yet to be seen, but NaJin fans will be hopeful that Peanut can prove himself as an upgrade to Watch.



Watch fans, on the other hand, will still find solace that Watch still is in the cinematic intro still looks as pretty as ever. To be brutally honest, the Korean jungle was a weak spot in the preseason. Chaser was playing like he was RealFoxy again, and Lee seemed to improve from his first season - but there wasn’t much to improve on. Ambition and Score were completely new to the position, while the veteran Wisdom was mediocre as usual. Eve had talent, but lacked key experience.On top of all of this, arguably the five best junglers in Korea (DanDy, Kakao, Spirit, Daydream, Swift) all left the region, leaving Bengi and Watch as ‘the best of the rest’. During the preseason, this was all great for NaJin, because none of the other teams could punish Watch’s historical weakness to extensive counterjungling. There was no KaKAO anymore to solo kill Watch in both ways of a Nocturne-Elise matchup, as KaKAO did in games 3 and 4 of the Arrows’ comeback against White Shield in the Summer 2014 quarterfinals. Watch was subsequently allowed to act as he pleased during the preseason, knowing that he still had the edge.Once the regular season started, this brief paradise for Watch came to an abrupt end. Lee and Chaser developed into the two best junglers in Korea, giving Watch and the rest of NaJin huge woes in the jungle. With only eight teams in Korea now, having those two develop into superior junglers was extremely detrimental to NaJin's chances for top two. Ambition and Score both also grew into their roles and proved capable of challenging Watch, putting Watch firmly into the middle-tier of junglers.For a team that looked to be a lock for the playoffs, having Watch drop from a clear top-two jungler to a mid-tier jungler was a clear stumbling block. Watch’s overall lack of pressure compared to Lee and Chaser ended up costing NaJin opportunities that they would have otherwise reclaimed easily. NaJin must seriously consider if Watch is the right fit for the team, even with his veteran experience and magnetic draw to Worlds, or they may run into the same frustrating results.Fortunately for NaJin, they have a new substitute jungler known as Peanut who can start for them in the second half of the season. He has been ranked in the top of the Korean Challenger ladder for a while, but was ineligible to compete due to his age. Once he turns 17, he could make a possible appearance in the booth. Whether this move would be a strict upgrade is yet to be seen, but NaJin fans will be hopeful that Peanut can prove himself as an upgrade to Watch.Watch fans, on the other hand, will still find solace that Watch still is in the cinematic intro still looks as pretty as ever.



Ggoong's Rise and Fall







When White Shield were at their best, Save and Ggoong were both strong solo players capable of leaping ahead of their opponents and carrying the game. Ggoong still has the capability of being a massive carry for NaJin, and has shown that he is still a very scary player. However, the last time he showed this was in the first game that he played in the season as Zed versus Faker’s Xerath. Ever since that game, Ggoong has not stepped up to be the carry that NaJin needs alongside Duke.







Ggoong’s problems are particularly disturbing when compared to some of the other mid laners in Korea currently. GBM and Coco have both risen above their past woes and stepped up for their teams. KurO, although overshadowed by some of his teammates, has been playing equally as phenomenally throughout the season. Finally, Ggoong is not, and has never been, as good as Faker.



Ggoong went from being comfortably a top mid in Korea to a mid-tier one, with the mid laners of the top four teams all performing better. His inability to soundly defeat his top-four opponents bodes ill for NaJin’s chances at reaching the playoff stage. Why exactly Ggoong has fallen off slightly is quite a puzzle. Ggoong has always been a fearsome skillshot assassin player in his career, with his Zed, Leblanc, and Ahri being particularly deadly. In addition to this, he also was a fearsome Nidalee player, landing spears with deadly accuracy.



This makes Ggoong’s struggle on poke champions like Xerath bizarre, because of how well he can land skillshots. He hasn’t even performed well on Leblanc or Ahri this season, champions Ggoong has been historically fantastic on, adding another layer to the mystery. His best champion right now appears to be Kassadin, a champion which he plays with aplomb. However, even his Kassadin play doesn’t feel quite up to the par of other mid laners in the Korea right now, and he most certainly is not the best Kassadin in Korea (that title probably belongs to Coco).



