Team SoloMid

Team SoloMid
Location United States
Founded 2009
Sponsors Curse Voice, Logitech, Kinguin, HTC, Twitch.tv, MGN, iBUYPOWER, HyperX, NEEDforSEAT and LolClass.[1]
Divisions League of Legends
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Smite
Super Smash Bros. Melee

TeamSoloMid (TSM) is an electronic sports organization based in the United States. It was founded by brothers and League of Legends players Andy "Reginald" Dinh and Dan "Man Dinh" Dinh in September 2009. TSM currently fields players in League of Legends, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Smite, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Corporate sponsors of TSM are Curse Voice, Logitech, Kinguin, HTC, iBUYPOWER, HyperX, NEEDforSEAT and LolClass.[2]

History

Team Solomid was originally founded in September 2009 as a gaming community website focusing on League of Legends. In 2011 the organization began fielding at team in professional LoL competitions. In 2012 Reginald retired from playing, opting to run the business full time.[3]

In 2012, TheRainMan left TSM, citing disagreements with the team's practice regimen. He was replaced as a top laner by Dyrus, who debuted with the team at IPL 4.[4]

TSM won first place in the the summer split of the 2014 League of Legends Championship Series with a roster of Amazing, Dyrus, Bjergsen, WildTurtle, Lustboy.[5] At the World Championships they made it to quarterfinals after losing to Samsung Galaxy White.

In 2015, TSM signed Super Smash Bros. Melee player Leffen as their first fighting game player.[6]

March 15 2015, TSM won their first Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice, Poland.

April 19 2015, TSM won first place in the spring split of 2015 League of Legends Championship Series with a roster of Dyrus, Santorin, Bjergsen, WildTurtle, Lustboy, and Locodoco as their coach.

League of Legends

Team SoloMid fields at team in the North American League of Legends Championship Series. The team first began competing in early 2011 with a lineup of Saintvicious, Reginald, Chaox, TheOddOne, and Locodoco. It was founded after Reginald's previous team, All or Nothing (AoN), had disbanded. On February 23 Saintvicious left TSM for Counter Logic Gaming. In the following months FeedFest, Westrice, Chu8, Doublelift and Qlown. In April, Xpecial and The Rain Man joined TSM.[7]

Riot Season 1 Championship

After the roster solidified with Reginald, TheOddOne, The Rain Man, Xpecial and Chaox, Team SoloMid attended the Riot Season 1 Championship on June 20th, 2011. TSM took first place in their group, going 2-1 and being the only team to lose to the Singaporean team, Xan. Team SoloMid then met the French against All authority squad in the semifinals of the double elimination playoffs. TSM was defeated by aAa 1-2 and knocked down to the loser's bracket. Team SoloMid defeated Epik Gamer 2-0 to advance to the loser bracket finals where they faced against All authority for a second time. aAa started the best-of-three series with a one game advantage due to their previous win against TSM in the winner's bracket. TSM ended up losing in a close match. They would finish 3rd place, winning US$10,000.[8]

Pre-Season 2

Team SoloMid attended the National ESL Premier League Season 1 playoffs on July 16, 2011. In the group stage, Team SoloMid took first place, going 10-1 defeating Counter Logic Gaming, compLexity, unRestricted, TeamLiquid, HKEGG, jpak and friends, Defy All Odds, OGODBEARS, Disciples of Da Gr8 Whale Lord, and LowELO, while dropping their only set against Rock Solid. In the playoffs of NESL Season 1, Team SoloMid lost to unRestricted in the semifinals 0-2, sending them to the third place match to play against Rock Solid, where Team SoloMid came out on top 2-0.

The next event Team SoloMid participated in was the ESL Major Series - Season VIII. Team SoloMid defeated LowLandLions 2-1 in the semifinals, but fell to SK Gaming 0-2 in the finals, taking home second place.

On August 21, 2011, Team SoloMid attended the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Cologne. Team SoloMid went 3-0 in group stage, defeating Millenium, Team ALTERNATE, and MyRevenge. Advancing to the playoffs, Team SoloMid defeated FnaticRC 2-1. In the grand finals, TSM played against rival Counter Logic Gaming, who TSM lost to 1-2, taking second place at IEM Cologne.[9]

Flying back to the United States, Team SoloMid attended the 2011 MLG Pro Circuit - Raleigh on August 26, 2011. At the event, Team SoloMid took third in group stage, going 1-2, defeating Curse Gaming while losing to Counter Logic Gaming and Epik Gamer.

