The group stage of the League of Legends: Wild Rift Horizon Cup 2021 saw a number of intense matches play out. While some aspirations were set ablaze, some teams were unfortunate and fell early on in their competitive journey. One such team is North America’s (NA) pride, Tribe Gaming.
Tribe Gaming is one of the most prominent mobile esports organizations in the world with teams from various esports titles such as Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Call of Duty: Mobile, Brawl Stars, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.
The organization's Wild Rift team so far has had an amazing portfolio of championship titles and even dominated Riot Games’ official tournament circuit, the Summoner Series 2021. Tribe Gaming reigned supreme starting from the first Major all the way up till the grand finals of the esports event.
The team was first established in June 2021 and has never been through any roster changes. Tribe Gaming’s roster comprises Raul "Chuck" Montano-Chaidez, Ray "ttigers" Han, Joshrick "Starting" Ainsley Narag, Gabriel "Oldskool" Villamariona, and Daniel "MaxGreen" Choi. Together the team strives to be one of the best Wild Rift teams not just in North America, but across the world.
As NA’s representative in the Horizon Cup 2021, Tribe Gaming aimed at securing a playoffs spot in the tournament. However, the team fell short as they suffered three consecutive losses in the tournament. Tribe Gaming will have to bow out for now and hope to come back stronger next season.
Tribe Gaming, defeated but still determined
Tribe Gaming has undoubtedly proven itself to be one of the strongest Wild Rift teams in NA. With a plethora of championship titles to its name, the pressure was high for Tribe Gaming as they represented their region in the Horizon Cup 2021.
To their dismay, the NA team went on a three-day losing streak which ultimately ended Tribe Gaming’s chance at securing a playoffs spot in the Horizon Cup 2021. The team still has one match before the group stage officially ends where they will perform their last hurrah and finally exit the international esports event.
During the third day of the group stage, in a conversation with AFK Gaming, Tribe Gaming’s mid-lane Joshrick "Starting" Ainsley Narag revealed that his team had a hard time dealing with their second opponent, Da Kun Gaming. According to him Da Kun Gaming is very unpredictable which made it hard for his team to set up a proper drafting strategy.
“I feel like they can play anything. I’ve seen them play Lucian support and Garen support and you just never know,” said Starting.
Da Kun Gaming is one of the dominant Chinese teams in the Horizon Cup 2021. Despite the Tribe Gaming's efforts to keep up with its opponents, Da Kun Gaming was in a league of its own and completely destroyed the NA representatives with a clean sweep victory of 2-0.
However, despite losing against the Chinese team, Starting believes that his performance was still good. It’s just that “a lot of these teams are just really good, as a team.”
He added that his team will have to improve its early game strategy as there is such little room for mistakes in high-level competitions like the Horizon Cup 2021.
“We have to clean up our early game. I feel like in these games where it’s just the best teams in the world, once you mess up your game it’s really hard to come back because they’re not gonna give you the chance to come back from the game and you get punished for your mistakes,” stated Starting.
Starting also mentioned the challenges that his team faced prior to the Horizon Cup 2021. According to him, his teammates had a hard time transitioning to playing on different devices.
“I had two iPad teammates prior to Horizon Cup so they had to make adjustments to switch to phones and it’s really hard for them because I’m the only phone player on my team,” stated Starting. “Maybe that’s why I’m the one who I think is performing to my level as I should be.”Joshrick "Starting" Ainsley Narag, Tribe Gaming
Despite this, Starting is still determined to pursue next year’s official Wild Rift world championship.
“Next year, I think we will try to aim for that (Wild Rift Worlds 2022) since we’re the most dominant team in NA but in Horizon Cup, not so much,” said Starting.
Wild Rift is still trying to penetrate the NA region
Despite the popularity of the mobile MOBA title’s PC counterpart, League of Legends (LoL), the growth of Wild Rift in NA is quite slow compared to regions such as China and Southeast Asia (SEA).
Starting believes that this is due to people’s preference in playing games on a Laptop or PC rather than on mobile devices. He added that “in SEA and China, mobile esports is more embraced because everyone has a phone and most SEA countries do not have access to really good computers.”
However, the future is still uncertain, according to Starting. He wasn’t keen on revealing too much information but he hinted that Riot Games is planning something for the Wild Rift esports scene.
Starting also expressed his opinions on how Riot Games can bolster Wild Rift’s relevance and make it as sensational as its PC counterpart in the NA region.
“I think Wild Rift is a lot easier than League (LoL PC). Casual players can maybe just try to enjoy the game more. Everyone has a phone in NA as well but I think they (Riot Games) need to attract casual players more than esports pros. Anything like having communities in the game would be nice,” stated Starting.
Starting ended his statements by saying that the continued support of their fans, especially in NA, is what motivates him and his team:
“I see that NA is trying to support us and I really appreciate that. I hope they continue to support us in the future.”
With that said, fans will most certainly see more of Tribe Gaming in the near future. The team is looking to redeem itself next year and is aiming for another chance at an international championship title.
