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India, just like several other countries, will be participating in the League of Legends event that will be held at the 2022 Asian Games in China. The participating squad from India will comprise of team captain Akshaj Shenoy alongside Aditya Selvaraj, Sanindhya Malik, Samarth Aravind Trivedi, Mihir Ranjan and Aakash Shandilya.
The qualified team had to go through a grueling competition in the National Esports Championship series and emerge victorious to reach this position. Now, captain Akshaj Shenoy and the rest of the team members are putting in their maximum possible effort to practice and prepare for the the 2022 Asian Games.
As such, in a conversation with Rishov Mukherjee from Sportskeeda Esports, Akshaj Shenoy spoke about how the team is preparing themselves mentally as well as strategically for the tournament. He provided insight on how the Indian League of Legends scene has developed over the years.
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Finally, he also shared his thoughts on facing Faker at the tournament and what the results of the 2022 Asian Games will mean for League of Legends in the Indian subcontinent.
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Akshaj Shenoy, captain of the Indian League of Legends team on preparations for the 2022 Asian Games
Q. How are the preparations going for 2022 Asian Games? How effective do you think the selection process of the National Esports Championship series has been?
Akshaj Shenoy- The preparations are going well and we are grinding every day to perform on the international stage. We have team meetings to analyze the games of other teams from the Asian region. We are spending time watching the gameplays, making our own strategies, working on our coordination and group communications as well. ESFI is also in discussions with our team about improving the infrastructure and coaches which will upgrade the level of our game.
The NESC tournament went very well and I feel it was a very competitive and fun experience to fight teams around India since previously people were divided between South Asian teams and not Indian teams. It was nice to see the Indian talent come together and compete. It was very effective and the organizing team was very supportive and we were actively involved in every decision with the team and the whole tournament was handled very professionally.
Q. How much ESFI has helped the League of Legends team in specific to get prepared for the 2022 Asian Games?
Akshaj Shenoy- ESFI has helped us tremendously during the tournament and after the tournament as well. One of our players does not have a passport; ESFI helped us in making things faster by expediting the appointment date with the passport office for the respective athlete.
ESFI helped us in continuous discussions wherein they groomed us for having a winning mindset while going to an international event. The ESFI team is handholding us at every stage and are in talks with others, in regards to coaching and infrastructure which will help us in our preparations.
Q. How would you place the best Indian players in comparison to players from China, South Korea and Europe?
Akshaj Shenoy- It's really hard to say since all the professional League of Legends players from India are either working or are college students which limit the player's availability to play and improve whereas the professional players from said countries have been playing the game for years and are being paid to do so.
Furthermore, the respective governments of these countries have recognized esports as a sport and have a proper ecosystem built around the development of esports athletes including coaching, infrastructure, monthly salaries, well-being and sponsorships and hence the esports athletes are full time dedicated to their respective game titles. Whereas in India, it’s still not recognized as a sport yet and hence, esports athletes are not opting for a full-time career in it.
And just to add on, we don’t have our own servers to play the game which can give us a stable ping. I am excited to see where we as a team stand against these players and we are not willing to go down without a fight.
Q. India does not have its own server. Instead, players are forced to play in either Garena or EUW. Do you think this has a contributing factor towards lack of Indian players in the League of Legends scene when compared to Dota 2?
Akshaj Shenoy- Yes! I do believe that a local game server with a stable ping attracts a lot of players and gives them a home for the game. Sadly, League of Legends does not have an Indian server as Dota 2 does and people would rather play on EUW or Garena, and I do believe that League is the superior MOBA in every way when compared to Dota 2.
Garena gives the most stable ping (40-80ms) and can host a lot of Indian players since the server is slowly dying, but the problem is that our Indian League of Legends community is divided between EU, NA, and Garena servers.
Q. How has the competitive scene in League of Legends developed in India by playing in EUW and Garena servers? How many Challenger players are there currently in India? What are the servers they are currently playing?
Akshaj Shenoy- The competitive scene in India has reached a professional level because of Garena and its smooth ping. The only downfall to playing in Garena would be the queue times for brand new accounts, but after that, it’s possible to find a game within 5 to 10 minutes.
If India does not get a server, Garena can still work as a home server for Indians, since it gives us the most stable ping. More and more people should shift to Garena servers which will help us in the growth of the Indian League of Legends teams.
Our team has three players who have peaked Challenger, and two players who have peaked Grandmaster. However, being a Challenger is not an indication of how well a player plays in a team environment, though it helps prove individual skill. There are several other high-rank players from India on Garena and EUW who have not been as successful in team settings/play.
Q. Have you faced any professional players from other regions in solo queue? If yes, then how much has studying their gameplays helped you to develop yourself for big tournaments?
Akshaj Shenoy- There have not been many professional players coming to the Garena servers recently, so we have not faced players from other regions as much now. We, however, do watch their streams and try to replicate their gameplay and minimize our mistakes.
