League of Legends: how the protagonists of the LLA playoffs arrive

Today, the Latin American League of Legends will kick off the Apertura playoffs. The top six teams must advance - or fall in the attempt - in a final double-elimination stage. The best placed in the regular phase will start from the top bracket, while two poorly positioned teams will start from the lower bracket with the imminent danger of direct elimination.

The LLA is the most important League of Legends competition in Latin America and, as usual, will reward the Apertura champion with the possibility of representing the region at the Mid Season Invitational (MSI), where only the best teams in the world attend.

The final stage will take place on April 16 and will be played at the gaming and esports event, Gamergy, during its edition in Argentina. In other words, it will have a live audience, which will be in a stadium with space for five thousand people at the Tecnópolis venue. It will mark a partial return of the league to the country, five years after its last edition.

The LLA brings a new change with the elimination of the pentagon phase, to result in a more extensive instance of playoffs. All matches will be played in bo5 series (best of five), inspired by the system applied by the LEC (European Championship). During the first week, the first three crosses will be played: two in the upper key and one in the lower key.

After a regular phase with only one defeat to his name, Rainbow7 arrives at the new instance as the favorite, but he must sustain his level in bo5 format (best of five) and his first challenge will be against Estral Esports. Latin Power spoke exclusively with the different protagonists who will participate in the final phase. Rainbow7 coach Rahul “Ruuxy” Nanda spoke about the mentality with which they reach their first challenge: “When teams dominate the regular phase they tend to become complacent, but I think we've done a good job of staying focused.” “No matter who we face, we do the same preparation for each opponent and I think that reflects the great deal of success we've had lately,” he added.

The coach highlighted the change involved in facing a bo5 series and how “a 'mini-goal' is usually formed within the series, where each game involves adaptations from the previous draft” and how another series can be completely different in terms of the selection phase. Regarding the recent arrival of the central laner, Park “Cepted” Wi-RIM, Ruuxy valued his ability to create plays and take risks. At the same time, he noted that it fits very well with the team's style of play.

From the other side of the trail, Estral Esports is preparing to face the team that showed the greatest solidity in the first stage and is looking for its way to the final of the upper bracket. Jesús Alberto “Grell” Loya Trujillo, jungler for the Mexican organization, explained the focus of his preparation for the meeting: “We are all in that mentality of wanting to improve and take training very seriously.”

Grell also noted that as a team they are trying to do their best and help each other to get to this stage in good condition. He also highlighted the level of his next rival, Rainbow7, and highlighted his consistency in the style of play and his ability to apply it in a concrete way.

Comparing his time in the last split in Estral, he described it as a very different experience due to his hasty arrival, following his departure from All Knights. “The mentality is still that of wanting to win and try, but now it is calmer and more normalized,” he explained.

Outside of his series against Rainbow7, Grell said he wants to face Team Aze, since he has a very good relationship with Roberto “Straight” Guallicico, the support of the Playing Card: “We always bet on a burger”.

INFINITY, the last champion, ranked in the top 3 with nine wins, as did his next rival, Team Aze. Falling before them in their last two matches - including the tie-breaker who defined their order in the table -, jungler Diego “SolidSnake” Vallejo Trujillo, explained the two main reasons for those results: “A lot of things failed in the field, regarding what we wanted to play and how we played it within the game, we didn't fulfill the functions that we had to do and, on the other hand, we always wanted to look for fights, we all wanted to fight and we didn't look for goals.”

Despite the end that those crosses had, the infinity player was very confident with the development they can achieve in a best-of-five series and correcting the errors they noticed.

In addition, SolidSnake would like a new opportunity to take on the favorite and show that they can beat them. On the individual side, the current defender and consecutive bi-champion of the LLA continues to look for improvement: “I would like to have a little clearer what fights I can take, how far I can go and when to back”. The jungler clarified that they are things that have been working continuously and that mark an advantage in the game.

To learn about Team Aze's position, Latin Power spoke with Carlos “UKFallen” Calderón, experienced strategic coach of the Playpen. “The format is very different, but I think it is more our specialty and comfort zone. We have experienced players and as staff we know how to approach it very well”, he said.

UKFallen highlighted the INFINITY experience, but also highlighted that Team Aze arrives at the rising match. “The team I want to beat is INF because it is the last champion, but in the end we want the cup and to do that we have to beat everyone,” he added.

In the lower bracket, all-or-nothing will be played on Friday and the LLA will meet their first playoff elimination. In preparation for their meeting, the shark's central laner, Edgar Ali “Seiya” Bracamontes Mungia, was very confident: “We don't see ourselves losing to them in a bo5, which is rare to say because we haven't beaten them yet in this split.”

Since his last defeat against XTEN, Isurus has gone through the incorporation of Froststrike in the jungle and reaches the crossroads with new airs. His challenge in the middle lane will be against Keine, who he considered to be the strongest mid-laner in the line phase: “He is super good at taking advantage of the line. We have to play around it and not give it a chance that it can do too much, restrict it and limit it,” Seiya said.

As for XTEN Esports, the top laner ex-Isurus del Bot, Tomás Ezequiel “Zerito” Colangelo, was cautious that the results of the regular phase determine nothing in terms of the playoffs. “We are confident that we can win,” he said. The Argentinian admitted that he wants to beat Isurus, but explained that this is not a rivalry: “It's going to be fun, because if we win I'm going to bother Igor, the manager, for leaving them out, but much more than that I won't.”

Regarding the game itself, the jungler pointed out the squad's efforts to improve the line phase and explained that it is something that has been working on since the beginning. “I think the early is what we all have to do,” he said. On the other hand, they had good results in the sixth week with a win against INFINITY, but they were unable to sustain it in the seventh and final week of the regular phase.

With the obligation to win to continue and anticipating a possible rival between Aze and INFINITY, Zerito would prefer a bo5 to the defender of the title: “I would like to play INFINITY because I have a lot of friends there.”

With a new format ahead, the Apertura will give way to its final stage to meet the first champion of 2022. On Friday, XTEN Esports and Isurus will face each other, on Saturday Rainbow7 and Estral Esports, on Sunday it will be the turn of INFINITY and Team Aze. All days will start from 14 MX; 15 CO/PE; 17 AR/CL and broadcasts will be streamed on LLA's official YouTube Twitch channel, TV Azteca (in Mexico), Viax Esports (in Chile) and Trovo.

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