The Format
For those who aren't familiar with the Garena Premier League, each subregion of Southeast Asia and the Taiwan/HK/Macau area sends a specified number of representatives to compete for the $200,000 prize pool. Twelve teams are split into two double round robin groups of six, from which four teams in each group advance to the bracket stage for best of five matches to determine placing.
Since last season, slots for subregions have been changed. Thailand now has only one represetative, while the Philippines have two. The groups for the spring season are as follows.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
 ahq e-Sports Club | Azubu Taipei Assassins |
| Azubu Taipei Snipers | yoe Flash Wolves |
 Imperium Pro Team | Manila Eagles |
 Insidious Gaming | Singapore Sentinels |
 Bangkok Titans |  Saigon Fantastic Five |
| Saigon Jokers | Full Louis |
With that knowledge, let's meet the teams.
Thailand: Bangkok Titans
Qualifier Record: 25-2
2014 GPL Winter Placing: 11th/12th
Most Picked in Qualifier:
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Pawat "WarLocK" Ampaporn
Noppon "NdD" Chaiyasong
Sanpett "InTreso" Marat
Juckkirsts "Lloyd" Kongubon
Nakorn "SKLz" Srisontiyagul
The 2014 Thailand Pro League Winter took place alongside the 2014 GPL Winter with a prize pool of around $6,333 and only Thai competitors. During this league, the Bangkok Titans only lost one of twenty games against Team Infinite, fellow 2014 GPL Winter competitor, in the group stage and only one of seven games in the bracket stage to Thailand's World Cyber Games representatives, MiTh Flashdive.
Their Thailand dominance, however, belies their performance in the Garena Premier League. Historically, they have placed, if not in last place, in the bottom three of GPL. In 2014 GPL Winter, BKT and Team Infinite placed in last in their groups. As a result, the second spot for Garena Thai teams was forfeited, and the Philippines were allowed an extra representative for 2014 GPL Spring.
After BKT's last match in GPL on December fourth, however, they acquired a new AD carry, Juckkirsts "Lloyd" Kongubon, who played a mean Ezreal in the last legs of TPL Winter. Their star player is usually Sanpett "InTreso" Marat in the mid lane, with his high utility, high burst champions like Gragas and Orianna, but since Lloyed joined BKT, either he or the support player, Nakorn "SKLz" Srisontiyagul, came away with the highest kill participation in almost every TPL game. Lloyd could give BKT the extra edge they need to wiggle off GPL's bottom rung.
Of course, one of the team's biggest weaknesses is its champion pool. Noppon "NdD" Chaiyasong plays mana dependent, high utility low clear junglers almost exclusively, especially Sejuani. InTreso struggles to play assassins much more than their sub, Nuttapong "QaiZer" Detchtanon, who could be a good pickup if Gragas and Orianna are constantly banned. If BKT cannot play an area of effect fighting composition, which would be rare since it seems to be the preferred play style of the GPL, they perform rather poorly.
Though BKT have upped their game with a new strong AD carry pickup in the offseason, we still don't see 2014 GPL Spring as their moment to shine. We regret to say we doubt they'll make it out of the group stage again, but if they do manage, expect a few Lloyd highlight reels to make their rounds.
Expected placement: 9th/10th
Vietnam: Full Louis
GPL Winter Roster: MeW, Shyn, SofM, LoliTa, Violet
Qualifier Record: 6-4
2014 GPL Winter Placing: 5th-8th
Most Picked in Qualifier:
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Nguy?n "MeW" Thành Trung
Lê "SofM" Quang Duy
Ngô "Violet" M?nh Quy?n
Nguy?n "Shyn" Khánh S?n
Nguy?n "Starfall" H?u Long
Full Louis might just be the most peculiar team in GPL. Though their roster has Lê "SofM" Quang Duy in the jungle, he has a tendency to play whatever role he feels like playing at the time while the rest of his team follows his lead. This is exacerbated by the frequent role swapping in the team's history.
Their final game for third place and the last spot for Vietnam in the GPL saw a complete roster swap with Nguy?n "Starfall" H?u Long in the top lane, Nguy?n "Starfall" H?u Long in the jungle, Nguy?n "Shyn" Khánh S?n in the mid lane, Lê "SofM" Quang Duy playing Vayne, and Nguy?n "MeW" Thành Trung on support. Each member has played these roles competitively before, with the exception of Starfall, but if players don't practice one role consistently, they may struggle against more accomplished competitors.
They pulled these switches in GPL as well with SofM going mid in their final games. As a result, NFL is a team that can be spectacular, with SofM as one of the strongest junglers in GPL, or it can be unpredictable and lackluster. Though Full Louis managed to pick up Vietnam's first seed into 2014 GPL Winter, they barely survived their group stage and failed to take a single game away from TPA in the brackets. Going into 2014 GPL Spring, they only managed to pick up the third seed.
NFL's new support: Starfall
Since the winter season, NFL has added a new support to the roster, Starfall, who manages frequently to have the same massive game impact as SofM. This acquisition should put Full Louis slightly higher on the competitive ladder this Spring, but their poor performance in qualifiers against both the Saigon Jokers and the Saigon Fantastic Five, their unpredictable attitude toward picks and bans phase, and their relatively difficult group this season makes us doubt Full Louis will advance to the brackets.
