Rift Rivals Pacific takes place in Sydney this week so we got Leonard Loh of Singaporean-based League team, Sovereign for his tips and thoughts of the event as well as his forecast on how the Southeast Asian teams taking part – Mineski, Ascension Gaming and Kuala Lumpur Hunters – would fare.

Take it away, Leonard!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6Q9l7EJew&w=560&h=315]

Overview

ASC (Ascension) are frontrunners for this tournament and might be even able to carry SEA through some matches like GAM did in the previous Rift Rivals tourney. However, they will be playing with a new jungler (not sure what happened with Intresso). They are fresh off a Korea boot camp too so ASC should be looking solid.

They are fresh off a Korea boot camp too so ASC should be looking solid.

Mineski and KLH should both be middle of the pack at best and I wouldnt expect them to take more than a game or 2 vs the OCE and JP teams. Although I feel Mineski are more solid overall, KLH should have more upset potential due to their willingness to go for more unorthodox gameplans (KLH have a really big gap in their top lane though, Shiro is really really weak and he might just lose them matches against teams with solid top laners).

Look Out For…

For players to look out for I would say on ASC, their mid jungle to top side play was their strong suite and Rockyy is still looking very strong (he got C1 in korea during their bootcamp). However, G4 is shaky and without Intresso, I’m not sure how their Mid JG will play out.

Team Comp

Mski (Mineski) are quite solid overall and have some strategic diversity with rotating mid-laners (not too sure how practiced they are with this as Hamez their mid-sub has been playing ADC in Hyperplay). Gari, their Korean ADC (Attack Damage Carry) I would say is their strongest player.

Jungler Jjun, another Korean import is also quite a key factor for Mineski. If he falls behind the opposition jungler, they tend to lose the series as Mski rely on him to set the pace of the game imo.

For KLH, mid and jungle are both quite decent, with Qaspiel especially having the popoff carry potential. Not sure what bot lane they’re running for RR so I cant comment. Like I said before though their top lane Shiro is really weak so dont expect them to do well against teams with strong top lanes.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe00vH8I-iA&w=560&h=315]

Full schedule are as follows: 

GROUP STAGE – MONDAY, JULY 2, 5PM AEST

GROUP STAGE – TUESDAY, JULY 3, 5PM AEST

GROUP STAGE – WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 5PM AEST

GRAND FINAL – THURSDAY, JULY 5, 5PM AEST