Phoenix1 became PhoenixWon on Sunday as the then-winless underdog finally took home its first match win of the season over fellow rookies Apex Gaming. After going through the first half of the season without a victory and dropping a series to every other team in the league, P1's victory over Apex allows the team to look forward to next week's games instead of dreading them. At 1-9 in the standings, Phoenix1 currently sit tied with Echo Fox in ninth place, and are only three games back of Counter Logic Gaming and Team Envy for the sixth and final spot in the postseason.
"It feels really good because we've been working so hard these last few weeks," said Phoenix1's support Austin "Gate" Yu following the squad's inaugural match win. "I actually thought we could do even better. I thought we could do well against [Team SoloMid], but I think they're just a really cohesive team so I'm pretty happy with the one win this week."
Before TSM's ace mid laner Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg took over in the first game on Saturday versus P1, the forlorn rookies were putting up a fight against the undefeated league leaders. But, as it has been for the majority of the season, P1's inexperience playing together and lack of synergy led to them getting picked apart by a better, more well-rounded team with a game changing player like Bjergsen.
"Most of us don't really take whatever people say online to heart," said Gate, elaborating on how the team was able to put up with the constant backlash throughout the weeks as a winless rookie club. "At the end of the day, we all think we're really good players, so there's not much to worry about when it comes to third-party [criticism]. Also, when you're the underdog, it feels like there is less pressure. It feels like it's much easier to play the game, too. There is no real need to care about what other teams or what other people on the internet think of you."
Although the team had failed to live up to its symbol of a phoenix rising from the ashes before Sunday's conquest, all chatter surrounding the fledgling organization as a whole has been positive. Last split, Gate played on Team Impulse, a team that did better than expected on paper and even survived relegations, but was barred from the summer split when it came out the organization didn't keep up with payment to the players on the roster.
"Last split on Team Impulse, we had little to no support staff," he continued. "We literally had to call up our friends and ask them if they could help us with our team because we were having some struggles. With Phoenix1, it's completely the opposite. We don't even have to ask. They just think about it first. And we, just as players, want to repay them and show the org that they're doing good for us with some wins."
From the shambles of living with Impulse in the spring, Gate and the rest of Phoenix1 currently live in one of the nicer team houses of any team in the league. The property has a main house and a guest house equipped with a gigantic pool and other amenities you'd expect from a luxurious space in Los Angeles. "I'd say it's the best team house I've been in so far," said Gate.
"I actually think -- people have said it over and over -- North America is really competitive this split," he said. "We're just going to have to take it week by week, and see if we can pull out more wins and go to the [NA LCS] Finals in Canada. Because four of us are from there, so we'd really like to make it there."
Always looking on the positive side of things instead of getting sandbagged by negativity, Gate and the rest of P1 have continually done after game interviews with press and hung around to talk to fans outside the arena even during the 0-9 stretch of games. He said it was a "blessing" after last season's tumultuous split with Impulse to find an upstanding and supportive organization like Phoenix1.
"First things first, I can't really say in words how much I appreciate it," he said to all the fans of P1 who've been supporting the squad over the past month. "You guys are masochists to like us. We've been struggling. It's hard to root for a team that's struggling, so for you guys who've rooted for us since the very beginning, I can't thank you enough. And then for all the people that supported me personally, I think you're probably the reason why I do esports, so thanks a lot."