Olof "Flaxxish" Medin will compete for the first time in his career in the top European competition of the League of Legends as the toplaner for Giants Gaming, one of the largest Spanish esports clubs.
In spite of his young age, the Swedish player has formed part of several professional teams throughout the world, competing in Europe, Spain and even North America. Before joining Giants, his last team was ASUS ROG Army, the current champions of the Spanish league.
“My time in Asus Rog army was really fun,” Flaxxish says. “At first it was not easy for me to just, after one week coming home from living half a year in USA, move to Spain and live with 8 other people who mostly spoke Spanish.” Language has always been a barrier, not only in eSports, but it is not impassable. “After a while I got used to it.”
Winning the Spanish EUCS qualifer spot tournament was one of the best moments for me in my whole esports career
Along with his team, he won a spot for the Challenger Series qualifier, a tournament which links to the second highest competition in Europe. “Winning the Spanish EUCS qualifer spot tournament was one of the best moments for me in my whole esports career.”
During his time with ASUS he did not play with champions with defensive characteristics, tanks, which are usually chosen by the players in the toplane. “I think the skill difference between me and other LVP toplaners is really big in my favour, so the easiest way to abuse it was just to play a carry champion instead of a tank.”
![Flaxxish in the Spanish qualifier fot the EU CS celebrated in the Barcelona Games World](http://as01.epimg.net/esports/imagenes/2017/01/05/league_of_legends/1483636756_559434_1483636902_sumario_normal.jpg)
Flaxxish in the Spanish qualifier fot the EU CS celebrated at the Barcelona Games World Hara Amoros (LVP)
Continuing with that philosophy in the LCS could be complicated, however he would like to continue playing aggressive champions “If the meta allows it”, according to the Swede, to which he adds, “Right now it's mostly about picking a tank toplaner like Poppy or Nautilus”.
Something that was reflected in the IEM Gyeonggi. “In that tournament the Colossus mastery was really strong and there was not really any reason to play other things than Poppy, Nautilus or Maokai. I picked up Poppy and played her pretty well at IEM, but my Nautilus was pretty bad. For LCS i will make sure to practice every meta champion even if it is a tank”.
Poppy has way too much damage considering how tanky she is and how much CC she has
With this we enter in the debate of the current state of the game, where Flaxxish has no doubt about which the champion could give him the most problems on the Summoner's Rift, “Poppy for sure. In lane she has no counter at all and wins almost every matchup. She has way too much damage considering how tanky she is and how much CC she has. And her W circle ability is super good for teamfights”.
The next obstacle for this young player is the LCS, specifically the Spring Split, that is about to begin. “I expect us to improve a lot, individually and as a team. I think we will place top 5.”
I think we will place top 5
Something that may have been complicated after the unexpected departure of Elias "Upset" Lypp, who was expected to be the team's starting marksman for the next season, “It was difficult, we didn't have any time to get a work visa to import Korean talent, so we had to look for another eu adc which we did find and I'm really confident in our new ADC.”
Getting a visa takes arround two weeks and this setback has caught Giants at a bad time. The new starting marksman for Giants is going to be Martin "HeaQ" Kordmaa, who along with Jonas "Memento" Elmarghichi, the team's new jungler, will join the Giants line-up. With less than a month to start the Spring Split, developing a strategy and trying to find synergy with new additions can be complicated than it appears.
On the other hand, this year there will be a lot of level in the toplane and we will enjoy great confrontations. “They are all very good but i also think a lot of people underestimate me and i will show that i deserve to play LCS.”