By: Jorge “Caldo” Calderon – @coL_Caldo
Hey, compLexity fans! It’s Caldo, writer for the coL.LoL squad, and earlier this week I got to talk to the team’s AD-Carry, ROBERTxLEE, about his thoughts on the squad’s performance thus far into the Summer Split and the upcoming Week 11 Super Week. Before we get to the interview, let’s cover some of the highlights from coL.LoL in this Summer Split. As the 2014 NA Summer Split draws closer to an end, the coL League of Legends squad seek to obtain a top 6 finish, and dodge relegation at the end of the split. The newest addition to the LCS made it into the Summer Split by defeating Team Coast in a best-of-5 during the Summer Promotion Tournament. At the beginning of the Summer Split, you could see that there were issues with the team. This may have been due to their rookie status in the highly competitive NA LCS, or their role as underdogs, adding even more pressure as the team looked to prove themselves.
During Week 1, the first Super Week, they faced off against some of the top teams in the LCS, and unfortunately lost to Dignitas, LMQ, and Team Solomid. However, compLexity were able to take a surprise win from Cloud 9, the 1st place team from the previous split, boasting a formidable 24-4 record. This was a huge win and it showed the community that the new kids had the potential to be a top team in the NA LCS. In the following weeks Brokenshard left the team after unfortunate issues stemming from his visa; at this time, Kez was the substitute, and he later became part of the main roster as the jungler for compLexity.
The first four weeks of the Summer Split were pretty rough for the team; they only had 2 wins by the end of Week 4. The ball started rolling during Week 5 where they took down Team Dignitas, who at the time, were tied for 1st place along with CLG and LMQ. Around this time compLexity Gaming became known as the ‘Blue Shell’, the slayer of the giants. The ball kept on rolling as the team started securing an increasing amount of objectives as a result of their new found confidence and communication skills.
compLexity celebrates after an LCS win.
Now, as Week 11 of the NA LCS approaches, compLexity Gaming have to work their hardest and practice well to get as many wins as they can this weekend. One of the most important games is the game against Curse. This game is important because Curse are currently right above coL in the standings, with a record of 10-14. compLexity Gaming are currently 8-16, so they need to take down Curse in order to bring the 6th place finish and Playoffs hopes to within arms reach. I interviewed Robert “ROBERTxLEE” about his experience as coL.LoL’s AD-Carry in the Summer Split and his expectations for this Super Week.
Caldo: Good afternoon ROBERTxLEE, how are you doing today?
ROBERTxLEE: I’m doing great. Waking up earlier than usual though, 12pm feels like 8am 🙁
Ouch, I know how you feel! Congrats on the win this weekend against Team Dignitas! Can you tell us a bit about that game and what went on?
We were going on a very risky strategy of leaving Kassadin open, thinking Dignitas wouldn’t pick it, but we were completely wrong. Overall we still got the picks we wanted – Ziggs, Tristana, the counter pick of Irelia into Nidalee, etc. Overall the game went well. We had a really strong early/mid game, but they had double Teleport which made grouping up hell. Whenever we decided that we wanted to push a lane, Dignitas would push 2 lanes, making it impossible to siege. Even though we had a gold lead the whole game, it felt like they were in control. Closing out the game was probably the most stressful game out of all my LCS games this season.
I feel like as a team, you guys have improved a tremendous amount from where you were at the beginning of the season. What were some of the biggest problems you had earlier in the season, and how did you address the issues?
We had a lot of issues in the beginning such as playing too passive and slowly losing everything, and we thought the solution was to play super aggressive which helped secure our first win against Cloud 9. Afterward, the game became too volatile and would either turn from us having a decent lead early to throwing mid game because we are playing too aggressive and get caught in the process. After Kez replaced Brokenshard because of visa issues, the whole momentum of the game changed from winning from lane phase to winning from objective control. Brokenshard was an aggressive/play making jungler, meanwhile Kez likes to play around objectives. Both are solid jungler strats but it made the team play a whole different play style which we had to learn over time.
Another issue we had was communication. When you play on stage, the crowd feeds a lot of energy, which may lead to the team feeding off their energy. We would repeat a lot during team fights which cluttered communication and made it close to impossible to listen to each other. We fixed this issue by keeping talk to a minimum and only giving out important information like cooldowns on CC, target selection, push forward/kite back, etc.
