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HotS team DeadlyKittens acquired by Zenway Productions


Esports events management company Zenway Productions has acquired DeadlyKittens, a “Heroes of the Storm” group whose members formerly belonged to Filipino team Renovatio and Singaporean team Relics.


DeadlyKittens recently emerged victorious in the “Heroes of the Storm” Global Championship (HGC) Southeast Asia qualifier. They will therefore represent the region at the HGC Mid-Season Brawl at DreamHack Summer 2017 happening in Sweden this June 17 – 20.

“With DeadlyKittens recently qualifying to represent SEA in DreamHack, we felt like this would be a good time to do our part in supporting and growing the esports scene here,” stated Zenway Productions founder Lee Jian Ming. “We have close bonds with the Heroes community here in SEA and have watched this particular team grow from strength to strength.  I feel that they have the potential to push themselves even further with proper support.”

“With Zenway Productions’ support, we have secured another milestone for our team,” stated DeadlyKittens team captain Michael “DK.Mirr” Luo. “There is lots of talent in this region to be nurtured and I hope there will be much more support for esports to come in future.  We definitely have the skills to make our mark in the global scene.”

Every year, the HGC brings together the world’s best professional “Heroes of the Storm” teams for several days of explosive battle. This year, the champion will take home the lion’s share of the USD$250,000 prize pool.

United they stand

DeadlyKittens may be a new team, but its members are esports veterans who were previously affiliated with teams that consistently topped the Southeast Asia HGC between 2015 and 2017.

Members Mirr and Bjorn “Zeys” Ong were once part of Relics, a Singaporean team that consistently won every Singaporean “Heroes of the Storm” championship since the early days of the game.

Members Ronel “Stronger” Tan, Neil “Nsj” San Juan, and Kieron “Enavir” Goli formerly belonged to the Filipino team Bibingka, where they were known as Stronger, vyy, and JumpyLion respectively. When Bibingka was rebranded as Renovatio I and Renovatio II, the three were split up, with Stronger and Nsj going to the former, and Enavir going to the latter.

In 2016, Renovatio I defeated Relics and its fellow Singaporean team Resurgence to become the “Heroes of the Storm” Southeast Asia Spring Regionals champion.

Later that same year, the consolidated Renovatio, which now included Enavir among its ranks, took first place in the “Heroes of the Storm” Southeast Asia Summer Regionals. Relics emerged in second place.

Not long after HGC Summer Championship Circuit, Relics disbanded. Renovatio, on the other hand, became Imperium Pro Team (IPT), which recruited Mirr and Zeys.

As a super team, IPT dominated the “Heroes of the Storm” Southeast Asia Fall Regionals 2016, taking the championship and pushing Resurgence to second place.

But IPT would also eventually disband. In the aftermath, Mirr and Zeys founded the Singaporean group DeadlyKittens, while Stronger, Nsj, and Enavir formed xRenovatio.

Neither team would find any success, however. And with their defeat at the Eastern Clash, all five players learned a sobering lesson: divided, they fell.

“We got punished; neither of our teams qualified for the Eastern Clash, and I thought that it was a painful, but necessary lesson,” confessed Mirr.

And so Mirr, Zeys, Stronger, Nsj, and Enavir came together once more, this time under the banner ConboxSEA.

Under Zenway Productions, ConboxSEA became DeadlyKittens – the team that will now be going to DreamHack Summer 2017 to represent Southeast Asia at the HGC Mid-Season Brawl.

 

 



Working as a team

The team’s coach, Malaysian-born Chung Khiing “Kink” Tan, believes DeadlyKittens an extremely capable group. Of course, training such talented individuals has come with its own challenges.

“These players operate on a much higher level than I’m accustomed to,” he admitted.

He believes, however, that he has what it takes to do his job well.

“I daresay I have a great deal of empathy when it comes to interacting with players and sifting through their various issues.”

Kink believes one of DeadlyKittens’ major hurdles is the communication barrier:

“For many of the players, English isn’t their first language and with their thick accents, it can get very frustrating attempting to communicate with each other.”

Thankfully, the vocal Stronger has been helping out with these issues; as the team’s peacemaker, he takes his Support duties seriously both in and out of the game.

“I don’t like my teammates to end up with misunderstandings,” he said. “I want to get that out of the way so we can perform better.”

22-year-old Enavir is the team’s youngest player. However, age means nothing to him when they’re playing.

“I think of them as equals when playing,” he explained. “Maybe outside the game I respect the age gap, but never in the game.”

Enavir is considered the best Butcher player in Southeast Asia.

“It defies logic and reasoning,” he said. “I cannot possibly explain how I became the #1 Butcher in SEA. It just happened.”

Enavir discussed what makes a good Bruiser player:

“In Heroes of the Storm, there is no solo carry. You mess up, you lose. Your teammates mess up, you lose. There are so many factors to consider to become a good bruiser player. You need to understand that it’s not always about getting the kills. Sometimes, you also need to help your teammates. To make it simple, just deal loads of damage.”

As the team’s Flex, Nsj is used to switching roles for the benefit of the team. It seems he prefers putting the hurt on his opponents, though.

“I think I make the most impact when I’m playing the damage dealer type of heroes,” he opined.

Part of being a team player is being receptive to criticism. Thankfully, Nsj is the kind of person who doesn’t shy away from scrutiny.

“I have no problems with being scrutinized if it helps me improve my gameplay,” he admitted.

Previously, Zeys was Support. But he has now taken on the Assassin role.

“I was told by quite a few people that my strength lies in my mechanical prowess, so I stepped up to the challenge – it was always my preferred role anyway… I believe I’ve sufficiently transitioned from being one of the best supports to becoming the best assassin in SEA!”

Zeys spoke of his dynamic with the Mirr, with whom he’s been playing for the last 6 years:

“I can safely say for the both of us that we rely a great deal on each other, and if that dynamic had changed, we wouldn’t be preparing to fly to DreamHack. All in all, our differences are the foundation of our strength today, and that strength will be the deciding factor when we perform.”

According to Mirr, who plays the Warrior role in DeadlyKittens, this dynamic extends to their Filipino teammates.

“We decided to come back together because we knew this current lineup was the best,” said Mirr. — TJD, GMA News
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