One of the most underrated players in Vietnamese League of Legends history— GAM Slay
When we talk about underrated or under appreciated players, it usually means that their story hasn’t been properly told in the public. When you think about Vietnamese players, your mind usually goes to SofM, Levi or Optimus. A few of the greatest players ever that came from Vietnam.
However, I’d like to shine a spotlight to one of the most underrated players in Vietnamese League of Legends history. Slay from GAM Esports.
In this article we will take a look back to Slay’s career. We will delve deeper into why he is one of the greatest players to play in the VCS and also get some insight from Jensen Goh, a coach who worked with Slay at EVOS Esports.
Where it all started
2014
Nguyễn Ngọc Hùng, also known as Slay began his career at Hanoi Fate in early 2014. Back then the VCS was a secondary competition under the SEA GPL competition including teams from Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. During the period at Hanoi Fate, he was coached by none other than Tinikun, who we know as the former GAM Esports coach and owner. Slay would play multiple positions in that season, and the performances were good enough to seal an play-offs spot for GPL 2014 Summer. However it turned not good enough to qualify, as Full Louis — A team from the GPL in relegations — managed to requalify for GPL competition. A mere disappointment for Slay.
2015
Slay would only play top laner for the remainder of the season for Hanoi Fate, as they would finish third in the VCS competition. In summer they managed to qualify for the GPL competition, which meant that he could play against other SEA players.
The summer competition was too easy for the Vietnamese teams, as the other SEA teams couldn’t qualify for the next round. All of the Vietnamese teams managed to pass by the group stage. Only the Bangkok titans would remain. For Slay, the season was over, as they finished with a 3–4 end score.
Well, you might wonder what kind of picks he played back in the day. In the top lane, he played mostly Maokai, Shen and Fizz!
The glory days
2016
Before we delve into the glory days, we had the dark days for Slay. For Slays career, he made the move from Hanoi Fate to Saigon Jokers. He would share time on bot lane with Celebrity, and the bot lane partner for Slay was none other than RonOP. The team would however falther in the group stages of Worlds 2016 qualification, with the duo Celebrity and Tsu playing all the games. This would’ve been Slays first international event, had it not be for the 10 man roster.
2017
Saigon Jokers, failing to make Worlds 2016 group stages decided to disband the roster and their League of Legends team. For Slay it meant a new start on a new team. He joined Gigabyte Marines (now GAM Esports) with the roster of: Stark-Levi-Optimus-Slay-Archie. Their run in Spring would be flawless with 12–0 in the regular season and 3–0 sweeping Young Generation. GPL would also be no problem, as they went 3–2 against Kuala Lumpur Hunters and 3–0 against Ascension Gaming. It meant that Slay would play his first international games ever at MSI and also his first title as a player.
Slay would play at MSI, but was not the vocal carry of the team. The team would usually give their resources to either Levi or Optimus to carry the team to a victory. Slay was there to provide facility on picks such as Ashe, Varus and Ziggs. The team would be super dominance and fearsome against the other wildcard teams. Playing against Supermassive from Turkey wasn’t any problem, and Slay was almost close beating out TSM. They could live up their heads high, as they would finish the MSI tournament with some wins against TSM and G2 Esports.
After the tournament the Gigabyte Marines decided to get another bot laner in Noway. Slay would end up playing top lane again, but this time for Cherry Esports. Barely making it out of relegation zone, Slay starts at ground zero despite making it international and winning a title.
EVOS Esports
2018
But then EVOS Esports came. A newly formed roster with some new faces, and also some familiar faces. The roster consisting out of: Stark-Yijin-Warzone-Slay-RonOP would become unstoppable after their promotion into the VCS. Where Gigabyte Marines would slump, EVOS Esports would become the number one team in Vietnam. Winning 3–2 over Gigabyte Marines, the team would qualify for MSI, with Slay making his return to the international stage once again!
At the MSI tournament, Slay had to play against Supermassive from Turkey once again. And once again they had beaten them 3–1 in order to advance into the main stages. The same results would be prolonged, as they would only win against the NA and EU representatives once.
Back into summer season, the meta had shifted into a more mage oriented bot lane style, which Slay also has adapted into. Picks such as Swain, Morgana and Taliyah were a staple in the bot lane and Slay had no difficulties adapting. This time, EVOS Esports were struggeling at the end of the split and unfortunately knocked out in play-offs by Cube Adonis.
I asked former coach of EVOS Esports Jensen Goh about his opinion of Slay as a person and a player. When specifically asked about his opinion as a person, Jensen Goh responded with:
“While I was working with EVOS, Slay was a much quieter personality in contrast to the likes of Warzone, Stark or Yijin.
He came across as rather happy go lucky in contrast to the others and was always willing to give in to suit the preferences of his teammates when it came to allocating resources on who should be the focal cary.
He was always positive and receptive to feedback, with a decent grasp of english he would be able to discuss with me in game concepts and laning ideas that he had.”
2019
Changes had to be made, and again Slay was the target to be subbed out. This time he would share time with Noway on the bot lane position in the Spring season. However, Slay officially lost his spot to Noway and decided to move on forward to another team.
GAM Esports
The future
That team was none other than GAM Esports, who would give him a try as a support player for the team. He would be partnered with Zin (who also later would roleswap to support) in the botlane for GAM Esports. They found instant success, qualifying for play-offs and going 3–0 in both of their series against Lowkey Esports and Team Flash.
Slay would make his third appearance internationally, but the first time at Worlds. GAM Esports would only win against J-Team however, finishing 1–5 in group stage.
After a brief break from competitive play in Spring, Slay replaced Palette in Summer who went to Team Flash. Currently Slay is one of the most dominant and consistent players in the league with outstanding game decisions and mechanics. In the summer of 2019 he showed a lot of prowess onto the Yuumi pick, whereas this season he is fearsome on the Sett support pick.
In conclusion
Words of thought
No matter how many times he has been benched, no matter how many he has been scapegoated as the problem in a team he will always find a way back into a team through hard work. If it isn’t under the top, bot or support role he will adapt and overcome. Slay in his career is the winningest player from Vietnam with six titles under his belt, while playing multiple roles.
It is time to not underrate him. Slay is one of the best players from Vietnam.
Wanna see how Slay will perform? Check out the next VCS play-offs match!
So you want to watch the next VCS match? Join us on the live broadcast on either the official Vietnamese broadcast or the English broadcast! Starting Wednesday 19th of August on 12AM CEST or 17PM VN Time, the first match that will be played is going to be GAM Esports versus. CERBERUS Esports.
You can also join our VCS English Discord to discuss even more about VCS.
I hope you had a wonderful read about One of the most underrated players in Vietnamese League of Legends history — GAM Slay, and on every Tuesday I will post an new article which features various things about the VCS as well. So stay tuned!
I’d like to shine a spotlight to one of the most underrated players in Vietnamese League of Legends history. Slay from GAM Esports.
