WHO WAS GOING TO BE Geek Fam's jungler now that Manuel "Nnael" Simbolon was handed a two-match suspension after his controversial celebration?
This was a question raised by the community the moment Indonesia's Geek Fam was placed in a gauntlet against an M5 World Championship dark horse, Myanmar's Burmese Ghouls.
With only a few days left to prepare, and with limited options, Geek Fam needed a solution.
Just like in the MPL Indonesia Season 12 playoffs, it was Mark "Markyyyyy" Capacio who answered the call.
Markyyyyy was forced to make a huge transition from gold lane to jungler and despite the disadvantage, Geek Fam managed to pull a miracle and prevail in a five-game slugfest over their foes.
It wasn't an easy switch as Markyyyyy revealed in the post-match interview with the press.
How Markyyyyy gained confidence?
"Sobrang hirap talaga, buti na lang nandiyan sila. Pinapalakas nila yung loob ko tapos chini-cheer nila ako. Kahit nababaliw ako, nandiyan sila...sinusuportahan nila ako," he revealed.
But this experience wasn't the first time that Markyyyyy played the role as he spends his downtime working on his jungler skills.
However, the experience in a casual and ranked game is completely different especially when compared to the intimidating nature of a competitive and high stakes LAN tournament.
"Minsan kapag nag-a-RG (ranked game) ako, jungler, kapag kasama ko kapatid ko o kaya girlfriend ko, pero sobrang hirap pa rin," said Markyyyyy.
And for Markyyyyy to fully embrace the new role, he needed the help of the man responsible for his role switch, Nnael.
Geek Fam's Allen Jedric "Baloyskie" Baloy narrated that it was a struggle to integrate Markyyyyy as a jungler, but with Nnael's guidance, the Filipino gold laner/pseudo-jungler was able to learn the ropes.
"Hard but not as unexpected because the first day we actually struggled a lot," started Baloyskie. "But for the past two days, Nnael and the coaches helped Markyyyyy catchup, as soon as possible."
Baloyskie added: "It's hard, so hard, but props to Markyyyyy he really studied a lot during our adjustment period."
Why jungler?
Given the dilemma that Geek Fam faced, there were questions on how the Geeks will lineup against Burmese Ghouls.
Putting Markyyyyy as a jungler could cause a huge chemistry rift with the team as he would be deployed in an unfamiliar role, while Mohammad "Caderaa" Pambudi will have to overcome the rust caused by the lack of playing time.
But Geek Fam stayed the course and Baloyskie unveiled that their decision to use Markyyyyy as the jungler would lessen the burden from the team.
"If we put Markyyyyy in mid, we have to adjust Aboy too, so if we adjust other roles, it would be harder," explained the Geek Fam shotcaller.
"So the decision is that Markyyyyy is the most capable to adjust on that role (jungler) because Markyyyyy is flexible, even in other games he already played that. So it's not new for him."
"But it's still a challenge, but we need to change one role so that it won't be harder," reflected Baloyskie.
Yet despite the desired outcome, Baloyskie believes that a lot of work needs to be done.
"It's just after the game, we try to tell Markyyyyy what he can do better and what he didn't do in that game."
Even Markyyyyy admitted that he had flaws, saying: "I'm not satisfied because I'm not a real jungler and there are so many improvements to think about. It's so hard to play jungler."
With Markyyyyy's recent experience, perhaps his best bet is to literally break Kyle "KyleTzy" Sayson's hand, a joke that he mentioned during the interview with Mara Aquino.
"Hindi ko kaya si Kyle e, pilayan ko na lang siguro," he jokingly said to Mara Aquino.
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