Tribe Gaming ready to defy expectations at Horizon Cup 2021

North America gets a bad rap in League of Legends and there’s no wonder why. In over a decade of international competition, North America has zero international titles and only made it to the final at two events -- the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational and the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational. The common sentiment is that North America’s performance in Wild Rift will end up being more of the same, but NA’s representative, Tribe Gaming, is aching to prove that they’re among the best teams in the world at Wild Rift’s first international tournament, the Horizon Cup, which starts Saturday.

To call Tribe Gaming dominant in North America is almost selling the team short. The team has been nothing short of immaculate. Not only has Tribe Gaming not dropped a tournament since June, the team hasn’t lost a series since July and only lost a total of five games between two Summoner Series Majors and the eventual Summoner Series Finals, where they defeated Immortals 4-1 to qualify for the Horizon Cup. Despite that record, though, Tribe Gaming’s coach Mark “HotSauce” Harlan insists that their drive is the same as ever.

“The team is full of veteran players that are uber competitive and constantly driven to be the best,” HotSauce explained. “I know it seems like we were mistake-free throughout the whole North American series, but they are insightful enough to recognize mistakes even while winning.”

Tribe Gaming’s competitive nature and dominance shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise either, given the team’s background in another competitive game.

“As to our dominance, we just have a special group of players,” HotSauce said. “They have competed at the highest levels in multiple games, including winning multiple world championships in the mobile MOBA Vainglory.”

Vainglory was one of the first major mobile MOBA titles to break into the esports scene and hosted its first world championship in 2017. Tribe Gaming won that world championship with a lineup that featured current jungler Ray “ttigers” Han and Dragon laner Daniel “MaxGreen” Choi, beating out Korean team ACE Gaming in the final.

Those players alongside Baron laner Raul “Chuck” Montano-Chaidez and Dragon laner Gabriel “Oldskool” Villamariona also won the 2019 world championship at the end of Vainglory’s competitive lifespan. Since Wild Rift’s launch in North America earlier this year, the lineup has had no problem transferring that past success to a brand new title.

“Our experience in Vainglory has 100% transferred over,” Chuck explained. “The skills required to be the best in Vainglory are the same skills required to be the best in Wild Rift. Wild Rift has a little more depth than Vainglory, so it takes longer to master, but the tools required to excel at the highest level are the same.”

Wild Rift might have more depth than Vainglory due to its similarity to League of Legends, but talent is talent, and Tribe Gaming clearly have a ton of it. After dominating the North American circuit, the Horizon Cup stands as the team’s last major challenge, and while it’s not technically Wild Rift’s “world championship,” it is every region’s chance to make their first statement on the international stage in a brand new esport.

The Horizon Cup will feature 10 teams from across the world and opens with a round robin group stage that splits the 10 teams into two groups of five. Tribe Gaming is set to compete in Group A alongside Da Kun Gaming, KT Rolster, SBTC Esports and TSM. China’s Da Kun Gaming and Southeast Asia’s SBTC Esports stand out as favorites to win the tournament, making it a tough draw for Tribe Gaming, but that’s far from a deterrent for the ambitious squad.

“Every team in our group is very good,” Tribe Gaming mid laner Joshrick “Starting” Ainsley Narag said. “We can't overlook any team in our group, so we are essentially looking out for all of them.”

Starting acknowledges the level of competition in his group, but also savors the chance to compete in his first major international tournament. He never had the chance to compete at Vainglory’s world championship, but he’s excited to prove everyone wrong about the strength of North America.

“Overall we are very excited for our opportunity to compete at the highest level. NA has been viewed as an inferior region by most of the world, so we can't wait to prove ourselves on stage,” Starting said. “Singapore was the spot of Vainglory’s first world championship. [North America] was an underdog going into that tournament, and we’re an underdog in this one as well. We are used to that stigma and will try and use it to our advantage.”

Looking forward to the Horizon Cup, Tribe Gaming may have the advantage of being one of the most malleable teams at the tournament. They may not stand out the same way that Da Kun Gaming and SBTC Esports have, but it’s difficult to deny the clutch factor of a roster that features numerous international champions. Composure and adaptability is key to any championship run, and Tribe Gaming doesn’t lack either.

“They are able to not only quickly recognize shortcomings in their play, but quickly adapt and incorporate the solutions to those shortcomings in their play,” Hotsauce said. “We have always had bigger goals than just winning North America, and we can see mistakes that need to be fixed to compete at the next level.”

Tribe Gaming are set to compete at the next level on Saturday when the Horizon Cup group stage kicks off in Singapore at 5 a.m. ET on twitch.tv/WildRiftEsports.

Lead image credit: Tribe Gaming via YouTube screenshot