MEGA, formerly Ascension and Bankok Titans, returns to the world stage with several familiar faces. Rockky, Lloyd and G4 have represented Southeast Asia at the past three major international events, while on MEGA. Lloyd started 2019 in bottom lane, with Jijun jungling. After Spring Season, Lloyd role-swapped to jungle, and MEGA brought on Deul as ADC.
The Southeast Asia representatives swept the Spring Season. MEGA went undefeated in Thailand over eight games, then they beat Indonesia and Malaysia-Singapore’s representatives 2-0 and 3-0 to qualify to MSI. In Summer Season, MEGA had their first loss, finishing second to WIN Esports out of Malaysia. Once playoffs rolled around, MEGA swept the field again, 2-0 over Liyab Esports and 3-0 over Axis Empire to qualify to Worlds.
MEGA is one of the most dominant teams in the world within its region. They average 4,226 gold ahead at 15 minutes and an 85 percent first turret rate, the highest globally of any team. MEGA also maintained a 1.96 kill-death ratio, which is the fourth highest globally. These statistics make sense of MEGA’s priority of picks like Renekton, Aatrox, Akali and Gragas. They want to exacerbate their lane dominance to roll over their opponents. Rockky and Deul individually gain gold leads over 1,000 by 15 minutes, so look for them to put up a fight at Play-Ins.
As mentioned before, several of MEGA’s players have international experience. Lloyd and G4 are the core of the roster, as they have been part of this organization since 2013, transitioning from MiTH Flashdive to Bangkok Titans to Ascension to MEGA. Over that seven year period, Lloyd and G4 played the International Wildcard tournaments for MSI and Worlds 2015. Rockky joined the roster last year, and they have made MSI and Worlds Play-Ins ever since. Deul and PoP both hail from Korea, PoP essentially a rookie this year. Deul has been playing at the pro level since 2016, but Worlds 2019 will be his first international event. He previously played in the LSPL, Challengers Korea, LCK and LMS before joining MEGA this summer. Deul was teamless in spring.
MEGA went 2-4 in Play-Ins at this year’s MSI, good enough for third of four in their group. Last year Ascension went 0-4 at Worlds Play-Ins and 2-4 at MSI Play-Ins. Prior to 2018, Vietnam was still part of the SEA region, where they dominated international events for a few years. 2015 was really the last time a non-Vietnamese Southeast Asian region representative showed up on a big stage. Bangkok Titans (including G4 and Lloyd) won the eastern side of the International Wildcard Tournament and went to Worlds. However, they did not win a single game at the Main Event.
The odds are not in MEGA’s favor for making it out of Play-Ins this year. Damwon, Splyce and Clutch Gaming are most likely locked into three of the four spots. Vietnam and Taiwan have Lowkey Esports and Hong Kong Attitude to contend with. Compared to major regions Southeast Asia always seems to fall apart. MEGA will probably only win one or two games in Play-Ins, unless they have really improved since MSI.
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