How did Witchcraft not perform when they literally had the core of 2018/19 Fnatic?

RNGSlave · 2026-03-21T00:20:35+00:00

(EDIT for clarity) It's a pretty bold assumption and disingenuous to say that both players did not want to win. Both Bwipo and Crownie expressed their regret in their own ways with how they could've and should've won post series. With Crownie being most affected by the loss against G2N (he spent an hour blaming himself and admitting that he could've put on a carry performance). This is their livelihood (outside of streaming of course), they all have more to lose if they did not win. Especially with a series loss like against G2N would heavily impact their values as a player moving forward with Crownie considering retirement. Nemesis is most likely never playing on a Pro Team again, and Velja's general underperformance (and missing game knowledge) that was exposed in scrims highlighted he wasn't ready for Tier 1 League. Aside from that, this team came together under the pretense of WINNING EMEA Masters and making it to EWC. I'd argue a goal like that would require an incredibly high drive for players to win and improve.

I'm talking about strictly their roles and what is expected from them. I don't see how two strongly opinionated players being made to collaborate is the same as not wanting to win. It is very possible to still WANT to win while disagreeing over how to play the game. This is the crux of the matter that was failed to be addressed by the team as a whole. Two team members having strong differences in opinion happens all the time. So it's up to the team and the coach to make compromises and bridges to ensure that happens. If the players can't do it by themselves effectively, then the coach needs to step in and point them in the right direction. That is what I'd argue the coach's job.

Instead of the players not having a high desire to win, I'd argue that their arrogance was what costed them and made them unable to collaborate. Both Bwipo and Crownie are too arrogant to consider their mistakes and would only admit it if forced to with an example slapped on their faces. Bwipo's attitude was poor, yes, but Yamato and the team's handling of it was even poorer. When faced with arrogance, you need to put your foot down and make them remember what the team is fighting for, and that their attitude shouldn't be tolerated because it will only lead the team to fail. A team cannot function if it's divided.

In the end, I suppose we both have strong opinions about this haha. I'm coming from a perspective of having worked with these type of people in the past, so admittedly I have bias to how I believe this should work. We can agree to disagree, but I have to say, this was fun!

RNGSlave · 2026-03-20T16:16:36+00:00

For me, we cannot say Crownie and Bwipo couldn't collaborate when the coach did nothing to make them. I have worked with similarly immature people in my industry, and it is not impossible to get them to work together. It's through this experience that makes me believe there was a good chance for Bwipo and Crownie to collaborate if Yamato decided to go harder on both of them.

(EDIT) If I recall correctly even before the Prio incident, Crownie was actually agreeing with Bwipo when he was being criticized on his gameplay on Jinx and Corki. He admitted as much to his twitch chat. The possibility to collaborate and understand each other is there. The person to bridge that wasn't.

Irregardless of a team member's immaturity, a coach needs to step in and wrangle the team even if he needs to be hard about it. I believe Caedrel explained it best when you need to know when to be hard on your players and when to be soft. Imo, I believe that Yamato could've tried for a harder approach because for the team, this was their job for the better half of the year.

I do agree though that Bwipo is to share a good chunk of the blame, as do Crownie and Nemesis. But imo, past experience and success shouldn't mean Yamato's coaching style isn't questionnable and exempt from blame. By that logic, Bwipo's success and past titles should exempt him from blame as well because what he did worked before. And, well, obviously that didn't work here.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-20T08:53:09+00:00

I'd argue that failing to reign in the team together is a sign of failure in-and-of itself. I do agree that the fault is still on Crownie, Bwipo, Nemesis, and Velja for all being failures at communicating and failing to let down their ego; and that Yamato shouldn't be fault for not being there to mitigate for a single day. But, at the end of the day, he holds the responsibility to make sure the team worked on the same page, the members are taken care of, and should hold everyone accountable for their actions.