Q. This is the first time League of Legends is going to be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games. What kind of mental preparation are you taking to rise to the challenge and how are you preparing your team for the same outside of the summoner's rift?
Akshaj Shenoy- Just to put things in context, this is the second time the League of Legends team will compete at the Asian Games. First, it was in the 2018 Asian Games where esports was a demonstration title and our Indian team was placed second in the South Asian regional qualifiers. We have Samarth Trivedi who was part of that team as well and this time along with us.
It is pretty nerve-wracking to represent one's country, but it is an honor indeed. We're mentally preparing ourselves to give it our all regardless of how strong the competition might be. My teammates and I are excited rather than scared to face all the professional players Asia has to offer and we will try our best to secure a podium finish.
Q. How excited are you to face Faker in the 2022 Asian Games?
Akshaj Shenoy- If you ask any player in League of Legends who the best player or at least who the best mid laner is, they would for sure answer with 'Faker'. He is the one player I have always been looking up to because of the legacy he has created in the scene.
His team has won the Spring Split defeatless, which means that we're going to find Faker in his truest form. I am very much excited and nervous to go against him, but I will give it my all.
Q. How well the team has adapted to the current meta in League of Legends? What are the champions you think will have the highest priority amongst teams going into the 2022 Asian Games?
Akshaj Shenoy- We're trying our best to learn the upcoming meta champions in every patch. It’s hard to say which champions are going to be the high priority picks for the Asian Games in September because there will be many patches between now and September which is going to bring a lot of changes to other champions. As of now, the high priority picks for the team at the 2022 Asian Games should be Ahri, Vex, Ornn, Sion and Lee Sin.
Q. Riot made changes to jungle pathing in season 12 of League of Legends. Do you think the current mid jungle duo of the Indian team has adapted to those changes well? Is the Indian team more suited for top-focus or bot-focus?
Akshaj Shenoy- Our mid jungle duo has easily adapted to the jungle changes. As of now, the Indian team is more bot-focus, leaving top as the weakside, but we are trying out different approaches as well.
Q. Are you going to grind solo queue once you move to China for the 2022 Asian Games? If yes, then are you going to try for Challenger? Do you think solo-queue will help in getting the players ready for the juggernauts from Korea and China?
Akshaj Shenoy- We are going to grind solo queue for sure. Our mode of practice is going to be scrims, solo queue, and flex queue, giving scrims more importance since it’s important to develop team synergy rather than getting individual practice. Solo queue is still a really good way to hone your skills and we're excited to see where we stand against the Chinese server.
Q. What are the League of Legends teams you are looking forward to scrim against during the 2022 Asian Games?
Akshaj Shenoy- There are no selected teams which we're looking forward to scrim as we want to scrim each team to know where we stand and ideally scrim stronger teams to know what we're doing wrong and what we can do differently. I would say the strongest team in my mind which I'm looking forward to scrim is Korea or China.
Q. What is the realistic expectation of the Indian League of Legends team and how much will the 2022 Asian Games help to bring the Indian League of Legends scene to the international stage? Are you stressed that the performance of the Indian League of Legends team in the 2022 Asian Games will have positive or negative effects on the development of the scene when compared to Dota 2 in India?
Akshaj Shenoy- We, as a team, want to strive for more and not just represent but earn a medal for our country. It is indeed stressful to know that our performance at the event is likely to affect the League of Legends scene in India, but by trying our best and giving everyone a challenge, we're showing everybody that we actually have talent, and we shall one day stand amongst the juggernauts.
Q. Countries like Vietnam have VCS and they get opportunities to perform at Worlds. Do you think if India performs well in the 2022 Asian Games, there will be a chance for the development of a championship series like the LEC, LCK or LPL?
Akshaj Shenoy- Even if India does well or not, I feel like the responsibility for reviving the League of Legends scene in India solely lies upon the publisher and the community of the game. I really hope that people gain traction with the game and the developers also start including Indian teams in their flagship tournaments or create an exclusive IP for the Indian League of Legends community to flourish.
Q. Finally, do you think that the outlook of esports as a viable career option will finally be much more recognized after the 2022 Asian Games, since it is being recognized as a medal event just like any other?
Akshaj Shenoy- The outlook of esports as a viable career option has already started gaining traction ever since PUBG mobile got a huge player base in India. The Asian Games will surely boost this outlook for families as they watch from home, and I hope it changes their minds about how games are seen as a part-time hobby or an activity just for killing time.
Times have changed and India is slowly starting to reach the big leagues in terms of gaming. The mobile gaming sector has flourished these past 2 years and I hope the PC gaming sector catches up too. In the end, we want to appeal to the Indian government to recognize esports as a sport so that our esports athletes also flourish just like any other sportspersons.
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