If Ggoong can make an impact with champions in this meta on the same level as he did in his prime, much pressure would be alleviated from Duke and Ohq, who find themselves on the wrong end of a jungle camp far too often. Ggoong clearly has the ability to play well, it’s just a matter of whether he can consistently deliver strong performances in NaJin’s games. The solo lanes of NaJin have historically been extremely strong, especially in the top lane. Maknoon, Expession, Save, and now Duke have all proven themselves to be some of the best top laners in the world while they were on NaJin. On this current NaJin team, Duke is the star and the carry of the team in all of their games, evident through his ridiculous statistic of being NaJin’s MVP in seven out of their eight victories.When White Shield were at their best, Save and Ggoong were both strong solo players capable of leaping ahead of their opponents and carrying the game. Ggoong still has the capability of being a massive carry for NaJin, and has shown that he is still a very scary player. However, the last time he showed this was in the first game that he played in the season as Zed versus Faker’s Xerath. Ever since that game, Ggoong has not stepped up to be the carry that NaJin needs alongside Duke.Ggoong’s problems are particularly disturbing when compared to some of the other mid laners in Korea currently. GBM and Coco have both risen above their past woes and stepped up for their teams. KurO, although overshadowed by some of his teammates, has been playing equally as phenomenally throughout the season. Finally, Ggoong is not, and has never been, as good as Faker.Ggoong went from being comfortably a top mid in Korea to a mid-tier one, with the mid laners of the top four teams all performing better. His inability to soundly defeat his top-four opponents bodes ill for NaJin’s chances at reaching the playoff stage. Why exactly Ggoong has fallen off slightly is quite a puzzle. Ggoong has always been a fearsome skillshot assassin player in his career, with his Zed, Leblanc, and Ahri being particularly deadly. In addition to this, he also was a fearsome Nidalee player, landing spears with deadly accuracy.This makes Ggoong’s struggle on poke champions like Xerath bizarre, because of how well he can land skillshots. He hasn’t even performed well on Leblanc or Ahri this season, champions Ggoong has been historically fantastic on, adding another layer to the mystery. His best champion right now appears to be Kassadin, a champion which he plays with aplomb. However, even his Kassadin play doesn’t feel quite up to the par of other mid laners in the Korea right now, and he most certainly is not the best Kassadin in Korea (that title probably belongs to Coco).If Ggoong can make an impact with champions in this meta on the same level as he did in his prime, much pressure would be alleviated from Duke and Ohq, who find themselves on the wrong end of a jungle camp far too often. Ggoong clearly has the ability to play well, it’s just a matter of whether he can consistently deliver strong performances in NaJin’s games.



Shotcalling: The Cain Question







Even in some of NaJin’s victories, especially against Samsung, NaJin seemed to unnecessarily extend games even with comfortable leads. Their spotty shotcalling even ended up costing them the second game against Samsung - a game which they should have won by all accounts. All this serves to illustrate one of the most mysterious aspects about NaJin: they don’t actually look bad in-game, at least until they make some baffling calls that lose them their games.







NaJin’s shotcalling issues may actually be attributed to Cain’s rotating presence on the team. On the NaJin roster, Cain and Watch have by far the most experience on the team, with both players going to multiple World Championships. Of the two, Cain is the more intelligent and the better leader in-game. The Summer 2014 Sword roster was built in a significant way by Cain, with his being the leader and the mentor of the other four newer members of the team. Cain was the shotcaller of that Sword roster, and it would make sense if Cain transitioned over to shotcalling in the new combined NaJin roster.



If this is the case, however, switching out Cain seems to make even less sense than it does already. If Cain is the primary shotcaller on NaJin and being switched out every game, then NaJin is making a horrific blunder every time Pure steps into the booth. If Cain is switching out with Pure, NaJin most likely has one of their players who isn’t being swapped out acting as their primary shotcaller.



The bigger question is, who would be? None of the other members of NaJin boast the experience and the apparent intelligence that Cain has, and Pure is too inexperienced to take that role if he is subbing in every other game as compared to playing every single game.



If Cain is not the shotcaller of NaJin, it would explain NaJin’s occasional mistakes that they end up making in their shotcalling. No other player on NaJin has the experience and game knowledge that Cain does, and making Cain the primary shotcaller should be a perfectly rational decision.



However, if NaJin is actually switching their primary shotcaller every other game, it would actually be more of a miracle that they have managed to be as successful as they are. Imagine how much worse off Cloud 9 would be if they started subbing in an equally talented but inexperienced mid over Hai every other game.



