"Bandits" from Vietnam are "robbing" in the endless arena
When I learned that I was going to interview SofM on the occasion of the second anniversary of Eternal Disaster, I was very excited. Because like most players, my impression of him is still stuck on the Vietnamese SofM that once caused blood in the LPL and has now announced his retirement. Among the many paths after retiring, why did he finally choose to transform "Eternal Disaster"? With this question in mind, I embarked on a journey to Shanghai.
"Vietnamese bandits" who swept through the LPL wild area
In the already highly professional "League of Legends", foreign aid can almost be said to be commonplace. Take the most familiar LPL, The shy, rookie, Scout and other Korean aid are all the highest achievements of their careers in China. Under the strong e-sports atmosphere and mature event operation and system, they are like "three good students", not only very strong, but also very good.
But esports is never a rigid exam, and there are never any standard answers to get results. SofM belongs to a "wild road" player. As a veteran who has been playing since the advent of League of Legends, SofM's deepest impression on LPL is his series of self-created play styles that were unheard of at the time.
These routines include, but are not limited to, the "two-shoe wild", the Tia Matga five-speed shoe blind monk, and the development of "wild core" heroes such as excavators, male guns, and poodles. With his unique playing style and the understanding and operation blessing of the top players in the LPL, SofM has staged many impressive scenes for the audience, such as leading the opponent by 140 knives, the mantis sticking to the face card to steal people, and Olaf opening the big cleansing army.
LPL has changed a lot over the years, and there are many players who have made efforts for this, but few people can achieve almost the entire military training area on their own like SofM, and he does not dominate by absolute strength, but in the unique and different ways of playing, thinking. Therefore, SofM, like the star players such as The Shy and Uzi that year, has become a heavyweight who changed the entire LPL ecology, and has been affectionately dubbed "Vietnamese bandit" and "Vietnam's richest man" by the audience.
SofM doesn't want to talk too much about these achievements.
"I have participated in a lot of high-level competitions and gained a lot of gaming experience."
In the conversation, he only used one sentence to summarize his 6 years in LPL. For him, although he has now gained considerable popularity, for a player who has been crawling for ten years, the increase in age and the consequent decline in competitiveness have caused him to inevitably grow tired mentally and physically, and the transition has become a crossroads that he must face.
Do not fight wild, fight "robbery"?
For how to transform and where to transform, SofM has also made some attempts, and after announcing last year to bid farewell to LPL and returning to his hometown in Vietnam to rest, SofM began to do live broadcasts and served as the coach of the League of Legends of the Asian Games in Vietnam. And judging from the results of his current transfer to "Eternal Calamity", the previous attempt obviously did not satisfy him. After all, as an e-sports player who made a name for himself in China, if he wants to find the "opportunity" to really continue to develop, the same PVP, and the same perfect tournament and club system, "Eternal Disaster" is obviously more in line with his requirements.
Although he hadn't tried so deeply before, in SofM's view, it wasn't an obstacle to getting started.
"Infernal is still a PvP game".
In his description, although the gameplay of Seamless "ACT+ Battle Royale" has little in common with the gameplay of the games he has played before, these technical things are the easiest to master. For e-sports players, how well they understand the game, whether they can endure the boredom when practicing basic skills, and the mentality and adjustment during the game are the core and most difficult to master.
"These things look boring and boring, but this is the status quo, and to join this industry, persistence and love are essential." SofM said so to me.
These words may seem like an understatement, but for SofM himself, these are the lessons learned from real games. After officially turning into a seamless player, SofM directly participated in the Asian Challenge as a single-row player, and in the first week of competition, he achieved three consecutive games and the first place in points.
Although he ended up finishing in sixth place, as a "veteran" who has transitioned from other sports, it is already very good to achieve such results in his first season. Although SofM didn't boast to me about his gaming talent, his time at the LPL gave him valuable experience in mentality and tactics, and this is his "magic weapon" to quickly get started on the seamless field.
In addition to the ease of play and the talent of the game as a professional player, the rapid development of "Eternal Disaster" in the past two years is also one of the reasons why SofM "eyed" the game. As with most of the game's Southeast Asian servers, the closest Forever Forever server to Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and other Southeast Asian regions is located in Singapore. This means that most Southeast Asian players, like SofM, have to play with delays.
"Transfers mean more people coming to play the game, which also means more attention and more games, which is very meaningful for both players and esports players."
Although it is necessary to play against the delay, although it cannot be compared with the leading big brothers such as "Dota 2" and "CS:GO" in terms of market share, this does not hinder the position of Wuji in the heart of SofM. With the transition of Infinity, geographical barriers are no longer an obstacle to the experience of Southeast Asian players, and in this "corner" where the game is not yet popular and developed, Infinity is gaining more and more players' love.
With the transfer of the second anniversary, Wuji once again rushed to the top of the Steam hot sales list in Southeast Asia
A fresh start
Since the day of the interview coincided with the "White Night" event on the second anniversary of the Endless World, after the interview, SofM had to go to the official warm-up event held in the outfield, and then the main film part of the infield.
In addition to players like SofM, there were also many famous celebrities in the entertainment industry and live broadcast circles.
"I would watch their videos a lot, and then I would learn and get to know them." For the upcoming event, SofM is still looking forward to it. "Usually I just see it on the screen, but it's the first time I've seen it in the game and in the game."
Fighting and killing him in the professional arena has long been commonplace, but this is the first time that he has stood in the spotlight with entertainment celebrities and well-known anchors.
In the warm-up session, SofM and the anchor who came to challenge were inseparable
"What's going on after that?" Do you have any expectations for Infinity and yourself? "At the end of the interview, I asked the last question.
"There is no clear plan yet, take it one step at a time. As for Infinity and myself, I hope to get better and better. ”
This kind of novelty and opportunity in the face of the unknown is not only something he has never experienced before, but also the current situation that Infinity faced after the transfer of the second anniversary. As a game that has been out for two years, although the game has achieved achievements in sales and online numbers, no one can give an accurate answer to how long the game will be popular after the transfer, and where it will eventually go.
To some extent, the current Infinity has many similarities with the transformed SofM, which may be one of the reasons why he chooses Infinity now. However, judging from his very fun and enjoyment in the "White Night" event, I believe that the second anniversary is not only a new beginning for SofM, but also the starting point for the transformation of SofM.