We interview Oskar "VandeR" Bogdan, professional League of Legends player in the support position. Until just a few weeks ago he was part of H2K, a club with which he reached third place in the EU LCS Summer Split last season, gaining access to the World Championship in representation of Europe. In that international competition, they surpassed adversities until reaching the semifinal, moment in which they were defeated by Samsung Galaxy.
- Shafi: H2K had multiple changes within its lineup during the 2016 season, Forgiven left the team and then he came back to substitute Freeze and play the Summer Playoffs. Do you think that his reincorporation was determinant to have a long run in the World Championship?
- VandeR: Freeze was a good soul in our team, he was motivated and always tried to find a solution. I think both me and Ryu stepped up our game for week 8 and 9 in LCS, that is why our team looked so much better.
Forgiven is a strong mechanical player and he helped us to get a direction again. He is the best laning ADC in the west, which unlocked a lot of roaming and pressure opportunities for me again. We were always super strong early game team with Forgiven, that is why it worked so well.
Forgiven is the best laning ADC in the west
- Shafi: What are the differences between playing with Freeze and with Forgiven?
- VandeR: With Forgiven, his laning phase is superior. He loves to pressure enemy ADC and show dominance over his counterpart, which often made it easy to gank us. Freeze is more teamplay oriented and passive as a player.
Forgiven smiling to Vander (right) in the 2016 League fo Legends World Championship Colin Young-Wolff (Riot Games, Inc.)
- Shafi: Let's talk about Worlds, How did you live the World Championship? Was it everything you expected or somehow was there something that disappointed you in someway?
- VandeR: Nothing dissapointed me for sure. The event was amazing and Riot took insanely good care of us. I was really happy and proud to be there every second. I want to qualify to Worlds this year again so badly! Worlds is a completely next level experience, nowhere close to LCS, which is often boring. I feel Riot should host more tournaments and remove the playoffs, which tilts my brain every year.
It does not matter how good you do in regular season, only how good your team is when the season ends. It reduces the importance of most LCS weeks. I really think playoffs should be removed and Riot should host regional cups, which gave lower league teams/players some exposure against LCS teams, and one more international tournament like IEM.
Riot should host more tournaments and remove the playoffs, which tilts my brain every year
- Shafi: In the case that you have seen the recent changes that Riot has implemented for the next EU LCS season format, what is your opinion on these changes? What are the pros and cons of the new EU LCS format?
- VandeR: The changes are really cool, it will make our region unique. As I said before, regular season of LCS is REALLY boring for the players, because its impact is so low. You just have to be a good team and spam SoloQ towards the end of the split and playoffs. Unicorns of Love went 1-2-6 and still almost qualified to Worlds... Two groups are a fresh addition and will make the league more interesting.
- Shafi: Continuing with the Worlds topic, from the outside, the sensations reflected by the team were extremely good, How was the team atmosphere these days? How did the coaching staff and Prolly influence the team? Did anything change after Worlds?
- VandeR: The atmosphere in H2K was always really weird. I think overall the atmosphere was not healthy for the players and the coaching staff could not handle individuals in the team. It changed when H2K acquired a new team manager around week 7 of LCS, but we still had meaningful and unacceptable incidents. Maybe I will tell the stories in the future, but for now I do not want to hurt image of my former teammates.
Overall the atmosphere was not healthy for the players and the coaching staff could not handle individuals in the team
- Shafi: We are aware that this is a question that can be difficult to answer. Most of the fans are unaware and would love to know more about what were the reasons of your dissociation with H2K after a very successful season with them. Could you give some insight on this case and clarify some aspects about it?
- VandeR: H2K signed Febiven, which opened the possibility to import a Korean botlane. Forgiven did not join and in the end H2K decided to bring the Korean botlane. I think this move can work for them really well, I am super curious. Jankos is my good friend and I wish him a lot of success. I believe Ryu wanted to play with Arrow since a long time, he should be happy as well with his move to Phoenix 1.
GL to new H2K lineup. I hope they will be good addition and help my boy @Jankoslol dominate!
— VandeR (@VanderLCS) 14 de diciembre de 2016
- Shafi: What are you looking for in your new adventure for this season?
- VandeR: I want to play much more SoloQ and focus more on myself. In H2K I tried to be really flexible and make my teammates lives very easy. I guess thats what support should do in the end...My individual skill was poor for majority of summer split, which made my team struggle. I want to push myself to the limits and play as best as I can every game.
- Shafi: About the metagame, how do you see the supports in the upcoming season?
- VandeR: I am not sure yet...Karma looks really good overall now with the new items. Strong lane and good scaling, which she lacked in the past. Zyra got a little bit nerfed, but her lane is still super oppressive. Players need way wider champion pools with addition of 5 bans per team, which should allow way more picks to be present in the competetive matches.