On October 9th, 2011, Team SoloMid participated in the IGN ProLeague Season 3 in Atlantic City. TSM took out compLexity 2-0 in the first round, but fell to Epik Gamer 1-2 in the semifinals, sending Team SoloMid to play for third place. In the third place match, Team SoloMid once again faced Counter Logic Gaming, who TSM lost to 0-2, taking home fourth place.

Four days later, Team SoloMid flew out to New York to participate in the offline IEM Season VI - Global Challenge New York. Team SoloMid finished in 7th-8th place after going 0-3 in the group stages with losses against FnaticRC, Counter Logic Gaming and Team Dignitas.

In late October 2011, Team SoloMid moved into a gaming house in New York.

Team SoloMid participated in the 2011 MLG Providence tournament, which was held from November 19 to November 20. In the first round, TSM took out RFLX Gaming 2-0 to advance to the second round, where they fell 1-2 to Epik Gamer. TSM advanced through the Loser's Bracket with a 2-0 victory over Dignitas, TSM once again played against Epik Gamer in the grand finals. Due to Major League Gaming's extended series rule, Epik Gamer started off with a 2-1 lead against TSM. Despite Epik's advantage, Team SoloMid came out victorious 4-2 over Epik Gamer, taking home first place.[10]

Season 2

On December 18, 2011, Team SoloMid attended the National ESL Premier League Season 2. In the playoffs, they defeated RFLX 2-1, compLexity 2-1, and v8 Esports 2-1, placing them in the winner's bracket final, where they lost to Counter Logic Gaming 0-2. Team SoloMid then lost to Curse Gaming 0-2, placing TSM in third overall in the tournament.

The first tournament of the 2012 year that Team SoloMid attended was the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Kiev, held on January 19. In the group stage, Team Solomid went 3-0 and took first, defeating SK Gaming, Curse Gaming and White Lotus. Advancing to the playoffs, Team Solomid defeated team Dignitas 2-0, qualifying for the finals where they faced Moscow Five. In the grand finals, Team SoloMid lost to Moscow Five 1-2, taking home second place.[11]

Two months after Kiev, on March 13, 2012, TheRainMan resigned from Team SoloMid, citing differences in training regimen plans, as TheRainMan wanted to focus more on solo queue while the rest of Team SoloMid wanted to focus on full team scrims. On the same day, Epik Gamer's Dyrus was announced to replace TheRainMan. The main reason for the acquisition of Dyrus was due to the fact that he had already been living in the TSM house and was also top lane player.[12]

After the roster reformation, Team SoloMid appeared in the Leaguecraft ggClassic tournament, which ran from March 17th to April 1st. At the event, Team SoloMid went undefeated with wins over Raise Your Weapon, Curse Gaming, Jpak and Friends and 4Not.Fire, taking home first place.[13]

On April 6th, 2012, Team SoloMid attended IPL 4 in Las Vegas. In the playoffs Team SoloMid defeated v8 Esports 2-0 in the first round, Curse Gaming 2-0 in the second round and team Dignitas 2-1 in the third round, advancing to the grand finals. In the finals against Counter Logic Gaming, Team SoloMid lost the first set 0-2, but came back to win the tournament in the second set, defeating Counter Logic Gaming 2-0 to take home first place.

On June 3rd, 2012, Team SoloMid took 1st place in the Reign of Gaming International Invitational. In the online playoffs, TSM defeated Ordinance Gaming 2-0 in the first round, Orbit Gaming 2-0 in the second round and Team Legion 2-0 in the third round to qualify for the offline finals. In the round robin offline finals event, Team SoloMid went undefeated, winning against Team SoloMid Evo, Teamless, and Curse Gaming EU 2-0. In the grand finals, Team SoloMid took on Team SoloMid Evo, whom TSM defeated 2-1.

