=============================================================================== === Incarnati0n AMA - 28th October 2014 - http://redd.it/2kli08 === =============================================================================== • Are you not allowed to stream or do you just choose not to? Officially I'm not even allowed to play the game, the fact that I've been able to play solo queue is a really great gesture from Riot and I don't want to abuse the chance they've given me to reform by monetizing it, perhaps in the future. • If you were to play in the LCS right now, how do you think you would rank amongst EU mid laners and who (if anyone) would be above you? I'd like to think I'd be in the higher ranks, surely able to give everyone a run for their money, but playing offline is a different experience than playing online so I really can't answer that without speculating, hopefully I'll be able to show you on a stage someday! • As the coach of SK, what are your thoughts on Jesiz since he has been heavily criticized since Worlds? How do you think he will do on Coast? Having known Jesiz closely for a while now, I'm aware he's struggled with confidence issues which clearly affected him at worlds, understandable as he was without the jungler he'd played with for over half a year. I think it didn't help that his first match-up was against Bjergsen, a fellow Dane. This most likely made him feel like he had something to prove, which in turn made him even less confident after the loss. I'm not sure how he'll do on Coast, I think his future's in his own hands, wish him the best of luck though! • Who are your top 3 mids ATM? Zed, I really like to play dominant laners and champions that have a high skill ceiling, allowing you to really outplay your opponent. Orianna & Syndra, I really love playing these strong laners because I really practiced on how to play them properly and it's very rewarding, in the recent weeks I've learnt a lot about wave control, which is a key factor to play these champions at their maximum potential. Will go more in-depth about going about controlling creeps in my upcoming guides. • Is there any champion you feel is underrated and has yet to hit the competitive scene? If yes, which champ and why? I feel that the recently changed Talon's got a lot of potential, the E change really isn't that bad after all, just makes him more of a niche pick. He's really strong against certain champions and team comps. Diana's also a really strong pick if you build her a bit more like an AP bruiser with Rod of Ages in to Zhonya, really low manacosts and high base damages make her very potent as a mid & top laner. • Are there any solo queue players you think are LCS worthy but still haven't made it to the competitive scene? It's hard for me to judge the lanes I don't play, I think Febiven's a really good player so I'd like to see him make it in to the LCS! • What's your opinion on Wickd's champion pool? I dont think Wickd's championpool is really an issue. If you look at how Zorozero played, you really don't need that big of a selection to perform well, I think how you play the champions and matching the correct champions to their team compositions is a lot more important than just being a jack of all trades (..champs). • In all seriousness do you think Korean imports are a good or a bad thing for the European scene? Do you agree with the belief that Europe is 'behind' due to the lack of Korean imports compared to China or North America? I don't think Europe's behind due to the lack of Korean imports, I think it's got a lot more to do with the lack of infrastructure in the Western scene, I don't think Koreans coming to Europe is a bad thing, but I doubt it'll help Europe as far as winning Worlds goes, after being with SK for a while, I've come to realize how important it is to have a good atmosphere in a team. When you start losing and you've got people that barely speak English, it makes communicating even harder and it just kind of locks them out, can't imagine they'll have a good time, just look at Seraph for reference. • Have you ever spoke with Apdo? Haven't spoken to Apdo, would like to though! • What was it like to coach a team like SK Gaming? What would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of various members of that team? I had a great time working with SK. Learned a lot of new things and gained a lot of important experience in regard to how an e-sports facility really operates. Fredy was a really consistent, strong toplaner who always drew junglers to top, usually played strong laners as well, don't really have any notable weaknesses as far as he goes because top lane was kind of an island this last season. Svenskeren's a really good jungler, probably the best in Europe alongside Jankos. He would always invade the opponent's jungle and try to pressure the enemy by doing that, sometimes he'd be a bit too confident and that turned out to be a pricey mistake from time to time. Jesiz is good at playing AP carries but his championpool was a little too small, which really showed when people started banning 4 to 6 midlaners in the LCS. He performed a lot better on mages than assassins (not counting Ahri as an assassin). Botlane is where we had most issues in the splits, Nrated's champion pool wasn't the greatest (look at worlds, took Sona over Nami due to not being confident enough on Nami), but he's a really smart player which made up for most of it. Candypanda struggled a little with motivation from what I could tell at some point in the season, but he really picked that back up later on, I think everyone who's played the game for