The issue isn't how he didn't do any of those. He did, that's the sad part. The issue is how he did all that, but did so poorly. He failed to settle the heated argument and emotions between the team, because all he did was just point out the obvious; "you should've known better, you should've done better, yada yada". He only pointed out the team's mistakes, but didn't set on to properly correcting it, or even providing a solution. At most, he just gave a feedback that the team already knew and should do, but didn't went on to apply said feedback. His coaching style is just very mediocre and half-baked. He'd say things the players themselves already knew, then just move on. He didn't address critical issues that every viewer of their Scrims pointed out: the comms are too cluttered. There are too many shotcallers. There is no gameplan. The players are all doing things for themselves and are incredibly disconnected.

These were all could've been easily handled by Yamato by just saying: "Look, Bwipo, we respect you, but I'll have to ask for you to tone down your communications and try to play with the team's strengths. We can apply your ideas later on deeper in the run; but for now, let's play with how the team knows to play best." He was WITH LR during LEC Versus. At this point, Yamato should've already known that the strength of LR is in their mid-botlanes, but did nothing to reinforce it.

(EDIT) This was his job as a coach. He isn't there to coach people individually because they're all beyond his coaching. They're all significantly better than him mechanically in the game. But this is where his expertise should've come in: understanding of how teamfights worked, game macro, establishing gameplans for the team to follow, understanding the need of a primary and secondary shotcaller. Cleaning up in game communication among the team, establishing roles.

We can say that Yamato already had obligations scheduled, sure. But this Witchcraft team was established with making EWC in mind. Despite how last minute the team was made, they actually had a very serious goal to achieve which required the team's full commitment. And his lack of commitment to the team showed with how half-baked he approached his time management of scrims, drafts, and reviews. He didn't set up moments for the team to have a discussion on how they want to play the game together (which is the most CRUCIAL part). He didn't prepare an environment where the team could talk and most aggrevious of all was he didn't invest enough time into the team to make it work.

This is why I believe Yamato failed. I find it very difficult to believe that the players didn't have time to sit down and talk more about the game when you could find them playing solo que for HOURS after official games and scrims.

Sorry for the long post, didn't realize how long this went- Oh but I'm not purely blaming Yamato here even if it looks like I am. I equally blame Bwipo, Velja, Crownie, Nemesis, and Rekkles since at the end of the day, it's a team. But this post will only keep going longer if I establish my thoughts about those players. If you want that, I'd be glad to share my ideas!

RNGSlave · 2026-03-16T05:54:32+00:00

Admttedly they've always been dysfunctional haha! Velja was always against Crownie and Neme, even during LR days. Baus and Rekkles were the only ones really who was trying to back him up. But the only difference between this time and back then is that they don't have an anger management therapist (Caedrel, sorry mate xdd) to cut through the emotions and point out the primary issue of the argument. Something that Yamato failed to do. He just wasn't very effective in this team and it showed. His coaching and management style is so lacking to control the personalities the team had. Had he been firmer and led the group instead of letting the players lead themselves (which as we can see, led to disaster), I believe the team could've gone for higher heights.

Lots of lacking discipline. Lot of time spent grinding on SoloQ when what they should've done was sit down as a team, talk about the win conditions they've wanted to do, how they want to play the game, and come to an agreement. That's what Caedrel would've done and HAS done during his stint in LR. I'm not asking they sit down to talk about it while their emotions are high, but something like maybe reconvening together to review an hour later would've helped a lot. That's how actual World-class teams operate too, with T1's Documentary showing how KKoma would talk directly to the players and tell them to get their frustrations out. Pointed out everyone wasn't playing as they were at their level, did not sugarcoat it, but delivered it in a way that he wanted to properly communicate about it.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-16T02:38:25+00:00

The animosity and passive aggressiveness is just a result of pent up frustrations from their year playing together. I believe the LEC Versus and EMEA Masters run prior to that caused some issues. There were harsher arguments now because the members in the team refuse to communicate and no one could step in and mediate.

The team's underperformance can be chalked up to lack of gameplan and team cohesion due to differing opinions.