One week later, Team SoloMid placed first in the 2012 MLG Pro Circuit - Spring. Team SoloMid was undefeated throughout the entire playoffs of the tournament, defeating MRN 2-0, Counter Logic Gaming EU 2-1, FnaticRC 2-0 and Dignitas 2-0. In the grand finals, Team SoloMid played against Counter Logic Gaming, who would be the first to take a set from Team SoloMid, with Counter Logic Gaming picking up the first set 2-1. Team SoloMid came back in the second set and took first place, defeating Counter Logic Gaming 2-1.[14]

Team SoloMid participated in the GIGABYTE Esports LAN on June 15, 2012. In the group stage, TSM went 3-0 and took first, taking out Counter Logic Gaming Black, Curse Gaming and Team Green Forest. In the playoffs, Team SoloMid defeated mTw.NA 2-0, and Counter Logic Gaming Prime 2-1. In the grand finals of the GESL, Team SoloMid faced off against and defeated Counter Logic Gaming Black 2-0 to take home first place.

From August 3rd through to August 5th 2012, Team SoloMid would compete in the first MLG 2012 Summer Arena for League of Legends, which was held in New York City. Team SoloMid would compete against three world class teams: Curse Gaming, Azubu Blaze and Team BLACK. Team SoloMid's strong LAN performance would come to a halt at this event, as they would drop all three games against the Korean team Azubu Blaze. TSM, however, wanting to prove that their recent dominant form was no fluke, came back in their next two matches against Curse Gaming and Team BLACK with back to back 3-0 victorys. TSM would then move on to the Grand Final to get a rematch with Azubu Blaze, but would once again get swept by the Korean team 0-2. TSM would finish the MLG Summer Arena Championship with a second place placing.[15]

Six days after their showing at the MLG 2012 Summer Arena, Team SoloMid would participate in the IPL Face Off: San Francisco Showdown. Once again showing their dominance in the North American scene, Team SoloMid would go through the entire tournament without dropping a single series to any team to take home first place, defeating Orbit Gaming, Singapore Sentinels, Team Legion and Curse Gaming.

On August 30, 2012, Team SoloMid flew out to Seattle, Washington to compete in the Season 2 North American Regional Finals. In the quarterfinals of the playoffs, Team SoloMid would sweep Monomaniac Ferus 2-0 to advance to the next round of the tournament. There in the semifinals, Team SoloMid would pull out a 2-1 victory over Curse Gaming. Team SoloMid would finish off the tournament strong, defeating Team Dignitas 2-0 in the grand finals to take home first place and qualifying for the Season 2 World Championship.

At the Season 2 World Championship in Los Angeles, Team SoloMid was given a bye through the group stage due to their first place regional finish. By drawing, they were slated against Azubu Frost in the quarterfinal round. Unfortunately for TSM, the Korean metagame once again proved superior as the North American squad failed to keep up with Frost's aggression and pressure. In a near déjà vu situation from MLG 2012 Summer Arena, SoloMid was swept 2-0, this time by the other Azubu team. TSM finished in 5th-8th place and took home $ 75,000.

Pre-Season 3

Team Solo Mid attended IPL 5 in Las Vegas on the 29th of November. Seeded in group C, TSM advanced 2-1 with wins over Meat Playground and Singapore Sentinels while dropping a game against Curse Gaming EU. After the group stages TSM was eliminated from contention by being swept 0-2 by both CLG EU and Azubu Blaze. Despite abstaining from streaming to prepare for the tournament, TSM did not perform as well as their NA counterpart CLG Prime who took 5th and 6th, and again could not take a game from the Korean teams. They ranked 9th-12th at the event and take home $1,500 in winnings.

On January 25th, Dan Dinh was announced as a substitute player for TSM.[16]

Season 3

On February 7, 2013, it was announced that Team SoloMid would compete under the name Team SoloMid Snapdragon in representation of the mobile processor brand of their newly acquired sponsor, Qualcomm. Also announced was a partnership with Qualcomm and CBS to produce a web reality series, GameCrib, exhibiting the daily lives of TSM.[17][18][19]

Two weeks after the launch of Season 3, Team SoloMid announced the acquisition of Jason "WildTurtle" Tran and Daryl "wingsofdeathx" Hennegan as substitute players on February 13, 2013.

