[IEM] Season 6 Championship - Page 5

fragster: Can you briefly introduce yourself, please?

Bora 'YellOwStaR' Kim: Hey! My name is Bora, I'm 20 years old and I currently study at university! About my eSports career: I was playing Warcraft 3 on a high level – maybe you remember PsYkO – before switching to League of Legends. I'm now known as YellOw or YellOwStaR (up to you) and I'm playing for the French team Against All Authority.

Against All Authority always was a top team. But for some weeks you have been quite on fire: You barely lose any games and literally stomp Europe's best teams. What is your key to success?

YellOwStaR: Linak, sOAZ and me are playing together since January 2011. MoMa joined us at the end of May, some weeks before DreamHack, to complete the lineup with Kujaa as the last player. We placed 2nd at the IEM Invitational 2011 in Hanover and 2nd at the Season 1 Finals at DreamHack. After this we moved to Millenium and MoMa left us because some things went wrong.

We then qualified Millenium for Hanover but some problems appeared again and we eventually decided to leave the structure and go back to Against All Authority.

Now with this new setup, after failing at Kiev, we perfectly know each other. We know how everyone reacts ingame, there is a very cool atmosphere and of course we all have the same objectives! Moreover we have a huge pool of heroes. We can play everything needed – I really think that helps a lot.

Some months ago you were still playing with Kujaa – he got replaced. Now Alth0r and Osaft also have been replaced. What are the reasons behind these changes?

YellOwStaR: Well, after DreamHack not many events were planned and holidays were incoming. People started to lose some motivation and, to be honest, after a loss or even during a game some people started arguing which implied ragequits and so on ... with Kujaa it happened a lot. The atmosphere could be nice one day, bad the next. But well, we played together for a long time back then, maybe some changes were needed. (laughs)

Regarding Alth0r and Osaft: Something was missing. We felt that we should really change our playstyle. To be honest, Alth0r is a good player but he's also very unstable. He often doesn't want to admit his mistakes and learn from it. One day he finally agreed on us playing with another AP Carry to see what he's doing wrong. Two days after this I incidentally met MoMa. He asked me if everything's fine and also told me that he got no team. It was a very interesting opportunity for Against All Authority to play with him again after the good old times.

As expected it worked really well. However, there still was a problem with the Bottom Lane. Osaft is a great player with a lot of experience, but it isn't enough. He's doing a good job supporting the team. The timings, wards and everything are fine but the laning phase is not, it just doesn't match my playstyle at all. Our coordination wasn't that great either and from time to time he reacted very slowly. That's why nRated came in.

How do you get along with your teammates? What is the atmosphere like?

YellOwStaR: We have already met each other on several LAN events and everything is fine, especially when I make a lot of jokes. (laughs) We spend a lot of time together and I feel that the atmosphere is really great. We can discuss about everything, no arguing, no one is mad and so on.

This sounds so perfect, doesn't it? Maybe that's why we are succeeding.

With tons of luck you guys got the possibility to participate at the IEM World Championship in Hanover by replacing the Chinese team World Elite. What are your thoughts about this?

YellOwStaR: First of all, it is very sad for the Chinese teams who can't attend these events although they qualified for it, but it has always been like this in several games. It's not fair but we can't do anything about it.

On the other hand, to be honest, we are very excited to take part in this event because we have already qualified Millenium's squad with our roster, so I think we kind of deserve the spot.

This announcement probably was very short notice. How do you get prepared for such a big event in just one week?

YellOwStaR: You don't have to prepare yourselves one week before the event. I mean it's a constant work over the months and actually we took part in almost every online tournament in the last months and always placed high.

It's great to have so many online tournaments. It allows the teams to play against each other which means lots of training and thus increasing your teamplay a lot!

Against All Authority is probably one of the most LAN-experienced teams in League of Legends. What is the difference between online and offline events?

YellOwStaR: There is a huge difference if you have never played offline before, indeed. There is much more pressure!

You have to learn to handle it. So many people in front of you are watching you playing. When you are at home, you are used to your own equipment, you're always at the same place while playing. So you really need to be able to adapt in an offline event!

In group A you will now face CLG, fnatic, Dignitas, Millenium and Alternate. What are your thoughts about these teams?

YellOwStaR: The only team we really know is fnatic. We didn't play a lot against the other teams but for sure the EU teams won't be a big problem. Also we have already played against Dignitas in Kiev and I'm sure we can win against them. Our problem is CLG.US, we have no clue about them.

Which teams, out of both group A and B, will be the hardest opponents?

YellOwStaR: I'd have to check the groups. I have no idea! (laughs)

Do you prefer to play against European or American teams?

YellOwStaR: European teams of course! At least we know their playstyle.

Due to your latest results and the already mentioned LAN experience you are often considered as one of the favorite teams. Do you think you can win the IEM World Championship?

YellOwStaR: Against All Authority is currently in a very good shape, so stay tuned at the IEM in Hanover and support us during it.

We wish you best of luck at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. Have lots of fun and give your best! Do you want to make any shoutouts?

YellOwStaR: Thank you very much! I also want to thank our managers for the great job they're doing, our supporters and our fans! And obviously our sponsors Winamax and Roccat. I hope that Against All Authority will make a good show in Hanover. You can follow us on our stream and like our facebook page for further events and information!
Stay tuned! We also go to Las Vegas in April for the IGN Pro League!