A gimmick team is a team that solely relies on a single character or mechanic in their play. This character or mechanic defines everything about the team. Oftentimes the team is significantly worse when unable to use said gimmick, as it is such a significant part of the game plan other fundamentals are dropped for its sake. Or you could just call them a one trick.
I got thinking about this while watching matches from the 2018 Six Invitational. Group A was crazy that event. Penta, EG, Vitality, and 1UP. The fact that we got 2 warm up matches between EG and Penta before the playoffs even started is insane, the only thing more insane was 1UP’s playstyle. In case you don’t remember 1UP, the iconic German team with legend KS – yes, I’m being tongue in cheek – it was an org that stayed in the scene for less than 6 months, effectively playing the quals for S.I. and a season of Pro League before backing out. The core itself is of note in later years, but at S.I. the playstyle was the real star of the team.
During S.I.18 the only thing to note about 1UP was the fact that they were gimmicky. Now this was great for winning some rounds against EG and Penta, but it also made them relative nonfactors as those two were never going to crack because of a gimmick. The team relied solely on Hungry’s skill on Ying and KS’s star power on Mira. We all know Hungry is good at Ying, but this event put him on the map before his Ace against Nora Rengou. The dude was using the shotgun to run up white stairs on Oregon for fucks sake. Not only that, it worked! Consistently! However, as exciting watching 1UP was, they were still very one note and didn’t make it out of group play. When I tried to think of teams from recent years I had trouble coming up with gimmick teams. In recent memory I can’t think of any teams with such a clear identity tied to a specific op or playstyle.
Sure, we all know about Astralis’ microplay system but that isn’t really a gimmick so much as a philosophy in the game. It doesn’t define everything about Astralis as a team. If you read my interview with Waiffer, the coach of LG, you can infer that the system is more like Jazz music. There’s a melody to follow, a basic structure to the song, but if you want to improvise in the moment that’s more than OK. Jazz isn’t a gimmick genre. There’s a reason it’s considered classy and sophisticated now. Microplays are nothing more than a system working within the structure of teams. Shuttle playing Mozzie instead of Alibi doesn’t fundamentally break Astralis’s playstyle.
If we’re talking gimmicky playstyles, no team compares to early Supremacy. This team played slow. Like really slow. The Frenchmen would finish a roam clear in the first 2 minutes and wait until the last 15 seconds before starting an execute. No, I am not exaggerating. This slow playstyle defined everything about a Supremacy attack; you can’t say the same for the microplay system defining Astralis or LG’s playstyle. It’s an extra spice, not the whole meal.
But that’s talking playstyle, and 1UP was arguably more gimmicky thanks to the ops they played, and the playstyle was simply a result of that. Ying inherently makes for strong executes. Are there any modern T1 teams that have an op crutch like 1UP? Not that I can think of, or at least not a team that breaks the mold nearly as much. The reality is 1UP played before op bans, teams aren’t able to run their shit without worry because opponents can target ban. As a result a team’s identity can’t be defined by a single op like this any more. You either need to have solid fundamentals and lean into a niche op or play the ‘popular’ off meta ops. No one looks twice at Glaz being picked for a garage take on basement Chalet. Everyone does a double take if you play Echo shotty everywhere you would play a Smoke. Plus, playing Echo that way would get him banned so quick you’d be back on the Smoke instantly. This literally happened to Redeemer back on Most Wanted.
Speaking of, I suppose you could kind of call Rogue a gimmick team. They had a heavy reliance on Echo throughout the Berlin Major, though even then I wouldn’t call it to the point of being a gimmick. It wasn’t the sole factor behind the team’s success.
Now granted, I don’t watch regions outside of NA as much. So perhaps I’m missing an obvious team, but it also appears that the scene is at a point where these kinds of gimmick teams can’t survive long term. Thanks to operator bans and the availability of tape to counter strat gimmicks can more easily be shut down, bringing to light other weaknesses these teams often have. In conclusion:
