The entire Southeast Asian Wild Rift community has its eyes set upon the SEA Championship 2021 - the biggest tournament of its kind thus far, featuring some of the best teams in the title.. However, even amidst the crowd of stellar names, one team manages to stand out and outshine the rest of its competition. EVOS Esports Thailand (TH), a team that has near unmatched credentials with three major Wild Rift championship titles to its name, is certainly the team to beat.
EVOS Esports TH are the current reigning champions of the SEA Icon Series 2021: Summer Super Cup. Many in the Wild Rift community perceive the Thai team as the strongest Wild Rift team in SEA and for good reason. Their recent championship title record which features victories at the ESL Mobile Open Thailand Summer and Fall Seasons, and the aforementioned SEA Icon Series 2021: Summer Super Cup is nothing short of impressive. Infact, they even managed to tough it out amongst the best teams that the SEA region has to offer such as Team Secret, ONE Team, SBTC Esports, Alliance, and more at the SEA Icon Series 2021..
The team composed of Athip "Thipper" Thungsam, Prasittichai "Valdus" Jiadchat, Nuttapong "G4" Menkasikan, Jirapat "CatSatan" Khawmee, Anusak "Miracle" Manpadung, Warich "Rich" Kittiwattanawong, has largely played together ever since the inception of Wild Rift esports and hence have built a formidable amount of camaraderie and momentum.
With the Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 underway, the team confidently marches forward and is eyeing to take the championship title as well as the honor of being one of the two teams to represent SEA in the upcoming Wild Rift: Horizon Cup 2021. But how prepared are they to face the best teams in the SEA region?
EVOS Esports TH aims to keep moving forward and never look back
First established on 12th March 2021, EVOS TH started strong in the Wild Rift esports scene. The team first debuted in the Wild Rift SEA Icon Series 2021: Preseason - Thailand and took the scene by a storm beating out nearly every team. However, EVOS Esports TH would end up missing its chance of grabbing a championship title in this tournament after losing to Invate Esports in the grand finals. Despite flat out outclassing its opponents in the Winner Bracket Finals, EVOS Esports TH lost out to Invate Esports in a clean sweep which surprised many fans from the region.
History would repeat itself in the first qualifier of the Wild Rift SEA Icon Series 2021 Summer: Thailand qualifiers, where EVOS Esports just could not manage to get the ball rolling against Invate Esports. But eventually the team managed to secure its slot in the second qualifier following which they’ve never looked back, winning three international tournaments in a row.
In a conversation with AFK Gaming, team captain Rich indicated that the team’s never say die spirit was the key reason behind this. He stated that despite the rough start, EVOS Esports TH kept fighting and never backed down. “Our mindset is to enter a tournament with the goal of coming first. We aim to win and join as many tournaments as we can,” he said.
Rich also revealed that the undying support from their fans is one of the reasons that kept the team going no matter what obstacles they faced. He says that being one of the fan-favorite Wild Rift teams is motivational and “gives us better results and wins us more matches.”
But another factor that has certainly helped the team make its mark in the Wild Rift esports scene is the unending support from its parent organization. The team captain stated that all the necessary support provided to them by the EVOS Esports TH organization, was an X-factor for the team.
“If we compare ourselves to other teams in our field, we are one of the first that are actually professional players,” said Rich. “We actually practice in a gaming house and we have all the privileges needed to motivate our players to play together and make their teamwork better. This is our X-factor,” he added.
EVOS Esports TH doesn’t simply stick to comfort picks
The EVOS Esports TH team is known for its impressive team chemistry and knowledge of Wild Rift’s meta. Rich reveals that the team doesn’t normally stick to comfort picks but instead, try to be as flexible as they can. “What we do is we practice in rank games and we practice with champions that are difficult to play. At the end of the day, we decide on which suits us the best, and build strategies that will go with it,” he said.
With this in mind, Rich confidently rates the team a solid 11 out of 10 for its overall performance so far, compared to other teams. However, he does admit that the other teams “are quite equally good and well prepared,” and that victory will come to the team who is ”more prepared and has more engagement with its team members.”
The playoffs of the SEA Championship 2021 kicks off on 30th September 2021 and is expected to feature some of the most jaw-dropping competitive Wild Rift matches that we’ve ever seen. A good placement in the playoffs is going to be crucial since Riot Games has confirmed that the top two SEA teams from this event are going to be competing at the Horizon Cup 2021 which will feature teams from across the globe.
Rich expects that the teams from China may be the toughest competitors in the tournament. However, he stated that EVOS Esports is looking forward to this challenge, and that he “wishes to compete against the Chinese teams and dominate all the matches.”
It certainly is an exciting time to be a Wild Rift esports fan with a plethora of awesome tournaments to look forward to. To players and fans who are looking to join the teams on this journey, Rich advised them to remain focused and give it their all. “If you really work hard as a mobile gamer or as a pro player, time management is really important aside from giving it your all day by day,” he added.
