* Courtesy of CLGaming.net

Come Season 8, Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes and Vincent “Biofrost” Wang have the potential to grow and become one of the best bot lane duos to grace North America. Both of these players have come from superstar mentors, in Peng “Doubelift” Yiliang and Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black. Theoretically, Stixxay has been shaped to retain the best qualities of Doubelift that Aphromoo saw fit to instill within him. Gone are the habits of enforcing lane dominance and playing the style of “resource hog”. Likewise, Biofrost has been led down a path that Doubelift wished Aphromoo to follow. Biofrost can be seen having a focus on laning and playing a more supportive/peel style instead of engage or playmaking.

From the premise, this is akin to (spoilers) Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty, with Raiden being trained to become a copy of Solid Snake, with a program being developed to put Raiden through specific events that would shape him into being the same as Solid Snake, mentally and physically. In theory, both Stixxay and Biofrost have previous training that could pave the way to creating one of the most commanding bot lane duos in the west, with less of the faults of their predecessors.

* Courtesy of Riot Games

Both Stixxay and Biofrost are now uninhibited by a veteran duo partner. Either player can now shape the other into the ideal player they imagine. They can give constructive criticism and not be afraid that accolades, age, ego or titles will get in the way of the conversation; there is one pitfall that this duo needs to avoid, which is, who will be the leader?

Personality type will determine who leads this pairing. Biofrost has come from a lane partner in Doublelift, where he is a demanding figure, requiring large amounts of attention and resources in order to dictate the flow-state of the game. Stixxay’s former partner Aphromoo is a team-wide shotcaller, who expects a democratic style of thinking and flow of information, but ultimately is willing to make a decision for the betterment of his team. There is only so much one can gather from interviews, videos and VODs when it comes to someone’s personality. One cannot jump to grandiose conclusions and assumptions about these player’s characters. A theory should be left that one person must be the leader of the two, but which of the two to take up that mantle is up to debate.

The necessity of a leader is critical in producing a solution or outcome in a timely manner. The monarchistic approach to decision-making is beneficial in the fact that decisions are made at a more rapid pace, they don’t have to go through a democratic process (although the fault of a monarchy is that the leader can either be corrupted or doom the entire group with a bad decision). A great example of leadership and quick decision making is Flyquest’s 2017 roster, with Hai “Hai” Du Lam taking the helm of the squad. One might say the reason for Flyquest’s beginning success was because there was no hesitation in Hai’s calls. Having a voice to lead has overwhelming benefits, even if that voice might be incorrect at times, sometimes that incorrect decision can be overcome through sheer force of a collective mind.

Stixxay or Biofrost must take command in this bot lane in order to ascend to greater heights and elevate their level of play. Their potential is limitless and we should expect great things from this duo in Season 8 if one of them decides to dictate the flow of the bot lane.