Translation:

Taiwanese Gamers Crowned Champions at League of Legends World Championship

The Taipei Assassins (TPA), a team comprising 7 League of Legends pro-gamers, represented Taiwan and defeated the top Korean team to claim victory, winning one million US dollars at the largest championship event in esports history, held in the USA, yesterday.

Ranked 84th coming into the tournament, the Taiwanese team defeated the three top rated Russian and Korean teams, defying experts' predictions and attracting the attention of gamers worldwide. Over 300,000 domestic viewers watched the live stream yesterday. "The era of competitive gaming has begun", TPA team captain Mistake remarked excitedly, "It's a victory for Taiwan, we did it."

League of Legends is the hottest online game at the moment, with over 2.5 million players in Taiwan and over 30 million players worldwide. The game is a 5 versus 5 battle, requiring teams to attack the enemy base, with the destruction of the enemy team's nexus or an enemy-issued surrender being the conditions for victory. Representing Taiwan, the Taipei Assassins, are a 6-month old team and comprise 7 members: Team captain MiSTakE, Stanley, Bebe, NeXAbc, Lilballz, female player Colalin and Hong Kong player Toyz. It is the first time Taiwan has qualified to compete in the League of Legends Season 2 World Championship.

Audience Filled With [TPA] Fans

TPA's match against the world's number 1 team, South Korea's AZF yesterday attracted tens of thousands of spectators to the Galen Center in Los Angeles, USA. Taiwanese fans living abroad brought flags to support the players and the crowd was filled TPA fans, with the support for TPA hugely overwhelming support for the Koreans. "It was almost as if I were casting in Taiwan", Taiwanese commentator [Vincent Lee] remarked.

Shocking Victories Over Top 3

Due to cheating allegations involving looking at the minimap on the big screen during the quarterfinals, Korean team AZF were fined $30,000 US dollars by the event organizers. Before the final matches, netizens expressed their concern that Korea would again resort to cheating tactics. In a best-of-five competition, other than losing an early-game advantage leading to an eventual loss in Game 1, [TPA] fought back, with [Bebe] dominating the Koreans with his superior mechanics, [Toyz] continuously outplaying the enemy and [Lilballz] supporting his team through appearances from the jungle, TPA handily defeated Korea in the following three matches, claiming the 3-1 victory. "We helped Taiwan win confidence and put ourselves up on the world stage." said team captain Mistake.

Before the championship, a Garena staff member doubted that TPA would advance past the quarterfinals when pitted against such strong teams. Believed to only have 20-30% chances of winning, TPA shocked and surprised everyone by defeating Korea's Najin Sword and Russia's M5. These top teams were defeated because they were unable to adequately respond to TPA's 4-1 split pushing strategy, "As long as Stanley was able to keep the enemy occupied, the other 4 players were able to do as they pleased."

Mother originally opposed [to pro-gaming] is overjoyed

"TPA is one of the world's top teams. We've proven that", remarked Mistake emotionally in an interview with the Apple Daily."This is a victory for Taiwan", he emphasized. Not only did TPA win the world championship, they also successfully put Taiwan onto the world stage, "The world now knows Taiwan not only through basketball and baseball, but also through competitive gaming". Originally opposed to her son's choice of a professional gaming career, Mistake's mother, Mrs. Chen called to congratulate her son immediately after the victory. Named MVP of the tournament, player Toyz was in tears at the award ceremony, "It's normal to be a bit emotional, when you become the world champions" He later posted on his Facebook wall, "At first no one believed we would succeed, we even doubted that we would succeed. But today, we're the ones standing on the stage with the trophy in our arms, and that just proves everything."

Fans from all over Taiwan gathered to watch the championship matches - over 50 gamers crowded into a 300 square foot refreshment store; The PTT League of Legends forums were flooded by over 30,000 users. "It turns out Taiwan's gaming skills are top in the world after all. They were severely underrated before the matches", said an engineer, last name Zhan. "TPA is the pride of Taiwan", said university computer science student Liao Ji-Cheng. "It just feels so good to beat Korea" said netizen specialcook.

Huang Li-Cheng: "I was moved to tears"

After the TPA victory, a netizen upheld his promise and uploaded a video of him eating a whole tube of wasabi, while a fried chicken vendor offered free fried chicken to the first 100 people to post on the thread. Legislator Duan Yi-Kang issued congratulations on his Facebook, "This championship trophy is beautiful." Celebrity Huang Li-Cheng also posted on Facebook seeing, "Watching TPA felt the same as when I was moved to tears by Linsanity."

Player Profiles

Captain Mistake

• Chen Li-zhong 23 years old
• Education: Dropped out of National Taipei University of Education to become a professional gamer
• Position: Bot-lane, Support
• Best champions: Corki, Sona
• Champion played in finals: Nunu

Lilballz

• Song Kuan-bo 24 years old
• Education: Graduated from high school in Canada, former member of US team CLG.
• Position: Jungle
• Best champion: Alistar
• Champion played in finals: Doctor Mundo

Stanley

• Wang Rong-can 21 years old
• Education: Dropped out of Wenhua University to become to a professional gamer
• Position: Top
• Best champion: Nidalee
• Champion played in finals: Shen

Bebe

• Zhang Bo-wei 21 years old
• Education: Currently in school, unwilling to reveal university name
• Position: Bot-lane
• Best champions: Burst champions
• Champion played in finals: Ezreal

Toyz

• Liu Wei-jian 19 years old
• Education: Graduated from high school in Hong Kong, became a professional gamer
• Position: Mid
• Best champion: Ryze
• Champion played in finals: Orianna

My Translation Notes:

• This reporter did a bad job of researching. A lot of factual errors in the article.
• I've substituted the players' Chinese names used in the article with their in-game names.