- Joined
- Mar 26, 2014
- Messages
- 65
Saigon Fantastic Five (SF5) is one of the top professional League of Legend teams based in Vietnam, sponsored by MSI. All the members are the former players of Saigon Jokers.
In contrast to previous Garena Premier League (GPL) Winter Season, Saigon Fantastic Five has significantly turned their performance up for 2014 GPLSpring. In Summer Season, SF5 revamped their whole lineup,make it a strong team to compete for the Summer season. And they did it! SF5 finished the tournament in 4th place in the end. Their current roster includes talented gamers, QTV, Optimus, Minas, Tsu, Yushin, Jungleology and Lovida.
They finished the group stage as the 2nd in group B with an incredible performance. Moreover, SF5 notably managed to take 2 games off group B leaders Taiwan's ahq e-Sports Club and knocked out their sister team Saigon Jokers in the Quarterfinals. Such brilliant performance has made their way to join the party of top four teams in 2014 GPL Summer and qualified to the 2014 Season Garena Regional Finals with Saigon Jokers (3rd place), Taipei Snipers (2nd place) and ahq (1st place).
In mid of August, Saigon Fantastic Five started their adventure to World Championship by taking part in 2014 Season Garena Regional Finals. They defeated the #3 seed, Saigon Jokers (3-1) and won in the match versus Taipei Snipers, after being led by 2 games. Despite the fact that their dream to the Riot - World Championship 2014 was stopped by ahq e-Sports Club, they had demonstrated their strength to the world. What achievements will Saigon Fantastic Five accomplish next? Let's wait and see!
Fig.1 Saigon Fantastic Five Roster
Fig.2 Saigon Fantastic Five Focused and Fearless
Fig.3 SF5 vs AHQ S4 Qualifier at World Championships
Fig.4 WC 2014 Qualifier - SEA & TW Regionals The Battle of Brothers
Saigon Jokers 1 - 3 Saigon Fantastic Five
** Photos partly credit by Saigon Fantastic Five
1. How do you guys get into game industry in the first place? Have you ever had tough times and how did you managed to get through with it?
Well we are composed of some top players in local teams and grouped by Vietnam eSports to seek new glory on regional level instead of playing local league. We of course had many tough times in the past , especially when we just reform the team in later 2013, but thanks to our new Korean coach Lee In Cheol coming to Vietnam that helped us to get through it.
2. Saigon Fantastic Five have been performing quite well this GPL Summer Season, how do you stick around in the upper bracket of the league? Any suggestions that you can share with us?
We focused on daily training with local teams and foreign teams, especially training partner from Korea and China. Training with higher level team helps us improve a lot as you can see.
3. In GPL Summer semi-finals, Saigon Fantastic Five played LIVE in Garena Singapore due to internet issues in Vietnam. What are the pros and cons of the incident that might influence the overall performance?
Well that was very kind of GPL Committee and Vietnam eSports that arranged us to come over Singapore to play in Semi-finals. We do really appreciate their support and we would say Garena Stadium is a great place to play competitive matches, with high end gaming system and fantastic atmosphere. However, some of our players made their first time going abroad via the trip, so they were somehow nervous to play on stage in front of foreigners and being nervous for most of the time.
4. Speaking of Vietnam's top teams, two names will surely pop up: Saigon Fantastic Five and Saigon Jokers. How do you manage to defeat your sibling team Saigon Jokers in S4 WC 2014 Qualifier? What difficulties did you encounter since both teams share the same instructors or even team members whose skills and strategies you have been so familiar with?
Saigon Jokers are our daily training partners, and also our good brothers, so we can understand them very well, not only their strategy, but also individual skills and weakness. For this season we have better preparation and we plan to have some special strategy to deal with them. Fortunately our plan worked well and here we come over the next stage.
5. Among some of the Taiwan powerhouses, Azubu Taipei Assassins, Azubu Taipei Snipers and ahq e-Sports Club, which one was the toughest team for you to face-off against this summer?
We think that TPA is the strongest team among Taiwan powerhouses, and of course toughest team for us to challenge. They have very good in game mindset,various strategies and also skilled players to implement it.
6. How does sponsorship with MSI motivate or change your life? How did MSI gaming product help you so far?
We are very happy and excited with MSI sponsoring us. Actually being sponsored by one of the biggest IT brand was our dream, and now it has come true thanks to MSI. We are provided to do daily training and playing competitively on MSI machines, which make a huge impact on our performance. We were never worried about PC technical issues, and all the ingame settings are boosted up to highest available conditions, which give us a big advantage to opponents.
7. Is there any professional team that you look up to as role models? What do you like about them?
We like many teams, but the most to look up to maybe NaJin White Shield, as they perform incredibly during OGN seasons. They have a very enjoyable play style and also very aggressive.
8. What is Saigon Fantastic Five's next step? And what are plans to achieve that goal?
We just came back after a short break after the long season, spent some time with family and friends, and now we are back to training. We hope to get the slot into World Championship Season 5, and will do whatever it takes to get that.
9. How do you see the future of eSports in Vietnam concerning the scale and the environment?
Esports in Vietnam has been incredibly developed over past few years. As you can see a lot of big prize pool competition with many sponsored teams were presented to the community. Nowadays a lot of people are considering professional gaming as serious business, including eSports players, eSports managers, and even cybercafe owners who manage lower tier teams. We do believe eSports in Vietnam will level up to greater height in the near future.