On March 25, 2013, it was officially announced WildTurtle had replaced Chaox as Team SoloMid's AD Carry.[20]

After bringing in Wildturtle, TSM managed to come in first in the NA LCS Spring Season, securing their spot in the Summer Season. They also went on to win the NA LCS Spring Playoffs.

During the Summer Split, GameCrib was renewed for a second season and began airing on July 10, 2013.

As the NA LCS Summer Season began and progressed, TSM found themselves fighting to keep up with the middle of the pack and eventually ended the season with a .500 record of 14-14, coming in 3rd going into the playoffs, having public question if they will make it to Worlds with their shaky performances and the questioning of their team chemistry. The playoffs were held at PAX 2013. TSM went up against their old rivals, CLG but were able to best them in a 2-0. Next, Solo Mid faced the formidable and semi-favorite going into the matchup, Vulcun but were able to take another convincing 2-0 victory to gain a finals spot and more important, a seed at the Season 3 World Championship. TSM went up against the team that has dominated all season and their practice partner, Cloud9. However, TSM were unable to best their competitor, losing 0-3 and taking home a respectable second in the playoffs.

At the Season 3 World Championship, TSM entered as the North American fan favorite. In the group stage, TSM was paired with GamingGear.eu of the CIS, Lemondogs of Europe, OMG of China, and the eventual tournament winners SK Telecom T1 2 of South Korea. Team SoloMid won only two matches of eight, winning only against Lemondogs and GamingGear.eu. TSM took home 11th-12th place, along with North American 3rd seed Team Vulcun.

Pre-Season 4

On October 20th, 2013, it was announced that Ninjaken would join Team SoloMid as substitute.[15] The next day TSM announced that Dan Dinh and wingsofdeathx would no longer be substitutes for the team.[21] The next day TSM announced that Dan Dinh and wingsofdeathx would no longer be substitutes for the team.[22]

On November 1st, 2013, Team SoloMid announced Altec as a substitute. The following day, Reginald stepped down from his role as mid laner to become coach and was replaced by Ninjas in Pyjamas's Bjergsen.[23]

Team SoloMid's first competition after the World Championship was the Battle of the Atlantic, in which North American teams competed against European teams for bragging rights and a money prize. As the second seed of North America, TSM faced the second seed of Europe, the Lemondogs, and handily won 2-0 against a roster that had recently been completely replaced.

Season 4

As the Season 4 North American LCS began, TSM was eager to show off its new mid laner Bjergsen. After losing its first match against Cloud9, TSM shook off the loss and won eleven in a row, holding first place for a team-record eight weeks. Although they entered Week 10 with a 19-3 record and a one-game lead over rival Cloud9, the team struggled to close out the season and finished second. TSM's 22 wins were still a team best and tied with Fnatic for fourth best of any team in LCS history.

In that split's playoffs, TSM faced longtime rival Counter Logic Gaming in their first series, and won 2-1, highlighted by a Bjergsen pentakill as Karma in Game 2. Advancing to the finals, TSM met Cloud9 for the second consecutive time in the LCS playoffs, and lost 0-3 once more, as Cloud9 won its tenth consecutive playoff game.

In early May, between the Spring and Summer splits of the LCS, TheOddOne stepped down to become a coach for the team. Amazing, a German player from the Copenhagen Wolves, joined the team as their new jungler. At the same time, support player Xpecial was benched and then removed from the team for his negative attitude, to be replaced by Gleebglarbu of challenger team Cloud9 Tempest. Xpecial moved to Team Curse.

With its new roster in tow, Team SoloMid immediately faced a challenge in the summer split of the LCS. After having a rocky start, TSM found themselves in fifth place and struggling to stay afloat. Thereafter, TSM improved its record significantly and temporarily even held first in the league, albeit in a four-way tie. Days before Week 10 of the split, holding a tenuous grip on second place and a single game behind first-place LMQ, TSM announced the addition of Lustboy to the starting roster to replace Gleebglarbu. Lustboy had been the support for the Korean team CJ Entus Blaze, and had won the very first OnGameNet tournament at Champions Spring 2012. However, despite the formidable and well-known addition to the team, TSM finished with a paltry 3-3 record and had fallen to third to finish the season.

