It is the 17th of February 2020. Spacestation Gaming (SSG) coach Justin "Lycan" Woods paces, perhaps nervously, but his calm visage betrays no emotion.
The occasion? The Six Invitational 2020. The map? Clubhouse. The round? Number nine.
Fortunately for them, despite having next-to-zero HP, Javier "Thinkingnade" DeAndre Escamilla wins the pivotal clutch that sets his team, Spacestation Gaming, back on course... and the rest is history.
Now, almost a year and a half on, Lycan and his five players are ready to do it all over again. However, things have been remarkably different and were nearly even worse for him and the team he coaches.
Following his title win last year, and the announcement of the postponement of the 2021 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, legendary captain and two-time Invitational winner Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski had retired from the game in March. Like G2 Esports talisman Niclas "Pengu" Mouritzen had said, his motivation to compete in the game had been lost.
Canadian's retirement, while backed by his now-former teammates and staff, left SSG in the lurch as it came just a week before the start of the 2021 season.
As such, with rules blocking the signing of another player -- even a free agent -- Spacestation Gaming had to draft in its analyst, Luke "Luke" Slota, into its roster for Stage 1 of the North American League.
Predictably, the stage did not go well. SSG finished in seventh place with 12 points, stemming from three wins and three overtime losses across eight games.
The fact that the team could perform as well as it did spoke to the strength of the remaining core players and the newly-signed analyst of Drew "DrewSpark" Spark-Whitworth, as well as Luke, despite his inexperience playing the game at that level.
However, fans took to social media and Twitch chat to voice their displeasure at Luke's performance -- by no means shabby, but perceived to be worse than Canadian's. Luke would finish the stage with a 0.77 rating, ahead of the Susquehanna Soniqs captain Seth "supr" Hoffman (0.76) and beastcoast captain Joseph "Phozzo" Eisenmann (0.69).
Unfortunately, the words affected Luke, despite his best attempts. In response, the SSG team, and much of the NAL field rallied around him, hitting back against his detractors and pointing out that his situation had hardly been of his own making.
Just three days ago, however, SSG announced that Canadian would be returning to the roster as a one-off for the Six Invitational after Luke's passport was unable to be renewed in time.
To know more about SSG's trials through Stage 1 and their approach to the Invitational, SiegeGG spoke to Lycan.
Well, that's been a rough season, hasn't it? Talk us through how the team reacted after Canadian's departure and how did things progress mentality and feelings-wise throughout the season? Was there some frustration at the rules?
Luke, despite having never played a professional game before, had to step in at the last moment. He didn't light up the charts, but he didn't do too badly, did he, with the highest number of plants (11) in the stage?
Fans often forget the effect that their words can have on players, who are normal people at the end of the day. How much did their words affect Luke and how did the team rally around him?
How much better is it to play your regular season on LAN as well?
Canadian is back! How did this come about, with Luke's passport expiry to his return to play?
Will the five or so weeks away from play have dulled Canadian's skills in-game significantly? How about his mentality, which your team has spoken to being almost like a sixth player?
You now have your 2020 title winning roster again. How do you rate your chances in the groups and for your overall title defense?
What is your goal for the Invitational and how confident are you that you'll achieve it?
Is there anything you want to say to your fans and maybe your competitors?
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Catch Spacestation Gaming next in action on the 12th of May at 9:30 AM ET (UTC-4), when they take on TSM live from Paris.