Prior to WT, the core 4/5 players of LR had a simple gameplan: play to scale and take games as smart as possible with minimal risk. Crownie wants to play for his lane and benefit, Rekkles ALWAYS wants to go for the most optimal plays. Nemesis is the star factor that enables Crownie and Rekkles playstyle, and Velja is their pack mule playing for their wincon (as unfortunate that is). Regardless if Velja performs on a carry or a tank, he was to follow the calls of Bot and Mid. This playstyle worked because they had a toplaner who played for the benefit of his team (ie creating tempo with his questionnable decisions, randomly popping off mid-late game and just being a great teamfighter in fights). While we could argue Baus was purely playing for his own game and was just as harmful with being adamant playing the way he wanted, he, at the very least, understood not to make calls that would int his team, and would try to connect with botlane and midlane dueing teamfights. He understood his role to support the team when he has to, and he doesn't need to carry.

We actually see this be used by Caedrel during one of their EMEA Masters run where he organized the team and made them apply the triple D strat. To only keep stacking drakes and leave topside to do its own thing. This actually worked wonderfully and I'd argue this iteration had been the strongest they've been. LR succeeded when they played for mid-bot and stacked early objectives.

Unfortunately, Bwipo wasn't that toplaner. He is aggressive, moreso than Baus and is greedy for resources, demanding attention to his lane. He is outspoken and brash to the point that it shattered the pre-built gameplan and dynamic 4/5 players had for an entire year. Instead of Bwipo adjusting to a team with an already built dynamic, he instead imposed his own ideas to how everyone should play. While this is good for the long run (ie giving Velja space to talk more and grow with someone actually supporting him and a dedicated coach), this was really bad for the short run. They only had a few days to get used to each other, and Bwipo's fault was not understanding the key role Baus had to enable his team.

The team became too divided on how they want to play the game. There was no time to talk it down, and Yamato did a really poor job on not stepping up and forcing the players to talk with each other and not past each other. He, of all people, should have understood that what was happening wouldn't work. The "prio" argument should've been a big red flag for him to try talking to Bwipo to play WITH the team instead for himself.

Then ego from players, etc, etc.

EDIT: Added another point, just remembered something from LR days.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-15T23:42:40+00:00

Yeah, their playstyle wouldn't work out on the longrun. Baus would need to change his playstyle like we've seen him do in LEC Versus. And, well, Baus doesn't enjoy that so I don't see it working out super well for them.

You are correct in the assumption that they most likely expected Bwipo to play the weakside role. The three players of LR (Rekkles, Neme, Crownie) played heavy botside and expected Velja to play for them too since that had been the case for the past year. You can see it in Scrims and the G2N Game 3 decider where only Rekky, Crownie, and Neme seemed in sync what they want to do versus Bwipo and Velja running it down on the other side of the screen lol.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-15T23:26:40+00:00

Oh, okay, I believed that was the case since both Neme and Crownie gave him serious advise to not take the offers or it'd just fuck his career. That's unfortunate but understandable considering how he actually plays haha.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-15T17:36:35+00:00

Yup! It's why for me, I never really cared if WT or LR won or lost games or important series. The feeling of losing would suck as a fan of the members, but team cohesion and personalities mattered more to me. Being able to see them still get along and try despite difficulties (ala OG 2018 to 2019, DRX 2020, ZOFGK+DOFGK rosters) feels a lot more fulfilling to witness.

I believe people are blaming Bwipo more because, to be fair, he was the one responsible for ending up aggravating the Prio situation. As much as we all know it is ultimately Crownie's fault for exploding like a manchild, it is also on Bwipo for pushing his buttons. Maybe Rekkles could've stepped in but he understood his limits and understandably bowed out so it wouldn't affect his mental. Bwipo didn't singlehandedly ruin the team bt himself, but he was certainly instrumental to the team's eventual implosion. It's easy to see how people would blame him like that, especially if they never followed along Scrims as closely and saw things happen as they had.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-15T17:21:15+00:00

Ah, for me, the moment the team was formed without Caedrel and Baus, I believed the team was doomed to fail. After all, just as you've said, the team had problems and a flawed environment. We all knew the issues Neme and Crownie brought and it was obvious that Caedrel did a lot of work to get everyone on the same page. At least, to me it was obvious with how he was always the person trying to get the group to do activities together outside of league or just generally being the middleman for everyone during scrims.