Entering the summer playoffs at Pax Prime 2014, TSM's luck began to change. Although they fell victim to a surprise backdoor ending by ZionSpartan in their first match against Dignitas, Team SoloMid came back to win the series 3-1. Subsequently, TSM faced LMQ, a team against whom they had a 0-4 record throughout the season. After a hard-fought series, even overcoming a Game 4 XiaoWeiXiao pentakill, TSM prevailed 3-2 and returned to the finals against Cloud9. In their third consecutive playoff matchup against C9, as well as TSM's record fourth finals appearance, Team SoloMid finally came out on top and took the series 3-2. In the process, TSM handed Cloud9 its first (and second and third) ever playoff losses, and secured a spot at the Season 4 World Championship, becoming the only team to attend all four World Championships.

At the 2014 World Championship Team Solomid was placed in Group B. TSM would place second in their group with a record of 4-2, advancing to the Playoffs. In the playoffs, TSM was placed against Samsung White in their first match and lost 3-1, thus having them place 5th in the tournament.

Pre-Season 5

On October 11, 2014, it was announced that Amazing was leaving the team.[24] Three days after the previous announcement Gleebglarbu announced that he left the team.

On November 27th, it was announced that Santorin had joined the starting roster.

Season 5

On March Solomid won IEM Katowice after beating World Elite 3-0 in the finals.[25] This was their first IEM world title as well as their first international tournament win. TSM met Cloud9 in the finals of the LCS Spring playoffs in April and won three games to one.[26] It was the third consecutive LCS final that featured the two teams.[26]

Current roster

League of Legends

Hearthstone

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Smite

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Other sponsorship

References

  1. ↑ "Sponsors". TeamSoloMid. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Sponsors". TeamSoloMid. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  3. ↑ Terces (October 7, 2012). "Team Solomid's Reginald retiring [UPDATE]". sk-gaming. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ Schmieds (March 14, 2012). "RainMan Leaves TSM, Dyrus Joins". Gamereplays.org. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Team SoloMid". LoL Esports. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ CaptainTim (March 9, 2015). "Leffen signs with TSM, could branch out into other FGC titles". Esports Heaven. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ Messiah's SoloMid Post
  8. ↑ "Official Season One Championship Page". Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "IEM Season VI Cologne". eslworld.net. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ "MLG Providence 2011 Grand Finals VOD". majorleaguegaming.com. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  11. ↑ Official IEM Season VI Kiev Page esl-world.net
  12. ↑ Why RainMan Left youtube.com
  13. ↑ ggClassic Semifinals and Grand Finals VODs youtube.com
  14. ↑ 2012 MLG Pro Circuit Spring Final Results majorleaguegaming.com
  15. ↑ 2012 MLG Summer Arena Finals VODs majorleaguegaming.com
  16. ↑ Vlog 1-25-2013 youtube.com
  17. ↑ TSM Rechristened "TSM Snapdragon", Webseries Incoming ggchronicle.com
  18. ↑ Reginald talks about TSM's new sponsors, show and the LCS gamespot.com
  19. ↑ CBS Interative Games Exec David Rice Sees 'Great Potential' For ESports On TV forbes.com
  20. ↑ WildTurtle Replacing Chaox as Starter on TSM newsoflegends.com
  21. ↑ Solomid's Twitter Post twitter.com
  22. ↑ Solomid's Twitter Post twitter.com
  23. ↑ Bjergsen had scored the most kills of any player in the Season 3 Spring Split, and the second most overall throughout Season 3. His champion pool epitomized the assassin-heavy meta of early Season 4. Solomid Announcing the new TSM roster! solomid.net
  24. ↑ Messiah (October 11, 2014). "TSM Amazing Steps Down". News of Legends. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  25. ↑ http://en.intelextrememasters.com/season9/worldchampionship/#Tournament&Bracket/
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lingle, Samuel (April 20, 2015). "After another NA LCS title, TSM will aim for international glory". The Daily Dot. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  27. ↑ "LoL". TeamSoloMid. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Eonic-Twitch". Twitch. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  29. ↑ "smash". TeamSoloMid. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  30. ↑ "TSM TheOddOne". Retrieved April 10, 2015.

External links