WildTurtle has seen it all. After completing another run at the World Championship over the weekend, the longtime LCS veteran wrapped up his eighth season of competitive play. And as the wheel of time spins on, WildTurtle, a stalwart force of North American League of Legends, has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon.
This year marked the FlyQuest bottom laner’s first appearance at the World Championship since 2015. And although five years have passed between his last two chances to compete on the Worlds stage, playing in this year’s tournament was still “an amazing experience,” according to WildTurtle. “I still feel the same way that I did when I was really young,” he said when it came to playing at his fourth World Championship.
Though much has changed about the professional NA League landscape between 2015 and 2020, something that both years’ World Championships share is the fact that a North American team failed to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament on either occasion. The more things change, the more they stay the same, after all.
During that 2015 Worlds run, WildTurtle found himself in the final year of his tenure on TSM. At that point, he was only in his third year playing at the professional level. Now, with the 2021 season looming on the horizon, he’ll be entering his ninth year in the league. And although he’s done his fair share of bouncing around the league between his departure from TSM and now, WildTurtle has found a home on FlyQuest.
He’s already been with the organization for four years and as the centerpiece of the team’s roster, he still has two years left on an extensive contract.If FlyQuest takes the time to develop any young talent at all in 2021, it’d be totally reasonable to assume that any rising star taken under the organization’s wing could find success and longevity.
The structure of the franchise is one that’d certainly be welcoming of a young face among a slew of veterans. The team has undoubtedly hung tough in the landscape of North American League, eventually finding its way to the international stage. If anything, 2020 was about proving that the “FlyQuest formula” works and that with a strong foundation, any player can find success.
WildTurtle—a man who’s seen the LCS rise, fall, rise, and fall again—has total hope that “North America can turn around as a region” on a complete scale. With that in mind, there’s no reason to believe that FlyQuest, a team that stuck true to its guns and showcased greatness all year long, can’t be the squad to lead the region to greater heights in the not-so-distant future.
