From the perspective of two of the founding members fy and Fenrir, to see how far Vici Gaming has come is to see a team grow from fledgling irrelevance to the powerhouse that attended an International finals and every stage in between. The current cast has had trouble reclaiming the glory of 2014, after placing behind EHOME at the Frankfurt Major and struggling to capture a first place finish in even domestic tournament. The addition of the legendary Burning after Hao’s departure following TI5 sought to emulate the farm-hard-and-fight style that they had exploited to much success during their time with German transplant Black^.

Despite their just-short finishes of late, Vici Gaming is not to be underestimated. When all the pieces fall into place, they possess the raw talent to muscle out any team in the scene. We have seen them with an impressive 2-0 victory over EG in the MDL group stages and a 2-1 knockout punch that sent reigning Frankfurt champions OG to the lower bracket in The Summit 4. On the other side of the coin, however, Vici has stumbled with unforeseen defeats to CDEC.Young at the Shanghai Open and a crushing 0-2 against Virtus.Pro at The Summit 4. Nevertheless, they are back on home turf to set the high water mark even higher than their 2nd place finish at DAC last winter and crest into a Major title victory.

Gameplay

The increasingly diminishing presence of trilanes has set the dynamic duo of fy and Fenrir into separate lanes, nursing both iceiceice and Burning’s laning stages rather than capitalizing on their trademark immediate rotations and ganks. The burden of carrying, however, usually falls to both Burning and Super, whose mid play combines heavy farming and laning dominance akin more to the general style that teams went for at TI4. With equal leaning on both Burning and Super’s potentials, depending on the draft, one will join with the supports and iceiceice to make space for the other. Unlike most 4-protect-1 teams, the active core player will also take the time to farm stacks and open lanes rather than relying mostly on pick offs and teamfights for income. This bulwark is supported by iceiceice’s brand of initiation based offlaning, favoring heroes like his well known Phoenix, Dark Seer, and Faceless Void.

Once the early game begins to wane and give way into mid game objective-based action, Vici Gaming really shines. Be it Burning on an active carry like Gyrocopter or Super on his Alchemist or Outworld Devourer, teamfights are where the mechanical skill and positional awareness of Vici as a whole unfold. As of 6.86 the direction of the midgame forks into one of two directions: either continuous fighting and space creation or, as shown off most recently at the MDL LAN playoffs, guerilla tactics using iceiceice to split push with Lone Druid. The latter tactics was employed against EG in three straight games, resulting in a 1-2 loss. It’s hard to ascertain which is the more effective tactic, but it would be a disservice not to consider fy’s contributions in the more chaotic fights that come with the former group-and-fight mantra.

Players

How to beat - Vici Gaming

Give Vici’s vehicle of initiation a flat tire. Vici thrives on getting the jump on their prey, leveraging the element of surprise to quickly upend fights and seize objectives. There are a few avenues to circumvent such a fate, and none of them are particularly easy. Firstly, and most direct, shutting down iceiceice’s item and/or level progression severely hampers his ability to unleash his typical aggressive plays. Effective zoning in scenarios where he is without a support to lend a hand or denial specialists like Enigma and Lich are both excellent options depending on Vici’s draft. Alternatively, defusing fy and Fenrir’s rotations also stagnate their early game experience and stymie their advancement toward positions of power. In identifying when Burning’s lane partner departs to stack, collect a rune, or rotate to gank mid or the offlane, an additional disadvantageous rotation can be forced defensively by initiating onto Burning in their absence. Of course, this involves catching a player of Burning’s calibur out of position which is, to be frank, unlikely.

Additionally, breaking the income cycles of Burning and Super can disrupt their progressions toward a successful mid game experience and delay their crucial timings for their core items. This is very much easier said than done, since both Super and Burning’s positional awareness is top notch, and in a rare moment of weakness either of their supports are not too far behind. However, if successful in stunting the progression of the farming or fighting core, the rest of Vici will not have the potency to return fire since, outlying greedy drafts and Lone Druid picks aside, the supports and iceiceice are typically not given heroes that can take over a game. Understanding the vulnerabilities in Vici’s timing in relation to their draft will become key to the teams that oppose them at Shanghai, and it’s up to fy and his all star cast to make sure formation never breaks.