A couple of issues ago, I wrote about former NBA player Rick Fox and his entry into the e-sports scene. Since then, his team Echo Fox has had some ups and downs in its play in all the different games they partake in.
Most noticeably, the League of Legends branch of the team has been performing atrociously. Ending up at 1-17 after the regular season puts them at the bottom of the barrel not only in the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) standings, but in many global power ranking lists as well.
Since the switch to best-of-three matches in the LCS, the foxes have clearly been unable to adapt to the multiple strategies that literally every other team has. Since they are at the bottom of the standings, they (along with the teams ranked at 8th and 9th) will have to face off against the strongest amateur teams for their jobs and for what they love.
If they lose, the foxes will be kicked out of the LCS and forced to play at least a year in the amateur scene. Only then will they possibly be able to make their way back to the LCS.
Of course, this is all if they don’t make it through their promotion matches. As a supporter of the foxes, I—and a small amount of other people—hope to see them find their stride and buckle down against whichever team they play against.
The potential is there for the foxes, but if they’re unable to perform in best-of-three games in the LCS, it scares me to wonder if they’re able to survive the test that is being thrown at them.
I’ve also noticed that the foxes are lacking a strong fan base. Having that support and love from your fans often helps to reinvigorate players and pulls teams through their dark times. With the team having such a small fan base, fans like me will have to start coming out of their holes to really cheer the foxes on.