Crisis at RRQ Hoshi: Can They Bounce Back?

It is the last day of the fourth week of MPL ID Season 17‘s regular season, and yet RRQ Hoshi has not been able to secure a single win. The crisis at RRQ Hoshi must not be ignored.

Sitting at the bottom of the table, RRQ has lost seven matches in a row. Yet, the regular season has gone halfway, and ONIC has once again been crowned the half-season winner.

The King of Kings was playing outside their element, with poor performance from both the technical and individual aspects. The “Harith Kolam” incident becomes the icing on the cake, highlighting the sheer incompetence of the team who should have known better.

What are the exact problems that RRQ faced at the moment? Could they possibly turn the table and prevent their disappointing Season 16’s result?

New lineup that solved nothing

Following their failed playoff campaign from Season 16, RRQ Hoshi recruited some new faces for the upcoming Season 17. They brought some familiar faces as well as investing in young talents.

Overseas talents were brought in, such as Dan, who played for RRQ’s disbanded sister division Kaito in the Philippines, as well as the returning Super Kenn, who had his spell in China with DFYG. Yehezkiel, who was inactive with Team Liquid ID, returns to active duty with RRQ Hoshi.

The team also recruited Kuroky, a young player who made his name in the second division of Liga Esports Nasional MLBB. Finally, players like Rinz, Toyy, and Idok are staying with the roster, with Sutsujin transitioning as a streamer.

On paper, RRQ has a pretty solid lineup for the upcoming season. They brought experienced players, some with international playing time, to bolster their ranks.

But prior experience is nothing if the team cannot adapt to the changing landscape of the tournament. As we can see, RRQ are demolished week by week, losing 2-0 without ever mounting a proper challenge.

By mid-season, RRQ are improving, but in a minuscule way. They only just managed to win a single game, but eventually still lost the match overall.

Kingdom’s worry slowly turned into anger as the team kept fumbling their chances. They finally had enough when Kuroky, who was playing Harith, accidentally picked Revitalize as his spell, which contributed nothing to the team fight.

As one Kingdom with a megaphone yelled in disdain, “You should be ashamed; you are a big team (but) losing big time.” At this point, RRQ Hoshi will likely repeat last season’s result in an even more spectacular manner.

Throwing a mud that doesn’t stick

It’s evident that this crisis at RRQ Hoshi is their worst start ever in MPL Indonesia. It’s unbefitting for a team with a decorated history in the tournament ever since its conception.

If we take a look at this season’s statistics, RRQ players were clearly underperforming. Sorting out by average KDA per lane, they are outclassed by other players.

Dan has a 1.64 average KDA, lower than EVOS’ Vell, who only played 3 games. The same goes to Super Kenn, who scored 3.09, even lower than Alter Ego’s Reyy, who also only played 3 games. Kuroky and Idok have the lowest among all active players in their respective roles, playing more than 10 games. Only Yehezkiel fared well, slotting in the middle of the midlaner pack. Rinz was dead last, but he only played four games.

So what went wrong? It seems that RRQ hasn’t yet found their solution to last season’s problem. RRQ brought in good players, but they seem unable to stick as a team. Everyone is playing for themselves. Indisciplined, with ineffective communication. This leads to many squandered late-game chances. No good draft can ever fix that.

While the management has tried to support the team in many ways, the trust is slowly eroding. Andrian Pauline, RRQ’s CEO, said in his personal stream that he has no excuse for the team’s poor result in MPL Indonesia Season 17.

“This is still ongoing progress. The league is not over yet, but I don’t have any excuses. A loss is still a loss. There’s no denying that we’re playing poorly,” he said.

We can clearly see that RRQ’s problem is ingrained deeply inside the organization. While the players are individually competent, the system implemented inside the team prevented them from playing at their highest potential and also as a cohesive unit.

No matter how many players they bought, if the system is flawed, then they will not shine.

Seeing everything to the end

With 5 weeks remaining, RRQ’s chances to qualify for the playoffs are not just thin; it’s outright impossible.

KB’s analysis for the upcoming week 5 shows that RRQ’s chance for a knockout is likely certain at 98%. With only a 1% chance of qualifying for the playoffs (impossible to reach the upper bracket), RRQ has just signed their death warrant.

But what about EVOS’ miraculous comeback during Season 13? Surely they can still bounce back from last place and even qualify for MSC, right? While that is true, we also have to remind you that EVOS managed to break their losing streak in the third week, with 4 losses in a row concluded.

With 7 matches without a victory, RRQ needs to win all their remaining matches while hoping other teams took a bullet for them, which is unlikely. The only way for RRQ to qualify for the playoffs is to find a Dragon Ball.

The way for redemption for the crisis at RRQ Hoshi will be difficult. RRQ can’t just simply dismiss the current roster and bring in an all-new lineup of players. The only way forward is only with the team they have while working hard to improve the team culture that acts as the glue for all personnel.

While it won’t magically prevent RRQ’s knockout, at the very least they will prevent the same fate that befell Aura Fire back in Season 7. Their zero-win record is a cautionary tale, warning teams to not repeat their mistake.

Qualifying for playoffs might be impossible, but it’s not too late to fix what’s wrong inside RRQ. If these symptoms are not treated, we might witness the fall of a great kingdom once called Rex Regum Qeon; the King of Kings who lost their might.