In contrast to previous Garena Premier League (GPL) Winter Season, Saigon Fantastic Five has significantly turned their performance up for 2014 GPLSpring. In Summer Season, SF5 revamped their whole lineup,make it a strong team to compete for the Summer season. And they did it! SF5 finished the tournament in 4th place in the end. Their current roster includes talented gamers, QTV, Optimus, Minas, Tsu, Yushin, Jungleology and Lovida.
They finished the group stage as the 2nd in group B with an incredible performance. Moreover, SF5 notably managed to take 2 games off group B leaders Taiwan's ahq e-Sports Club and knocked out their sister team Saigon Jokers in the Quarterfinals. Such brilliant performance has made their way to join the party of top four teams in 2014 GPL Summer and qualified to the 2014 Season Garena Regional Finals with Saigon Jokers (3rd place), Taipei Snipers (2nd place) and ahq (1st place).
In mid of August, Saigon Fantastic Five started their adventure to World Championship by taking part in 2014 Season Garena Regional Finals. They defeated the #3 seed, Saigon Jokers (3-1) and won in the match versus Taipei Snipers, after being led by 2 games. Despite the fact that their dream to the Riot - World Championship 2014 was stopped by ahq e-Sports Club, they had demonstrated their strength to the world. What achievements will Saigon Fantastic Five accomplish next? Let's wait and see!
Fig.1 Saigon Fantastic Five Roster
Fig.2 Saigon Fantastic Five Focused and Fearless
Fig.3 SF5 vs AHQ S4 Qualifier at World Championships
Fig.4 WC 2014 Qualifier - SEA & TW Regionals The Battle of Brothers
Saigon Jokers 1 - 3 Saigon Fantastic Five
** Photos partly credit by Saigon Fantastic Five
1. How do you guys get into game industry in the first place? Have you ever had tough times and how did you managed to get through with it?
Well we are composed of some top players in local teams and grouped by Vietnam eSports to seek new glory on regional level instead of playing local league. We of course had many tough times in the past , especially when we just reform the team in later 2013, but thanks to our new Korean coach Lee In Cheol coming to Vietnam that helped us to get through it.
2. Saigon Fantastic Five have been performing quite well this GPL Summer Season, how do you stick around in the upper bracket of the league? Any suggestions that you can share with us?
We focused on daily training with local teams and foreign teams, especially training partner from Korea and China. Training with higher level team helps us improve a lot as you can see.
3. In GPL Summer semi-finals, Saigon Fantastic Five played LIVE in Garena Singapore due to internet issues in Vietnam. What are the pros and cons of the incident that might influence the overall performance?
Well that was very kind of GPL Committee and Vietnam eSports that arranged us to come over Singapore to play in Semi-finals. We do really appreciate their support and we would say Garena Stadium is a great place to play competitive matches, with high end gaming system and fantastic atmosphere. However, some of our players made their first time going abroad via the trip, so they were somehow nervous to play on stage in front of foreigners and being nervous for most of the time.
4. Speaking of Vietnam's top teams, two names will surely pop up: Saigon Fantastic Five and Saigon Jokers. How do you manage to defeat your sibling team Saigon Jokers in S4 WC 2014 Qualifier? What difficulties did you encounter since both teams share the same instructors or even team members whose skills and strategies you have been so familiar with?
Saigon Jokers are our daily training partners, and also our good brothers, so we can understand them very well, not only their strategy, but also individual skills and weakness. For this season we have better preparation and we plan to have some special strategy to deal with them. Fortunately our plan worked well and here we come over the next stage.
5. Among some of the Taiwan powerhouses, Azubu Taipei Assassins, Azubu Taipei Snipers and ahq e-Sports Club, which one was the toughest team for you to face-off against this summer?
We think that TPA is the strongest team among Taiwan powerhouses, and of course toughest team for us to challenge. They have very good in game mindset,various strategies and also skilled players to implement it.
6. How does sponsorship with MSI motivate or change your life? How did MSI gaming product help you so far?
We are very happy and excited with MSI sponsoring us. Actually being sponsored by one of the biggest IT brand was our dream, and now it has come true thanks to MSI. We are provided to do daily training and playing competitively on MSI machines, which make a huge impact on our performance. We were never worried about PC technical issues, and all the ingame settings are boosted up to highest available conditions, which give us a big advantage to opponents.
7. Is there any professional team that you look up to as role models? What do you like about them?
We like many teams, but the most to look up to maybe NaJin White Shield, as they perform incredibly during OGN seasons. They have a very enjoyable play style and also very aggressive.
8. What is Saigon Fantastic Five's next step? And what are plans to achieve that goal?
We just came back after a short break after the long season, spent some time with family and friends, and now we are back to training. We hope to get the slot into World Championship Season 5, and will do whatever it takes to get that.
9. How do you see the future of eSports in Vietnam concerning the scale and the environment?
Esports in Vietnam has been incredibly developed over past few years. As you can see a lot of big prize pool competition with many sponsored teams were presented to the community. Nowadays a lot of people are considering professional gaming as serious business, including eSports players, eSports managers, and even cybercafe owners who manage lower tier teams. We do believe eSports in Vietnam will level up to greater height in the near future.
