Latest addition to the EU LCS lineup Unicorns of Love recently picked up another big achievement: taking home the fan vote for the EU team at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose with over 10% more votes than runner-up SK Gaming. With such an obviously huge fan following, it was definitely about time to interview the LCS newcomers about their origins, their path to the LCS and the challenges ahead with Intel Extreme Masters San Jose and the 2015 Spring Split.
ESL: Hello, and thank you for your time. Thanks to the votes of fans worldwide, you made it into the lineup for Intel Extreme Masters San Jose. Did you see this coming when the vote first started and is there anything you want to tell your fans?
Unicorns of Love: We really didn't expect anything going into the vote. We knew that we had really great fans supporting us but going up against such well-established teams in the EU scene - no one could expect how convincingly we would end up winning the vote. We are really thankful to have such a great fanbase supporting us. We will take this opportunity and try our best! Thanks to everyone supporting us! Whatever happens, we are happy you guys enabled us to experience Intel Extreme Masters San Jose!
ESL: You are the new faces of the EU LCS. Can you tell people who haven’t been following the Challenger Series closely where your team came from and what you did before qualifying for the LCS?
UoL: Our team was founded around the 15th of August last year with Sheepy still as the jungler, Vizicsacsi as a part-time top laner (playing mainly in Alternate at that time) and Vardags as ADC. Soon after, Hylissang joined the herd, who played mid lane and later on switched to support.
While participating in a lot of Challenger tournaments such as FACEIT and Black Monster Cup, we played with different mid laners until we found PowerOfEvil. After leaving the team to play with NiP for a short time, Power made his return and stayed with us until now. However, while we had settled for a mid laner, we still had a lot of changes in the jungle position. Sheepy moved to the coach/analyst position, Dan joined and then left to pursue school, and Gilius played for us in the playoffs and promotion. During promotion we met Kikis, who Power had already met before at a LAN event, and he became our final jungler.
ESL: One of the biggest things in the scene right now is all those lineup changes and the rumors around them. Are any transfers planned for you guys or are you going to keep the roster that made it into the LCS?
UoL: We won't make any other changes in the team before the LCS unless anything grave happens.
ESL: Looking at the other three teams confirmed for San Jose so far, you are definitely the dark horse. How do you feel about going up against such big names as TSM, C9 and Alliance?
UoL: Honestly, we are really looking forward to it! Being able to play against such good teams before the LCS is a great opportunity to see where we stand.
ESL: Is taking part in an Intel Extreme Masters event something of a preparation for your upcoming challenges in the LCS?
UoL: As previously said, it's a fantastic opportunity to get some LAN experience and face off against the best teams in EU and NA. It'll be exciting, but we're confident that we won't have problems playing on stage. We've always felt that we play better on stage.
ESL: The two NA LCS teams both have their roots in San Jose. Do you have any plans to try and win the hearts of the fans anyway?
UoL: We didn't make any special plans yet, but we hope that trying our best and showing our resolve to win can win us the hearts of the fans. We've been practicing non-stop and we really want to bring the people a good show.
ESL: The next season will not only see a new Summoner’s Rift but also many other changes. What are your thoughts on this?
UoL: Every new season so far had brought a lot of diversity to the game and we're expecting the same for the next season. The jungle changes especially seem to complement the current way the game is being played a lot. Rotations and map control will become more contestable with the new jungle creep and item changes, making smite much more useful. Overall, it underlines the impact a jungler has in controlling the game. However, it's pre-season and anything can still change, but it's looking promising.
ESL: As some people will have this question on their lips: what is the story behind the name “Unicorns Of Love”?
UoL: The original idea actually came from Sheepy. We've always just wanted to focus on the game and keep on improving rather and showing it in the way we play. And back then we thought “Wouldn't you just cringe if you were to lose to a team called "Unicorns Of Love"?” And over time it just stuck with us. It's a great name and our fans also seem to have grown quite close to it!
ESL: Thank you very much for your time. The final words belong to you.
UoL: We want to thank everyone who took the time to vote and made this possible. Thank you!
What are you expecting to see from Unicorns of Love at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose? Whether it’s winning or losing, leave your opinion in the comments below!
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Images courtesy of Facebook.com/UnicornsOfLove.
