MSI 2023 Team Preview: DetonatioN FocusMe
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Bence Loksa
There are only three things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and DetonatioN FocusMe representing the LJL in international events.
The 2023 Mid-Season Invitational is almost upon us! The 8 teams that qualified for the Play-In Stage will begin their journey on the 2nd of May, but only three squads can qualify for the Main Event. Detonation FocusMe is a team that has vast experience in international League of Legends competitions, and they have made it out of the Play-Ins at Worlds last year – but can they pull through in the MSI?
The Journey of DetonatioN FocusMe
The strongest team of the Japanes LoL-League made some changes to their roster before the start of the season. While they obviously kept Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura, who has been with the team for more than 10 years now, they extended the contract of Mun “Steal” Geon-yeong, while also keeping Lee “Harp” Ji-yoong on the roster. They only signed one new player, Haruki “tol2” Shibata, who replaced Shunsuke “Evi” Murase after the latter left for the LEC. But tol2 wasn’t the only new member of the 2023 DFM, as they Japanese team re-signed Lee “Aria” Ga-eul after 2 years, as the Korean player returned from the LCK to the LJL.
With this squad, they almost managed to pull off a flawless Spring Split in the Japanese League of Legends tournament, but after they lost the first match of the season against Sengoku Gaming, and couldn’t best Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming in Week 3, they finished the Regular Season with a 12-2 scoreline. In addition, they couldn’t secure first place as Sengoku Gaming had only lost one match in 9 weeks – but that loss was against DetonatioN FocusMe.
Nevertheless, Yutapon and co. went into the Playoffs with a 10-game win streak, which meant that they started the second half of the Spring Splint in Round 2. Their first opponent was SoftBank HAWKS, who they beat 3-0 in a dominant series, proceeding to the Finals. In the last match of the Spring LJL, they didn’t falter, as they beat rival team Sengoku Gaming flawlessly as well, securing the MSI spot of the region. Can they carry their momentum to the international event?
Players to look out for in DetonatioN FocusMe
The roster of DFM is:
- tol2
- Steal
- Aria
- Yutapon
- Harp
- and Ryo “Milan” Nakamoto, who has played a few matches when Harp couldn’t play alongside Yutapon as his support (this duo has a 50% winrate, but is unlikely to be fielded in the MSI)
While Yutapon has been the most stable member of the most successful Japanese League of Legends team for more than 10 years now, he is not the only carry of the team. While his Varus and Zeri is strong, and his Xayah has a 100% winrate out 6 matches, he didn’t deal the most damage of the team. That achievement goes to the returning midlaner of DFM, Aria, who was responsible for more than 27% of damage dealt by the squad. He also has a plethora of picks, such as Irelia, Kassadin and even Vex, but he has achieved a high professional winrate with picks such as Annie, Azir and Ahri, so he’s comfortable in the meta as well.
Tol2’ Gragas is a forced to be reckoned with in the toplane, as he only lost 1 match in the whole season with the Drunken Dwarf. They can also flex the pick with Steal, who is usually keener on picks such as Vi and Makoai but played the occasional Nocturne and Viego to success as well. Harp is a menace on Rakan having an 85% winrate on the pick according to Games of Legends, but can play literally any support (yes, even Kalista and Caitlyn, but he won a match with Morgana as well).
That being said, DetonatioN FocusMe mainly follows the meta, reflected by the bans against the team alongside their picks. The most banned Champions against them are Ashe, Caitlyn, Varus, Elise and Vi, which have all been meta at some point during the Season. The only outlier is Kassadin, but he was also meta at the very start of Spring, and Aria could be scary on the pick – even if he lost the one match that he managed to pick the Voidwalker.
DetonatioN FocusMe have been representing the region in every International event since the 2018 World Championship, only skipping the 2020 Worlds, where V3 got the best of them in the Playoffs. While they are a wildcard team for sure, they have proven themselves from time to time, and fans can expect some upsets of Yutapon and his teammates.
Where to watch DetonatioN FocusMe
DFM will play in the first match of this year’s MSI against PSG Talon on next Tuesday at 14:00 CEST. You can watch their showdown on the official Riot Games Twitch Channel, the LolEsports YouTube Channel and lolesports.com. Follow ESTNN for the latest Team Previews of the Mid-Season Invitational!