If Cain started every game and was the primary shotcaller for NaJin, then they might have turned around a few of those close losses and be challenging for the top position. It is considerably speculative, but Cain’s inconsistent presence in the seems to have set NaJin back both tactically and strategically in game. In NaJin’s four losses, three were extremely close losses that could have swung in their favor had they done a few things better. The only time NaJin lost convincingly was against the GE Tigers, who completely destroyed them in a 2-0 stomp, much like how they stomped over nearly every other team in the league.Even in some of NaJin’s victories, especially against Samsung, NaJin seemed to unnecessarily extend games even with comfortable leads. Their spotty shotcalling even ended up costing them the second game against Samsung - a game which they should have won by all accounts. All this serves to illustrate one of the most mysterious aspects about NaJin: they don’t actually look bad in-game, at least until they make some baffling calls that lose them their games.NaJin’s shotcalling issues may actually be attributed to Cain’s rotating presence on the team. On the NaJin roster, Cain and Watch have by far the most experience on the team, with both players going to multiple World Championships. Of the two, Cain is the more intelligent and the better leader in-game. The Summer 2014 Sword roster was built in a significant way by Cain, with his being the leader and the mentor of the other four newer members of the team. Cain was the shotcaller of that Sword roster, and it would make sense if Cain transitioned over to shotcalling in the new combined NaJin roster.If this is the case, however, switching out Cain seems to make even less sense than it does already. If Cain is the primary shotcaller on NaJin and being switched out every game, then NaJin is making a horrific blunder every time Pure steps into the booth. If Cain is switching out with Pure, NaJin most likely has one of their players who isn’t being swapped out acting as their primary shotcaller.The bigger question is, who would be? None of the other members of NaJin boast the experience and the apparent intelligence that Cain has, and Pure is too inexperienced to take that role if he is subbing in every other game as compared to playing every single game.If Cain is not the shotcaller of NaJin, it would explain NaJin’s occasional mistakes that they end up making in their shotcalling. No other player on NaJin has the experience and game knowledge that Cain does, and making Cain the primary shotcaller should be a perfectly rational decision.However, if NaJin is actually switching their primary shotcaller every other game, it would actually be more of a miracle that they have managed to be as successful as they are. Imagine how much worse off Cloud 9 would be if they started subbing in an equally talented but inexperienced mid over Hai every other game.If Cain started every game and was the primary shotcaller for NaJin, then they might have turned around a few of those close losses and be challenging for the top position. It is considerably speculative, but Cain’s inconsistent presence in the seems to have set NaJin back both tactically and strategically in game.



NaJin's Return to the Top



Despite all of their woes, NaJin is still a good team. They have proven this all throughout the preseason and even in most of their losses. However, being good doesn’t mean anything if NaJin can’t beat the teams they are directly competing with for a playoff spot. Their primary issues can easily be fixed by building a comfortable retirement home for Zefa and Pure and hoping the young Peanut proves to be an upgrade to a stagnant Watch.



With this, a majority of NaJin’s issues could be fixed right off the bat. However, it will likely take more time than necessary for this roster to completely gel - time that could be costly for their chances of a playoff position this split. Fortunately, NaJin has had an important week to recharge and hopefully fix their issues.



Unfortunately for NaJin, they need to beat an intimidating SKT in their first match of the second half of the season if they want any hope of being maintaining control of a playoffs spot. If they can topple SKT, they enter a tie for fourth place with them and have an actual shot of clawing their way into the finals. Conversely, if they lose to SKT (a perfectly probable outcome given SKT’s current form), the chances for NaJin to get into the top four by the end of the split will pretty much vanish, barring a collapse from one of the other top teams.



NaJin is 0-4 against the top four teams, and going 0-5 would be a monumental disaster. NaJin fans need to pray for a 2-0 victory over SKT, as any other result might be too little, too late for the team.



If NaJin wants to finish in the top four, they need to start converting their close losses against the top four into victories. They’ve lost their first four matches against potentially playoff-bound teams, and need to reverse this trend unless they want to see themselves in a disappointing fifth place.



NaJin is more than a good enough team to compete for the playoffs, but their lack of success is proving more harmful than good so far. With such a strong roster it’s bizarre that the team isn’t finding success, and once the team fixes those issues they will cross over from merely a “good team” to a “winning team” and maybe even a “championship team”.





Writer @whyjujuwhy | THE BIGGEST FRAUD ON LL | Ultimate Passionlord | N E V E R G I V E U P