After a season plagued with issues, Echo Fox avoided back to back promotion tournaments by defeating the anchor of the NA LCS, Team EnVyUs. The foxes victory alone was not enough to secure an 8th place finish however, as Henrik “Froggen” Hansen and co. relied upon a FlyQuest eSports victory over fellow strugglers Team Liquid to guarantee their place in the NA LCS Summer Split. Echo Fox’s gratitude to the FlyQuest roster was evident as the split concluded.
In a rare turn up for the books, Echo Fox’s suffering AD Carry, Yuri “Keith” Jew provided a solid performance on Ashe as the roster closed out a critical series at the expense of doomed Team EnVyUs. Even victory over the league’s weakest side came as a pleasant surprise given the team’s recent form.
Following a dramatic series of mid-season revelations regarding the team’s inability to scrim the other team’s in the league, for a brief period, it looked as if FOX would take revenge over their rivals by finishing in the top half of the NA LCS. Yet remarkably, after a number of team’s agreed to scrim Echo Fox their level of performance starting to decline.
As the roster faced off against FlyQuest eSports in their penultimate game of the season, the team’s disjointed play style was evident once more. Despite Froggen securing 10 kills in the mid lane, Echo Fox seemed clueless as to how to close out the game, allowing Hai “Hai” Du Lam to strategise his team to a 2-0 victory.
Defeat against FlyQuest meant that Echo Fox would be reliant on their conquerers to deal the same fate to Team Liquid. As the majority of the squad headed back to their gaming house to watch the series from home after victory over NV, rookie Jungler Matt “Akaadian” Higginbotham remained in the studio to lend his vocal support during the relegation determining finale.
Dude plz win fly cmon I’m sending my energy pic.twitter.com/97tvaxZ7IU
— Matt Higginbotham (@Akaadian) 26 March 2017
LETS GO FLYQUEST
— Henrik Hansen (@FroggenLoL) 26 March 2017
For a while, it did not seem that the Echo Fox roster’s prayers would be answered, as Team Liquid established a comfortable gold lead, up in kills and objectives over FlyQuest. But in one fatal swing, with Samson “Lourlo” Jackson caught out of position, Mid laner Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin realm warped the entire squad straight into the front line of FlyQuest’s engage using his Ryze ultimate.
As FlyQuest closed out the series to end their Spring Split on a high, Team Liquid were condemned to a nail-biting promotion tournament to retain their NA LCS status. Meanwhile, the entire Echo Fox organisation rejoiced…
Ayyy pic.twitter.com/RUNIi5qjwP
— Simon (@FOXheavenTime) 26 March 2017
Akaadian, close friends with FlyQuest eSports Jungler, Galen “Moon” Holgate, personally thanked his saviours as they departed the stage as victors (look out for the blond quiff and the pink shirt):
Echo Fox live to fight another split. Though the roster were jubilant to have avoided the prospect of relegation, given the roster’s form earlier in the split – even convincingly defeating Team SoloMid – missing out on playoffs is a major disappointment for FOX.
With a number of roster swaps expected to take place during the off-season, notably in the AD Carry position (a position that has proven to be FOX’s achilles heel on too many occasions), Echo Fox will be hoping to solidify their status as a staple NA LCS organisation in the Summer.
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