Still, the team has very high level play and game impact coming from both SofM and Starfall, and, as a result of their tendency to role swap, they're nearly impossible to ban out. If the Manila Eagles don't watch out, they could see their ticket out of the round robin stage usurped by Vietnam's third seed.
Expected placement: 9th/10th
Vietnam: Saigon Fantastic 5
Qualifier Record: 7-1
2014 GPL Winter Placing: 9th/10th
Most Picked in Qualifier:
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Ny "Gony" Le Hong
Nhan "Yushin" Le Phuoc
Mai "NIXWATER" Nh?t Tân
Ph?m "MinaS" Minh Ph??c
Dai "Vigoss" Pham Minh
Saigon Fantastic Five had a relatively smooth qualifier. Due to one team dropping out in their group stage, they faced Full Louis three times and Beautiful Life Gaming twice before going against X Game, undisputedly the weakest team of the top four, to qualify. Aside from beating NFL twice, once with Starfall, the team's support player, in the mid lane, SofM, the team's jungler, on support, and Violet, the team's mid and once jungler, in jungle, the Saigon Fantastic Five have done little to prove they're ready to shake off their last place or near last place streak in GPL.
The one boon since last season is their pickup of Mai "NIXWATER" Nh?t Tân, former mid laner of the Saigon Jokers during their Season Two World Championship days. NIXWATER has upped the competitive level of the Fantastic Five, playing Syndra, Orianna, and Ziggs with a fair level of skill. Their lack of a consistent jungler, however, has let them down. Their performance in the GPL should hinge on whether their recent pickup of Nhan "Yushin" Le Phuoc can pay dividends in time.
During 2014 GPL Winter, SF5 struggled with a small champion pool and a poor laning phase. While many GPL games tend to last upwards of forty or fifty minutes even before the new patches, SF5 lost their leads early and could not get footholds, even against teams that struggled to close out.
Though NIXWATER might improve SF5's performance in later seasons, I don't see him clinching synergy with a new jungler immediately unless Yushin proves to be an unknown powerhouse. Further, despite their two victories over NFL in the qualifiers, NFL is the stronger team when they bring their A-game. I expect SF5 are looking at another last place season.
Expected placement: 11th/12th
Vietnam: Saigon Jokers
Current roster, including subs: Archie, Safety, Lovida, Junie, Optimus, Egg, QTV
Qualifier Record: 9-0
2014 GPL Winter Placing: 4th
Most Picked in Qualifier:
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Nguy?n "QTV" Tr?n T??ng V?
Hu?nh "Safety" V?n Tân
C??ng "Optimus"
Tr?n "Archie" Minh Nh?t
Tr?n "Junie" H?u Nh?t Minh
The Saigon Jokers are the strongest threat coming out of Vietnam. Three of SAJ's members attended the Season Two World Championships, and the acquisitions of Hu?nh "Safety" V?n Tân and C??ng "Optimus" have only been improvements. The team started the GPL Winter season with the now SF5 mid laner, NIXWATER, but replaced him later with Optimus. After finding their groove, they gave viewers one of the biggest surprises of the bracket stage by taking two games off the winter champions, the Taipei Assassins. The games seemed to be almost completely decided by which team acquired Thresh, as Tr?n "Junie" H?u Nh?t Minh used him to great effect.
While the Saigon Jokers have consistently been a fourth place team in GPL, they have seldom come so close to advancing beyond that, and who could say how they would have faired against the second place Taipei Snipers if they had managed to defeat TPA in the final game of the best of five series? They also managed to dent ahq e-Sports club before taking fourth. SAJ carried this momentum into the Vietnam qualifiers for 2014 GPL Spring, where they became the only team that failed to lose a single game, all but destroying NFL in their qualifying games.
Key to their success is Optimus' ability to play high damaging mid laners that also provide a lot of utility combined with Junie's strong engage power. Any teams that fail to ban Orianna and Thresh will regret their decision. QTV is also one of the better top laners in GPL, and his commitment to powerful Renekton play will mean even more with perserverance, Dr. Mundo, and Shyvana nerfs active. Archie, the AD carry, has taken to Jinx with a solid Ezreal to fall back on.
The exploitable weaknesses in the team are their tendency to roll out failed double jungle compositions, Safety's difficulty to impact the game when he doesn't get his favored Lee Sin, and the bottom duo lane's tendency to tunnel onto preferred champion picks and struggle when they don't snatch them up. When Junie doesn't pick up Thresh or Lulu, he might try to play jungle Riven, which often ends in disaster. If Archie spams a certain champion, he might be out of practice with the others.
Still, the Saigon Jokers proved they are one of the more solid teams coming into the GPL, and we expect them to place in the top four and take one Taiwanese team down a peg, if not more.
Expected placement: 4th
Look forward to more previews over the next day and a half. GosuGamers will bring you our assessment of teams from the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan before the events begin with the first game between ahq e-Sports Club and the Azubu Taipei Snipers.
Image Sources: Leaguepedia, GPL