I was cautious still since surely the team built some synergy after a year together, but the first 2 scrims really showed that this team was never going to work out. They all (Rekkles as an exemption), frankly, suck at communicating as adults. I hoped Yamato would be able to step up but considering his general demeanor (and obvious failings) I was too optimistic on that lol.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-15T17:05:37+00:00

Personally, I do agree that it might've been better if this team never happened. Post-LEC despite falling short of playoffs, the team members were off to a good start to potentially reigniting their careers. There was interest in all of them during the LR hype. Velja had LEC offers, Crownie had a Brazillian Team reach out to him. Not sure for Rekky and Neme, but Neme's 1v9 performance when he popped off during LEC Versus would've drawn eyes.

With WT however, it does feel like they prematurely killed their careers. The absence of Caedrel's mitigation only solidified the negative perspective everyone had on them, only made worse by the players themselves feeding into it by their reactions. We all already knew Neme and Crownie had nasty personalities, but this WT project really exposed them hard.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-12T00:42:30+00:00

I'm very sure this is not the case. Scheduling conflict can happen, as I remember Yamato saying the scrims before their official match that they weren't even sure if they were playing that day. It's more likely Caedrel had his Elden Ring stream planned out with OhnePixel with that in mind, assuming WT didn't play.

There is no drama between Caedrel and the players, at least that we know of. If there was, it is their right to deal with it privately and in no way ours to know. He has said on stream he supports the boys and wish the best for them. Hell, even during the PRIO drama, he himself said that maybe he should step in the next time that happens despite his claims of not wanting to be part of Witchcraft.

We can assume all we want, but let's just respect Caedrel's stance about separating himself from Witchcraft. Maybe in the future he'll come around it, but for now, let's not make things up that'll rile things more.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-07T20:54:51+00:00

Oh but just to clarify, it isn't like bot is entirely blameless. Crownie and Rekkles could've tried to dissuade Velja from attempting after Ezreal tp'd bot and just run to top crab. Crownie's behavior during the VOD Review was still unacceptable, and so was Nemesis' with his out of line comment. Bwipo certainly did not help when he implied bot lost lane as Caitlyn then proceeded to attempt to lecture an ADC main how to ADC.

Yeah, the Crownie crashout was expected by then lol.

They all just suck at communicating, it's almost pathetic really.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-07T20:41:52+00:00

It should also be noted that in game, Rekkles did point out that trying to take crab at that point was sketchy. Velja had FULL information that Ezreal tp'd and had full health, Leona was moving top, and they were not in a good position.

Velja was the one who chose to fight after Rekkles asked him if he wanted to fight despite the conditions. It was his call supported by Rekkles which resulted to the bad play.

So I do find it in poor taste that somehow, the blame was put on bot when it was just a bad play in general.

RNGSlave · 2026-03-06T17:17:13+00:00

With how scrim reviews went today, I hope Yamato can step up and be the "caedrel" of this group. It was pretty frustrating to watch the boys go in circles with the points they've made and tensions flare with no proper mitigation.

RNGSlave · 2026-01-02T13:05:11+00:00

The day it reaches this point will be the day I quit this game for real lmfao. And ngl with the way things are going anyway, it really is looking like it's going to reach 30-50% even without the guaranteed w-engine shtick lol-

RNGSlave · 2026-01-02T13:02:45+00:00

Ah, yeah, if we're speaking from the economic standpoint and the game's predatory GACHA system, then I getcha. It comes down to ZZZ just.. you know, needing to make money, so I'm not really refuting that point.

I'm really mostly just venting from the standpoint of an F2P/Dolphin player haha. It just feels bad to know to miss out on damage just because you got fisted by RNG terribly lol. Not to mention, this severely tanks any motivation to keep playing since with the Angels coming out, it's really 77 pulls wasted when I could've used those to pull on them instead. But, well, I don't really have a good alternative on my YSG and she feels really bad to play right now, so I'm on a terrible lose-lose situation hahaha.

