What are your thoughts on the decision in the US to allow League of Legends players to obtain work visas?
Alex_Ich: I think that this is really important for the upcoming tournament, because it will ensure that there will be no issues with getting visas for the teams and all the top teams will be available to be at world championship. I think this is important step for the esports to be recognized as serious sport by the government. This should help teams and the game get bigger sponsors.
What other changes do you think can elevate eSports as a profession?
Alex_Ich: I think that it is really important to pay more attention to amateur scene to develop the game and make it more open for amateur teams. So everyone will feel that he can come to the pro scene and compete with good players. One more important thing I hope will come to esports is entertaining show component. There should be more interactions with the viewer.
During Season 2 playoffs, you said you’d like to see more girls play League. What problems do you think high elo females face when trying to join a pro team?
Alex_Ich: One of the biggest problems for female players as far as I know is that management doesn’t want to have female players, because there will happen some kind of relationships between the teammates of different gender that can lead to some huge problems in the team. One of other problems is just fixing the private place between female and male players. And as for full female team, I think it’s too hard to get 5 really good playing female players that can compete on the highest level.
If you weren’t currently playing in LCS, how do you think your life would be different?
Alex_Ich: I think that if I wasn’t playing LCS now, I would be playing LOL tournaments and I feel it was much better for me, as we prepared for the tournament, traveled once in 1-2 months and were playing tournament brackets. League system would be great for us if we were not travelling each week I think, but like that it becomes some kind of survival horror for us, we can’t get to our 110% of skill.
What League player, not necessarily a pro, do you have the most respect for and why?
Alex_Ich: I would say Faker at the moment, because his skill level is over the edge at the moment.
You are known for using champions that may be considered unusual, does your opponent’s lack of confidence open up aggression or specific plays to you more than traditional champions? Do you openly play such champions in scrims or do you hold it close to your team until appropriate public matches?
Alex _Ich: Most of the time your opponent just doesn’t know what your champion does. So if your opponent doesn’t know what to expect from you, he will play more safe and you can make your own game and do whatever you want. Most of the time I try to practice champion in scrim first, I believe that it won’t get leaked to the teams that we are playing soon.
Your team seems to highly value keeping your opponents off balance with aggressive play and pressure, how do you develop the confidence as a team to make such plays?
Alex_Ich: If you got advantage you continue to get even more advantage by pressuring your enemy and going aggressive. You develop the confidence by getting the advantage.
League is constantly changing. Does the team go over patch notes together looking for new strategy, or do the players develop new strategies and ideas on their own?
Alex_Ich: We develop strategies separately, I would say that we play solo queue on new patch, get strategies from there, watch other games and other players and get something from there too. And then if someone got something we just discuss it within the team.
As one of the only LCS pros who is married and has a child, what unique difficulties do you think you face compared to your counterparts?
Alex_Ich: The most difficulty I have is I can’t pay enough attention and spend enough time with my wife and child. I really miss them and I hope I will be able to fix it somehow
How is D4rker fitting into the team so far? In terms of Gambit’s playstyle and as a new personality in the mix.
Alex_Ich: I think that Edward was better for the playstyle and laning with Genja. But I hope that Darker will fit in our team and we will start rocking even harder than we did with Edward
Any final thoughts you’d like to share with us or shout outs to sponsors?
Alex_Ich: I want to thank Gambit and Riot for the great opportunity to travel around the world and meet a lot of people, also I want to thank all our fans rooting for us and cheering for us, I really hope that we will show the best results we can. Also I want to thank our sponsors BenQ, Steelseries, Twitch and Pringles.
