Actor
Let me tell you a story…
Actor | Jungler | Supernova
Where Actor’s Headed.
I won’t zoom out too far for the sake of keeping the spotlight on the subject of tonight’s article, but to understand this guy’s place in the narrative, you have to look at the bigger picture in the NAAM and Path to LCS scene. The long and short of it is; the jungle pool is pretty stacked and it takes quite a bit to stand out. Any new blood in the jungle role is up against both a long list of experienced junglers in addition to some of the top prospects in this year’s class of amateurs.
NAAM loves its junglers and the best ones are all open books. Rising stars like Leemo and Maniac have larger social media followings than vets in other roles, for instance. Of the organizations in the space, Supernova have set themselves apart when it comes to accessing their operations; Head Coach Zeu was one of the first to open scrim blocks up to broadcast personnel and journalists. You’d think it would be no problem to get the gist of the 11th seed team and their star jungler.
No such luck.
Drawing a bead on Actor was incredibly difficult.
Where Actor’s Been.
It’s a story as old as time. The mysterious stranger striding in from the storm, teeth cut to points on the harsh edges of a world that ain’t too kind to outsiders. Sometimes he’s the kid from out of town who carries the little-league team to victory after joining mid-season. Other times, he’s the silent warrior arriving in the final hour to save the village from invaders. To Supernova, Actor is all of this and more.
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His history is poorly documented to say the least. A few tournaments from over a year ago and some loosely connected solo queue data are all even the most determined analyst has to go on. Asking around didn’t help me out either. A manager here or a color caster there might’ve heard about Actor from a while back but none could quite remember where they’d seen him before. Writing this piece left me wondering just how Coach Zeu managed to find Actor. If there was a story buried in the PGCQ teams, it would be his, and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.
Who is Actor?
Actor is, first and foremost, a solo queue warrior.
Most know the type; grinding away at ranked games until most people’s hands would bleed and then grinding a few hours more. He’s got hundreds of games logged on the accounts I know about, Challenger through and through on all accounts. Plenty of players grind solo queue, but for Actor, it’s where he lives.
Where Actor separates himself is his map reads. When given any opportunity whatsoever, whether it’s map pressure giving him a timer to hit a sidelane turret or a crafty clear being revealed by one of Actor’s somehow craftier ward placements, this player takes everything possible away from his opponents, leaving nothing on the field. It’s unclear how he took to competitive macro theory so quickly. You’d be forgiven for thinking he’d just done his homework on NAAM or even that Coach Zeu had thrown some of that good ole Maryville magic at his new jungler. In actuality, it’s neither of those things.
Actor is a stone-cold killer.
Talking to Actor quickly keys you into two things: First, he doesn’t know who you are. I don’t just mean Actor didn’t know who I was, most folks don’t and that’s just alright with me. He doesn’t know who any of us are. Not his opponents, none of the orgs, none of us. I don’t want to speak for the guy but part of me thinks he doesn’t care, though he never said as much. Second, Actor doesn’t talk too much, and that’s really bad news for junglers looking to take him down.
Supernova’s jungler may not have much to say but the closer you look, the more you realize it’s not for lack of trying. The fact is that the 20 year old’s mind is moving too fast for any human mouth to keep up, so he lets his hands do the talking. And his hands are something more than human. I’d heard from staff on SN that Actor catches details others miss and that he always seems to be a few steps ahead but to see it in action is something else entirely. In the last few weeks I’ve seen Actor tear a team apart in 5 minutes flat, frequently being up more kills than there are minutes in the game by that time. His coaches and teammates report him oftentimes being halfway to a shot called maneuver by the time the call actually comes down, normally from teammate and fellow roster stand-out, Pluto, a player known for top-notch shotcalling.
These things alone don’t make Actor a born killer. A good predator maybe, or a hunter, but no killer. It’s the third and final thing that can only be learned by watching the man play that reveals the ice in Actor’s veins. Predators hunt for food, hunters hunt for sport, Actor kills because he hates that his prey is alive. Had I not already discovered that he didn’t know his opponents, I would have thought the plays he makes were extremely personal. The kind of plays that most teams would call their teammates on for being far too aggressive, Actor makes with zero hesitation and with no protestation from his team, who have learned as I did that Actor takes no risks.
You see, it’s not that he plays like a maniac or even particularly aggressively, though aggression is one tool in his toolbox. It’s that he plays every moment to its absolute logical end. Actor will walk away from plays that would have most players’ hairs stand on end with almost no health and go back to hit an objective. Not because he’s greedy but because he sees hard numbers where others see variables.
I’m not convinced Actor heard NA’s call to rise up; I think we’re finally listening to his.