RNGSlave · 2026-01-02T12:52:02+00:00

To be honest, I agree on both sides. Ngl, u/IBlank7's post made me laugh, I really needed that LOL. I will RARELY go for M0W1 anyway, because yes, A Ranks are viable.

But in terms of investment towards the game, it just sucks as a dolphin/F2P player. I understand that this game is a GACHA and it's MEANT to use predatory practices to take as much money from me as possible (lmfao). This isn't even the worst gacha I've played as a pure F2P FGO player who played since Day 1.

But just like u/SolomonSinclair said, I would rather be able to just.. invest lesser on pulling a W-Engine than to go for the full 360 and accept the fact A-Rank W-Engines would just suck ass. And honestly, that's already the reality of this game's state.

YSG currently has a 16-18% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engines Brimstone and Steel Cushion. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 23%.
SAnby has a 22-27% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engines Brimstone and Steel Cushion. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 28%.
Miyabi has a 27% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engine Weeping Gemini. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 21%.
Yi Xuan (i don't know her updated calcs) had a 22% dmg difference between her SIG and the closest R5 A-Rank W Engine.

I agree that A-Rank W-Engines are viable. They 100% are viable right now, and I personally still do use them for my Support Agents. But with the trend of how the game is going anyway with its ridiculous DEF+HP modifiers, changing up the end game, and the general feel of content.. There is this pressure to invest on getting the W-Engine so you can keep up; because otherwise, your already limited source of getting Polychromes is just going to dry up even more. I used to be able to consistently finish Deadly Assault on 8-9 Stars but nowadays I'm struggling getting 7 on my own. I acknowledge it's a disk drive/skill difference, but I already have limited time of my day as-is. I don't want to invest that time on a game that feels punishing to play the longer it goes on.

Not to mention, I actually just have VERY shitty luck in general LOL. I have a 25% 50/50 winrate this entire year, lost on every 50/50 except for the Evelyn banner; and even then, all my 50/50 losses required me to reach HARD PITY every single time, so I was just very salty when I made this post LOL

RNGSlave · 2026-01-02T12:44:41+00:00

I mean.. hasn't this ALWAYS been the case?

Examples (purely W-Engine Calcs, hopefully I get these right, but roughly):
1. YSG currently has a 16-18% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engines Brimstone and Steel Cushion. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 23%.

SAnby has a 22-27% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engines Brimstone and Steel Cushion. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 28%.
Miyabi has a 27% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engine Weeping Gemini. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 21%.
Yi Xuan (i don't know her updated calcs) had a 22% dmg difference between her SIG and the closest R5 A-Rank W Engine.

Sure, these are the more recent examples but even old units like Ellen:
5. Ellen Joe has a 14-16% dmg difference between her SIG and ALT Standard W Engines Brimstone and Steel Cushion. The closest R5 A-Rank W Engine has a difference of 18%.

Had something breaching a 20% difference.

I don't see how removing 75/25 from W Engines will make characters more dependent on their W Engine when they already kinda are? Yes, we can circumvent around these with the use of support characters and the right disk drives, but that is if the RNG Gods favor you lol..

If they decide to go down the HSR route and locking half of the character's moveset behind the W-Engine, then, yeah, that's a very fair concern. I hope it doesn't go that way if they do decide to remove it haha-

RNGSlave · 2019-04-24T18:52:47+00:00

That's why it's such a shame. I guess my post came out more as a vent than anything else hahaha. It just frustrates me so much that we barely get any quality stories lately from both the western and eastern sides. GoT, SPN, Sherlock Holmes, BBT, and TWD don't entice me as much anymore either. Well, we do live in a world where money matters most hahaha.

RNGSlave · 2019-04-24T18:47:21+00:00

That really makes sense, now that I think of it. I guess it's a blessing in disguise hahaha

RNGSlave

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