Probably the most tragic case study, Team 8 was almost set up to be a failure from the get go. With their arguably best and most popular player, Jaedong, taken from them near the start of the actual season, Team 8 did not have the greatest of starts. Add to the fact that their players came from a multitude of teams that had closed their doors, and you can imagine the kind of morale in the team house. Regardless, in most of their videos and interviews, it is clear that Team 8 has bonded over their somewhat awkward situation and have worked together to try and make the most of what they have.

Biggest Strength: The Strongest Captain in Proleague
Out of the 7 captains in the Kespa teams, Argo is by far the best performing captain. If we take a look at some of the other teams, it will soon be evident that many other captains didn’t make as smooth of a transition to Starcraft 2 as Argo did. Calm, Leta and Hoejja have barely seen the light of day in Proleague and haven’t made a single Heart of the Swarm appearance, with Leta even getting removed from the roster. With Light from Woongjin Stars coming in at a distant second, Argo has done more for his team as a player than all the captains combined.

Biggest Weakness: Zergs
Throughout the regular season, almost every player in Team 8 took turns carrying their team to victory -
Cure(18-25) in round 1, Argo(23-24) in rounds 2 and 4, Terminator(16-18) in round 3 and TY(26-25) in round 5. One glaring weakness in their composition though, is their Zergs. While TRUE(6-10), Savage(8-17) and Check(2-8) have all grabbed a few clutch wins occasionally, none of them have had a breakout performance, and on more than one occasion have played subpar, dragging their team down. Looking forward, Team 8 will have to seriously assess their Zerg players and how they performed throughout the season, because if they don’t start pulling their weight, they could easily have a repeat result.

Greatest Moment: Round 2, Week 2
The first all-kill round was favorable to Team 8, with killers like Cure, Argo and Ty all performing reasonably well. With wins over Samsung, Woongjin, KT and SKT, their greatest moment came in the second week, where they not only beat KT and SKT in the same week, but Cure secured a 3-kill against KT, knocking out Flash in the process, and Argo grabbed a 3-kill on SKT when the chips were down, defeating Fantasy, Rain and soO in quick succession. Unfortunately their celebration wouldn’t last long, as just the week afterwards Innovation stepped into the arena and all-killed them.

Saddest Moment: Ty’s performance goes unnoticed in round 5
Possibly one of the saddest moments in Proleague, Ty’s hard work throughout the second all-kill round went unnoticed and to a large extent, didn’t have any impact in Team 8’s standings. While Innovation and Flash were in the spotlight, racking up all-kills and doing well in WCS Korea, Ty was quietly trying his hardest to keep Team 8 in the game. Sure, Flash had a 15-2 record for that round, but Ty was second place with a 14-6 record, and he was rewarded with an overall 2-5 match score for his team. With Ty failing to qualify into this season’s Challenger League, most viewers will have to wait a little longer for Ty’s reign of terror.

Player most deserving of an actual team: Argo
The captain of this band of misfits, one of the best PvPers in Proleague and the most consistent member of Team 8, Argo is a player that deserves to be on a top four team. Obviously I’m not sure what goes on behind the scenes in the Team 8 house, but being in 8th place as the placeholder team cannot be good for morale, and it is a wonder how Argo has managed to keep spirits high with their standings while consistently producing results. With his qualification through to the Challenger League, Argo will finally get his chance to shine and hopefully pick up some much deserved fans.

Player to keep an eye on for the next season: Pigbaby
While some might question his ID, Pigbaby(2-0) has not only shown that he can prepare and execute a build extremely well, taking out RorO and Zest in the two times he’s been fielded, but he’s also qualified for this season’s Challenger League, which shows he has the raw skill as well. While not the most flashy or stylish player, Pigbaby has shown potential and should be a player to look out for in the coming months.

The Key for Next Season: Avoid getting cut
With the rumors circulating from MajOr's(0-1) tweet that Team 8 is getting some severe player cuts to an already tiny roster, it is absolutely essential that Kespa avoids hurting Team 8 further by taking out key members out from the team. While some speculate they may be freeing up funding to allow the acquisition of a star player or two, one cannot assume that heading into the next season. On paper, Team 8’s core four of Terminator, Cure, Ty and Argo is actually quite a well-rounded team. As long as they manage to save those four players and possibly a Zerg and Pigbaby, Team 8 can and should feel ready to tackle almost any team. Good luck Team 8, we hope to see you next season!