The teams for the Intel Extreme Masters Taipei are finally locked in. Southeast Asia will send Vietnam's Saigon Jokers and Thailand's Bangkok Titans to do battle against the representatives from Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau and Oceania. With the Taipei Assassins/Snipers, ahq, and yoe Flashwolves leaving, SEA is currently on the search for new heroes. A team that would raise up the banner of the region and lead it to glory once more, just as TPA had done in the past.

Written by: Juabe 'MovesLikeJuaber' Inciong

Based not only from the SEA qualifiers but from the current matches of GPL Winter 2015, these two teams I believe are more than worthy of the responsibility of making a mark in IEM history. A place in the books from an oft-forgotten region.  

SAIGON JOKERS Nixwater Safety Lovida/Carrot Prince TSU One of the pioneers of the Southeast Asian eSports scene, the Saigon Jokers first gained international fame during the Season Two World Championship, where they failed to make it out of group stage, but not before scoring a win over Dignitas. Before the LMS break-off, they are one of the best teams that aren't Taiwanese, making them "Kings of the Middle Pack." Even with multiple roster changes, they managed to stay consistently around the top four all this time throughout the years. The only teams beating them in the playoffs were the Singapore Sentinels, fellow Viet team Saigon Fantastic Five, and of course, the Taiwanese. Now, with the former kings creating a land on their own, taking SGS' Chawy with them, the time is ripe for SAJ to land the killing joke.

The Safety Linchpin                          

There are very few impressive junglers in SEA. Most of the big stars are either Mid (Chawy, Westdoor, Toyz) or Top (QTV, Stanley, Prydz) with some coming from the bot lane (Albis/Greentea). Luckily for the Jokers, they have just that. Hu?nh V?n Tân is considered a veteran in the Vietnamese eSports scene, not just in age but in experience. He has proven time and again that he can bring out the best in his teammates with his aggressive, early-game pressure style. This is what makes SAJ tick: As long as Safety gets to land a few strong ganks during the laning phase, the rest will be able to pick up the rest of the weight.

This constant pressure is doubled by the synergy he has developed with support TSU. This is very prevalent during the IEM Qualifiers, where Safety on Lee Sin (his best pick) and TSU on Alistar roamed around the map and started picking up fights. Sound familiar? That's right, it's the Season 2 IEM Kiev Moscow Five you are remembering. This just shows you how some tricks are simply classics. Unfortunately, with a team relying on their jungler showing up in every game means that is Safety goes down, he's going to drag everyone else with him. This was apparent when they lost their first two games this season versus Hanoi Full Louis. Safety was being kept down and wasn't capable of relieving any lane pressure, which led to HFL slowly snowballing out of control. This doesn't translate to the solo and bot lanes being terrible, as NIXWATER, Lovida (and sub Carrot), and Prince have shown up from time to time. Without that initial push by their jungler, they have a much harder time getting out of the laning phase ahead of their respective opponents. Having a jungler-centric team, combined with their overeager attitude towards any fight, is what other teams are going to be looking at in IEM. As long as they manage to either tame Safety (a powerful suggestion is banning his Lee Sin) or skirmish very well, they can take on the premiere Vietnamese LoL team.

BANGKOK TITANS Warlock 007x G4 Lloyd Valen Another pioneer name, this time from Thailand, is the Bangkok Titans. Unlike their namesake though, they do not stand tall among the elite after all these years in the GPL. A flurry of roster changes (a common occurrence among the mid-bottom tier teams) didn't exactly help either. However, since the 2014 Summer season, the team has finally been experiencing some form of success due to the acquisition of midlaner G4 and jungler 007x. One season finished, this highly-improved lineup just managed to qualify for IEM Taipei, and have greatly improved their standings (currently number 1 in their group). Like a G4 Nuttapong "G4" Menkasikan was a star player in the local Thai scene, having played for MiTH Flashdive for quite some time. Now on a new team, he has been showing off his hard carry skills on a more international stage. As it is right now, the Bangkok Titans are going to need every bit of carry power G4 can bring to the table. With his pool of mid champions that are heavy on assassins (Fizz, Zed, LeBlanc), he always tries to win the early game by bullying his lane opponent out. Once he gains an advantage, he roams heavily, making sure that the rest of his team get a lead as well. He also tends to splitpush a lot. This is not only to draw pressure away from his teammates, but because of his high mechanical skill with these assassins, he knows that if he can win a 1-on-1 bout, or take somebody with him if they go all out. G4's strength as a true carry also gives BKT another edge: an ability to bounce back from a deficit. It's a testament as to how much weight the midlaner can put on his back. Even if their laning phase turns out awful, he can slowly pull it back to even, even a lead, with his split pushes and high-caliber dueling. In fact, this is how they win some of their games. It may not be the cleanest work, but he gets the job done. That said, it is painfully obvious what BKT's main weakness is. Destroy G4, destroy the team. Similar to how SAJ has one person who is the focal point of everything they do, their midlaner's performance defines their game plan. While there are instances when Warlock and Lloyd took the spotlight, those are few and far between. A bad day for Menkasikan would spell disaster for the Titans, and while his assassins can leave an impression to the viewers, banning and counterpicking them out might force him to play more utility-oriented ones, which are not his forte. You may have noticed that BKT's jungler hasn't been discussed yet. That's because he is the weakest link based on GPL performances, as well as the IEM qualifier games. He is currently infamous for missing skillshots (his Elise comes to mind), even mistiming the easiest of skill chains (like Pantheon's). This level of inconsistency is a hindrance to their success, and again showcases how hard G4 had to carry them to every victory. With teams from other regions having strong mid-jungle synergy, G4 and 007x better be drift compatible in a few days. - - - Against Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau and Oceania, not a lot of people would expect the SEA teams to win. However, that's the beauty of competitive gaming. Either through underdog strength, underestimation from the opponents, or sheer grit, the Saigon Jokers and Bangkok Titans will always have a chance of taking the gold.

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