Photo: LoL Esports
Team Vitality managed to put together a superteam during the last transfer window. Never in their history have the bees looked so capable of winning the title of European champion. But between theory and practice, there may be some surprises and the beginnings of LEC were very complicated for the team with a 0-3 scathing. The players didn’t panic though and the fans remained confident. They were right because since then, Team Vitality has raised its head by chaining 3 victories and truly launching its season.
Vitality played SK Gaming this week and gave us an extremely clean game. The debates were one-sided and we had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Self made, the Polish jungler. In particular, he was asked if he was afraid of a possible failure of the Vitality Superteam, while other European superteams have tripped over the carpet in the past. His answer, full of confidence, is not far from convincing us even if just after the bees have bowed to Snape in a high-flying match.
Transcription of the interview in French
Hi Selfmade and thank you for your time! How do you feel after such a clean win against SK?
Selfmade Vitality: After each victory, I am always happy…
Still, the game was particularly well controlled, with a big snowball, impressive objective control and pressure all over the map. Aren’t you going to sleep better than usual after this kind of demonstration?
In truth it does not change much to win cleanly or to struggle a little. A victory remains a victory and I will sleep well tonight!
Let’s go back to your start to the season. It started badly with a week in 0-3 but you have since rebounded well by chaining victories. What have you changed?
There are two things. First, you have to know that we didn’t have Alphari on the premises. And then if we talk about the game, we did not draft well during the first week and we put ourselves in a handicap position. Our drafts are much better this week.
Has Team Vitality reached its peak form where there is still room for improvement?
As you know, we’ve all been playing the game for a very long time on the team. But no one is perfect and there are still small problems to solve, but I hope that we will quickly solve them.
What can you tell me about your teammate Perkz. What does such a player bring to a team?
The most important thing about Perkz is that it’s a leader. If he sees a problem or something that bothers him, he will not miss it and will solve it. It is not limited to players and also pays attention to what is happening in the technical staff, the management team or even the content creators.
And Alphari, did you know him before he came back to Europe to play for Vitality?
I didn’t really know Alphari, I had just bumped into him from time to time at the bar, but that’s all. I didn’t really know what to expect but in the end I like his personality and I’m happy to play with him.
I also saw in an interview you did earlier today that it was really for you, the year or never to win the title. Is it top 1 or nothing? If you make top 3 and you go to the Worlds, won’t that be enough?
I’ve been playing in the LEC for three years and I’ve been in very good rosters at Fnatic… But I haven’t won anything yet. This year, I really have a big opportunity, maybe my last, to win the title. If I don’t make it this year, I’m not talking about winning the World Championships but the LEC, I think I’ll be disappointed. There is even a way that I lose hope.
I also saw last week that you made a little joke on the networks to make fun of those who give you a reputation as a selfish jungler. This kind of reputation, does it affect you or does it make you laugh?
As you saw, I made a joke and I don’t really take seriously what people write about me. However, it must be recognized that there is a grain of truth. I’m not a selfish jungler, but my playstyle is a bit. I’m much more comfortable with champions who farm and carry the game to the end. Support champions aren’t really my thing, although with my current mechanical level, I think I’m able to adapt. There is still a champion that I don’t want to touch today: Ivern! But we are safe from anything and one day maybe I will put my ego aside to play it.
Vitality is one of the big favorites this year. For you, who are the other teams to watch?
I think for Spring Split, it’s going to be between Fnatic and us, I don’t see any other teams capable of winning the trophy. We can also talk about Snape, but I don’t think they are that strong. They only played bottom teams and their games weren’t that clean either… They win slowly because their opponents are worse, the Snapes don’t win because they’re better. Then we’ll play them soon so I hope I’m not going to take a hit of karma.
In Europe, superteams have often failed, whether with Alliance or G2 Esports last year. Did you doubt at the start of the season with this first week without a win?
I’ll tell you why all superteams have failed in the past: they didn’t have Perkz! It’s as simple as that. We had a week in 0-3 and Luka directly sought to identify and solve the problems.
Can we talk about Perkz Diff?
Completely ! He deserves his career and people who think he’s finished are wrong, I have nothing else to tell them.
What can you tell me about Elyoya and Malrang, the junglers from MAD Lions and Rogue?
I think Elyoya is a good player but I never felt anything special watching him. I would say I’m a better jungler. For Malrang it’s a pretty funny subject. Last year when DWG KIA came to Europe for the MSI, he was a substitute and he played a lot of soloQ. It was a real machine and it was impressive! But today when I see him, I’m less impressed and I have the feeling that something is wrong, it seems that the style of his team is handicapping him. But I’m still very excited to play him, although watching Rogue’s games I feel like he’s turned into a dog that obeys the finger and the eye of his team .