▲Man of the men—SJ (left) feared no defeat or challenge, bringing up 200% effort to keep going forward. He is the ‘ultimate’ man in many fans’ hearts.
After the dismal failure in 4th year of TeSL, Gama Bears did not give up any hope but continued to fight. Players went through special trainings and coaches and team leaders studied and drilled various strategies. All of this effort was invested in the hopes of winning the championship! The blessing moment finally came in the 5th year of TeSL, all the hard work paid off. This year, players of Gama Bears fought many brilliant battles. Let G!VOICE take you through some of the highlights from these unforgettable performances.
Biggest Overturn in the History—SF Team’s Battle of Miracle
Special Force (SF) is a 1st person shooter game. During the game, there are a lot of shooting and fire-cross scenes which means, the side with better aim would have higher chances of winning. Points are calculated based on rounds. Currently the rules in the league is 13 rounds, the winner needs to take down the 7 rounds. The team that falls behind during the game must face tremendous pressure both in terms of skills and psychology. When something like 5:0 or 6:0 appears, it would be very difficult to reverse the adverse situation. However, Gama Bears successfully completed the ‘impossible overturn’ and applied this precious experience in the final round.
Coach Ryuzaki of SF team said, “We once experienced the ‘biggest overturn in the history’ during our regular games, little did we know the same thing happened again in our grand final. We were 0:5 losing to the other team but no one gave up even in such disadvantageous situation. We chased it one point at a time and finally completed this daunting task of turning the tables.” Gama Bears already took down three rounds in the annual grand championship, which has a system of first 4 wins in the 7 battles, and therefore even if they had lost that battle, it was not very detrimental to their chances of winning the champion. However, these players displayed the attitude of never easily compromise or give up hope.
▲ Players need to overcome various stress during the game.
（Source of picture：TeSL）
SF S&K Round 4 of Annual TeSL Grand Championship 2011-2012 (1st half)
SF S&K Round 4 of Annual TeSL Grand Championship 2011-2012 ( 2nd half)
The Undefeated Kingship—SCII Grand Final Battle
Sen was originally a player of SCI, he gradually lost the stage due to the decrease of available games. After the launch of SCII, he decided to focus entirely on this new game and developed a new stage for himself, going from amateur player to professional player. Last year, Sen was a member of Fnatic overseas. There were many reasons for his decision to come back to Taiwan but mainly he hoped that his family could get to see him play on TV and that he wished to support the eSports industry in Taiwan.
Sen defeated all the players of SCII from Taiwan and represented Taiwan to battle in the World Cyber Games (WCG) 2011. He won the 3rd place in WCG.
（Source of picture：http://game.techbang.com/posts/10742）
This year’s grand final of SCII, a 5 wins in 9 battles was adopted. However a single player could only attend as many as three times. Even if the Worm King of Taiwan, Sen could take down 3 victories, the other teammates would have to take down two wins to get the grand champion. On the other hand, if Sen loses any game, the rest of the team needs to take down three wins in 6 games to win. Facing such strong opponent such as Wayi Spider, it’s never an easy win. The most crucial battle took place on the 4th battle. Gama Bears was 2:1 at the time, in order to push the advantage, Sen was sent to battle with the Lin. The game was supposed to be a no-brainer but it turned out to be a tough fight. Gama Bears almost lost this crucial battle.
SCII Spider-Lin vs. Sen (Gama Bears) Annual TeSL Grand Championship 2011-2012
Sen said, “To be honest, under normal circumstance, the round where I had to battle with Lin, I would’ve lost. However, most Taiwanese players would have confidence issue when they face me as an opponent. Lin lost his pace and calmness at that round which gave me the chance to the turned the tables.”Sen was being modest by saying that but we know that it was because his experience and mentality as a world class player that he retained the victory for Gama Bears.
▲World class player, Sen hopes to taken down the world champion for himself and Taiwan.
Sustainability is the Foundation for Success
Like many other professional sports, eSports players also need to face the issue of professional career expectancy. For a developing industry such as eSports, once the players are forced to leave the online stage (voluntarily or otherwise), they have to face predicament of having nowhere else to go. Professional basketball or baseball players could switch to other related works such as team managers or coaches. In addition, the salary they earned during their professional player period could probably cover their livelihood. For eSports player, this however seems very far-fetched.
During the interviews conducted by G!VOICE, almost all the coaches and players expressed their recognition for Gamania, saying that the company takes good care of their career change and further academic pursuit. Former professional player, King Kong is working as a game test personnel in the company. Sakugetsu successfully applied for graduate school this year and will be the first eSports player in Taiwan that possesses a master’s degree. Other transitional plans that help develop players to coaches etc so that players and coaches could be at ease once they retire. All of this shows that Gamania does not seek short-term result but rooting for foundation and cultivating the team. In the long run, this kind of managing method is the only way for sustainable growth.
▲Support and encouragement from the fans is the biggest momentum for Gama Bears to go forward!