And of course the latest problem is our mid game. It’s a funny story because we used to lose early game very frequently, something that helped us learn the art of turtling and the fun 80 minute games. Then against LMQ last week, we had a decent lead early and we were asking each other “what do we do now?” It is all a work in progress and i think the easiest way to learn is from trial and error, and regurgitating ideas from other teams.
“ROBERTxGOD” with a fan following an LCS match
When you guys qualified for the Summer Split, the team moved into a gaming house. How has the house helped the team to improve?
When we were outside of the house, reviewing replays, arguments, and bonding outside of game was inefficient/nonexistent. For example, when reviewing replays, we would have to all have LoL Replay downloaded and LoL Replay bugged out very frequently in that circumstance. It’s much easier now to just have one person with the replay and all you have to do is watch from over their back.
Arguments before we had the house were very hostile sometimes. I would personally take fault about this issue because sometimes I would forget that they are a person on the other end. Frustration would get the best of me and I would be very condescending. After moving into the house, I got a constant reminder that they are another person since you see them right in your face. Hostile arguments almost never happen anymore.
Bonding time outside of game is probably the most important of a gaming house. We hang out a lot and during these moments, it’s just nothing but talking about League of Legends. We would talk about how we can play the game better, and just overall casual talk about League. During these moments, I have learned so much from my teammates when we just chill and talk League.
You said that your mid game as a team is your weak point. What are the biggest issues in that stage, and how are you looking to improve?
We are watching other teams play their mid game, as well as watching our replays of our mid game and decide what we should do during the situation. Our weak point is deciding what we want to do – whether it is vision, objective control, group + siege, or just keep farming. Sometimes when we get an early lead, we try to force grouping, which results in us falling behind. It is a process of learning from trial and error.
Which team this split have you guys needed to prepare for the most and why?
Overall I think we treat each team equally, but I do remember spending over 3 hours prepping against Dignitas because the pick/ban phase was unpredictable. During the time, we were playing on Blue Side, and we were laying out every single possible situation, and what we want to ban/pick during each one to make sure we came out ahead. It was definitely the most stressful because we would find ourselves in a situation where we would grab one OP Champion, but they will receive two, resulting in a loss of the pick/ban phase. In the end, all our preparation paid off against them.
Throughout this split, you guys have been known as the ‘Blue Shell’, taking down top teams, but you haven’t managed to take games off of some teams, including TSM, LMQ, and CLG. You still have one game left against CLG; what do you feel is needed to grab the win off them this week during Super Week?
CLG is a team that is really good during the mid game, which is also our weak point. The last time we played against CLG, we had a 5k gold lead before 20 minutes, but ended up throwing the game at Baron. I believe if the team gets a better mid game, we will be able to beat CLG. Against other teams like TSM and LMQ, it is really hard to beat them because they are really strong from playing both ahead and behind. As a team we are still progressing and like I said, our mid game isn’t the best. Once we figure that out, I believe we can beat any team.
Robert and the rest of coL.LoL having a bonding moment
Going back to this week’s Super Week, as a team, what are you guys planning on doing to prepare for it?
We are mostly focusing on our own game and fixing our own mistakes, and then afterward we’re looking to breakdown each team and focus on their strengths and weaknesses to play around them.
What about you, what are you planning on doing individually to prepare for Super Week?
Individually, just working on myself as a player, and working on lane match ups and polishing up on Champs that we are going to use this week. I feel my forte is my lane phase, and just need to translate a strong early to a stronger mid/late.
One last questions for you. Do you think that coL.LoL will make Playoffs?
I think that if we play our cards right, we can make the top 6. Each team we play during Super Week is beatable and we just need to bring our ‘A’ game.
Sounds good, hopefully you guys are able to do so! Any shoutouts?
Of course shoutout to my girlfriend, fans, family, and friends for supporting me. Without them, I’m not sure if I would still be playing today. I would also like to give another shoutout to compLexity and our sponsors, Sound Blaster, CyberPowerPC, Newegg, Creative, Twitch, Corsair, DXRacer, SCUF Gaming, and PWNIT WEAR, as they give us the tools needed to play league at the top level.
Also, don’t forget, if you haven’t entered all ready head to http://coL.vg/infernogiveaway for your chance to win a Creative SB Inferno Headset!