To start off the interview, I think it would be good to revisit Cloud9 at the time after your elimination from last years’ edition of Worlds. Despite you not winning the 2014 NA summer split your close series versus Samsung Blue was definitely the most impressive showing from an NA team at the event. Along with this you also managed to win IEM San José extremely convincingly, so how did you feel going in to the current Spring Split of LCS? Did you feel like you had reclaimed the title of being the best NA team?

Well, scrims leading up to the LCS weren’t going well. So I didn’t feel too confident going into it, but didn’t think we’d start off 1-3 like we did. And no I did not feel like we reclaimed the title of being the best.

Many fans were surprised when the shape of C9 initially didn’t impress this split. Especially considering the, in context to C9’s career in the LCS, historically bad start where you were 1-3 after the first two weeks of LCS. What would you say the issues were?

A lot of issues can always be stemmed down to me, since I play such an integral role in the team, being the midlaner (a carry role) and being the main shotcaller for team. I was playing lackluster and thus had a big negative impact on the team.

Your fans seemed to go from surprised to terrified when it was brought to their attention that you were experiencing issues with your wrists. Could you elaborate on your current state and if it’s affecting your play?

I think I hurt my wrists a while back from working out, that’s what initially stopped me from going to the gym. But after repeated strain on it via being on the computer, it got worse and I need these braces for a while to help.

It might sound like an odd question to actually ask, but since you’ve always had success in general in each LCS-split, how did the team react to the fact you were all of a sudden placed on a career-first 8th place?

We had to have some team meetings to figure out core issues that we can solve there and then, and see what we can do to improve. It was our longest team meeting to date and I think it helped a lot.

Since then it’s obvious that you’ve once again clicked as a unit and currently rival CLG’s 8-4 record for second place in the standings. Despite this, you’ve been cited calling CLG the “best team in NA”. Why do you think it is they do better, especially when TSM are on top?.

Their early game is insane, they are just always doing something and making a play/rotation that is better than what you’re currently doing. Playing against them just seems like they have map hacks since they do everything better than you, it’s just weird.

Whilst CLG vs TSM is considered to be THE rivalry in the region, I think most spectators actually consider you as TSM’s main rivals given that you’ve faced each other in three straight LCS finals. If you were to compare all the three different iterations of their team you’ve played against in a best of 5, which one do you consider to be the strongest?

CLG/TSM is the classic rivalry dating before the LCS, because they were the two most popular teams for a long time, and usually the best. Their current iteration is by far stronger than their previous ones. Their roster changes always had a positive influence.

On the same note, do you see TSM becoming the team to beat in this Split’s playoffs?

Either them or CLG, possibly Liquid as well.

If we focus our attention to next week, you will obviously be taking part in the IEM World Championship in Poland. You’ve been placed into what’s best described as the “group of death” with both GE Tigers and SK Gaming. Seeing the draw, how did you react?

It sucked but I’m excited still, GE Tigers is being hyped as the best team in the world at the moment, and I want to see how we stack up against them. SK is the best team in Europe, I think? So we get to see how we fare against the best of the other regions.

GE Tigers are currently the top performing team in their region, which historically has been the strongest, and their performance in LCK has so far been ridiculously crisp. Do you think this is the case due to them being the best, or the rest of the region’s competition decreasing due to so many koreans emigrating to China?

They are just the best.

How do you feel regarding the fact that the group-stage is played in a Bo1?

Sounds fine, would be cooler if there were no groups, and all 8 teams were just in a giant round robin, but I’m not complaining about the tournament format.

On a similar note, in terms of international competition how do you feel about the chance to play against two of the teams considered to be the best in their respective region? Do you feel confident going up against them?

I’m confident in our teams play, not sure if that will be better than theirs, but we will give it our all!

If you were to make it out of the group stage, there is a chance that you play against TSM in the semi-finals. How would you call the series to go in your current state?

I’ve got no idea on that one. Probably 60-40 in their favor.

Do you see yourselves being able to win the event given your hard group and the continued international competition?

Unlikely, but who knows!

To close this interview out, are there any words you felt that you’ve left unsaid, or any shoutouts in general?

Thanks for the interview and hope you guys root for us at IEM, take care!