SNC Twempest Fwame (Series: 7-1, Games: 15-4)
With last year’s championship loss still ringing in their heads, Twempest decided to move up to Commercial this season—from Economy. Although slated to have much the same roster, as it turned out, there would be quite the turnover as some players swapped out due to time constraints.
So who would be on this new version of Twempest? Remember way back when we had—for a brief time—a team called Gnar Gaurdians? It was Amanda and her friends as a five stack, all new to SNC. Unfortunately GG didn’t actually get onto the Rift together but for this end of year 2023 split, some Gaurdians would be making their debut, including vaunted head coach—and the real power behind SNC—AmandaThePanda! Newly redubbed as SNC Bwahaj, Amanda and two of her former Twempest consultants would join the team: SNC Gweat Snake (IamXolus / Trey) in the jungle, replacing Arvos, and SNC Xiamuwu (Xiamul / Weaver), taking over as ADC.
SNC Xplosiv returned as top lane extraordinaire, fresh off collecting his PhD in League, and was now officially called “SNC Dr Xpwosiv.” And to complete the new-look team would be SNC Xandwadwaeda (Xandradraeda), coming over from Sunset Ravens, and also role swapping to support. Note: Arvos did play one match for Twempest, and Imítheos was a constant cheerful presence as a scrim sub.
- WK1: Sub Optimal Gaming (2-1)
- WK2: Flash for Damage (2-0)
- WK3: Stop Drox and Roll (2-0)
- WK4: Nefarious Necromancers (2-0)
- WK5: Sector 7 (2-1)
- WK6: The Misifts (2-0)
- WK7: Serenity Bad Boys Club (1-2)
- WK8: Silent Assassins (2-0, FF)
- Playoffs RD1: Detroit v Everybody (2-0)
- Playoffs RD2: Cuddly League Guys (2-0)
- Playoffs RD3: Team Volatility Arcana (3-1)
In the regular season, Twempest picked up right where they left off after last year’s undefeated campaign. They ripped off six straight wins to start the split, before stumbling in WK7 versus Serenity Bad Boys Club. With a last week forfeit, Twempest ended up 7-1 overall and won Commercial Group B. It was smooth sailing all the way, minus a WK7 1-14 Naafiri game that caused a role swap between jungle and mid. During the regular season, Twempest led Commercial in shortest average game time, with a mere 27 min 22 secs per game—the next closest was 29:46, which neatly summarized how quickly they took care of business.
[ LBL Qiipo's Power Rankings: Preseason | WK1.5 | WK3.5 | Playoffs ]
Heading into the playoffs, Twempest was the third seed, and after dispatching Detroit v Everybody and then Cuddly League Guys with 2-0 matches—avenging SNC Dreaded Dawn’s playoff loss to CLG—Twempest would face a stiffer test against High Alert. Against High Alert, Twempest suffered their first loss of the playoffs and had to battle it out in the third game to the tune of a 43-35 scrap that took almost forty minutes.
After that close series, Twempest were in the finals, facing off against the top-ranked regular season squad, Team Volatility Arcana, who had yet to lose a match all season long. The Bo5 finals was a virtual championship parade however, as Tempest leapt out to a 2-0 lead, had a minor stumble in GM3, and then won a scrappy GM4 that secured Twempest Fwame a much deserved title. Congrats!!! “Team comms were at an all-time high, calling out targets and just really fighting our way through.” It was a redemption arc for Twempest and a thrilling second trophy for SNC this split.
The last three rounds of Twempest’s playoff run is up on the LBL YouTube, and we love this quote as they matched to a championship: “The whole squad of SNC, all together, the whole family coming together to get these Nexus turrets right here.” Woohoo!
[ LBL S11 YouTube: Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals ]
So, how did they do it? We’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret: Twempest’s mastermind drafter Amanda consistently gives her team an edge before the game even starts. Armed with a comp that always has a clearly explained win condition, all the Twempest players have to do is execute.
In the post-championship interview, Coach Amanda was asked what her draft strategy was. “We just draft scaling and try not to int every game.” Is it really just as simple as that? Let’s take a look at all the comps from Twempest this past split—as lovingly compiled by SNC interns—and see if that humble answer was all there was to tell.
First off, there’s just no way to scout this team….look at how many varied champs they play! With players that can play a huge variety of champs, Amanda has the freedom to draft what the team needs and unlimited by such simple constraints as “do they know how to play this champ?”
[ SNC Twempest Fwame: Drafts 2023 LBL S11 ]
Here’s another aspect of the secret sauce to Twempest’s success, known as The List. Players play champs culled from The List, and that’s it. No if, buts, or whining. You put it a champ on The List and you better be able to play that champ to 90-100% ability. Note: We love Amanda’s recommended way to display champ tiers, with numbers scaling from 50-100, instead of from D-tier to S, etc. Instead, the number “ranks your proficiency on the champ rather than how good the champ is.”) In sum, coaching is the secret sauce for Twempest, and so is having great players, of course!
And since we’ve done profiles on the returning members of Twempest, we’re just going to do quick capsules for SNC Gweat Snake and SNC Xiamuwu. It was a great follow up year for Xplosiv and Xandra however, as former was voted a first team All-Star and the latter moved up to Commercial and successfully kept his ADC alive and somehow didn’t die himself—Xandwadwaeda suffered only 2.5 deaths per game—good for eighth in the league.
SNC Gweat Snake
Twempest’s most aggressive player, Gweat was very good in mid—we don’t talk about that Naafiri game—and can carry a game behind the likes of Kassadin and Syndra. For his mid play, Tre was rewarded with an All-Star berth in his first comp split. Once swapped to the jungle for the playoffs, Gweat was also great, and was complimented with this after the title match by the casters: “Your pathing through the series was a masterclass in finding angles for ganks, finding the enemy jungler, seeking things out.” Recognized widely as a diplomat and a statesman, Gweat Snake is also SNC’s resident international relations expert.
SNC Xiamuwu
Rarely deigning to play customs with us in the past, it was surprising to see Xiamuwu enter comp play. However, when Gaurdian friends needed support, Xiamuwu was there to step in and relieve Twempest from the stress of finding a fifth player. Having played the game since season one, Weaver is able to do it all, and had an All Star season alongside Gweat Snake and Dr Xplosiv while placing second in Commercial with 7.78 CS/min. Was sidelining during team fights part of the reason for all that CS? It’s hard to say, but this fan of broccoli just loves to farm!