as long as he has will have a brief slump you just have to power through with the help of your team, he's a great AD carry and a great friend though, mechanically he's definitely one of the better AD's around. • MonteCristo received a lot of criticism a while back for saying he thought CandyPanda was better than WildTurtle. What did you think of that match-up? I think Candy's probably on the same level as WildTurtle, hard to say since it's always 2 players bot lane and not a 1vs1. • Where do you rank Sven and freddy globally? I think Fredy was a top 5 laner at worlds, not sure where to rank Sven as he didn't play much there. • For this match (http://goo.gl/w8l6vJ) can you tell me why did u start with 21/0/9 and your W versus a Katarina and not your other masteries and E? Thats the only game that was a bit ununsual Usually my build path on Fizz is Sorcerer's Shoes or CDR boots in to Lichbane, Zhonya and then Rabadon or Void Staff depending on how much MR they have. I was testing 21-0-9 because I saw Dade use it and maxing W isn't too bad vs melees but it was really just an experiment, I prefer E in almost every scenario due to the CD reduction as you need it to escape more often than not. As a last item, I usually go for DFG, a lot of people like to go for GA too which also works, but DFG allows you to gib (100 - 0) a full HP squishy with "Flash - DFG - Q - W" combo lategame. • If you have to do a team including yourself with players of EUW, what would be the lineup? Top: Fredy Mid: me! Jungle: Diamondprox Marksman: Rekkles Support: Krepo • Can you elaborate on choosing Diamond and Krepo? After playing some games with Diamond, he's definitely the jungler I enjoy playing with the most. The pressure he creates around midlane and the vision control he grants is a midlaner's dream, fits perfectly with my playstyle. I think Krepo's pretty underrated right now because he's been playing with subpar players for too long. He's one of the few supports I know that'd be willing to buckle down and practice until it works. He's always been good, but he'd really shine with a good ADC like Rekkles or Niels. • Who are some up and coming euw solo q talent we should keep an eye on? Top: Odoamne Jungle: Loulex Mid: Godbro & Febiven Marksman: Niels (Zvenillan) Support: Swaglord H1iva • Whats your favourite matchup to play right now? I really enjoy playing Fizz vs Zed, both perspectives • Have you thought about getting rank 1 challenger in NA? Haven't really considered it, sticking to EU for now! • Would you ever consider playing Jarvan (or similar champions) midlane, if so against who and why? Are there any midlaners who struggle against bruisers who usually get's played top? Melee bruisers are usually niche picks that only work against certain champions, for example you really don't want to end up playing Jaravan against an Orianna or a Syndra. Could be something I would play against a really weak laner with no escapes, sometimes I like to play champions that aren't exactly meta. • Do you think Yasuo is still viable at high level ? Yasuo can still be viable, sure. He's not a blindpick anymore though, his laning phase is fairly weak and you'll need a team comp built around him in order to have him function properly. • Any thoughts on the "new" Viktor? I tried playing the new Viktor quite a lot actually, he's good against melees. Probably better top than mid though. • What about Riven mid? Riven can work against certain champions but isn't worthy of blindpicking. • Do you think certain Adc could be played mid effectively? You can always play ADC's mid as long as you know what you'll be playing against and you're extra careful in regard jungle ganks, because if you fall behind as an ADC in mid vs most midlaners, you're going to have a really, really bad time in lane. • How do you vent any in-game frustration? I don't really get frustrated anymore as far as gaming goes, especially not solo queue. I've learnt to judge myself rather than the others and it's really helped me improve a lot, I think it's a key part of being able to utilize solo queue as a tool to improve your own performance as a player. • Amongst all the mid laners that you have ever played so far with (EUW SoloQ or wherever else), with whom did you have difficulty laning against? Febiven & Nukeduck are always able to make me work for it in solo queue, very strong midlaners. • Who, according to you is the best mid laner in the west at the moment and why? On a competitive scale, I guess it'd have to be Bjergsen & Froggen, I can't really count myself because I've not been able to contest that title on a stage. • Opinion on Azir ? He's got a really strong siege potential and has exquisite poke ability, if mastered he's probably one of the best midlane champions to date. • Do you feel you could be a contender for "Best midlaner in the west" if you were to be in the LCS? I think I'd definitely be able to live up to some of the hype that preceeds me, solo queue isn't the best indication of skill but it's an indication nonetheless. You can also look at replays & VoD's of other midlaners who are in fact playing LCS and then see how they play. I think a lot of midlaners haven't really gotten a grasp of how important creep wave control is and still lack a bit as far as mechanical play & risk-reward calculation goes in and outside of laning. • How do you feel of Jayce in this meta? I think Jayce's really strong right now. His poke's insanely efficient, the downside to him is that he doesn't trade that well vs a few champions if you don't manage to hit your E-Q combo (caster), but once he gets blue buff he's pretty unstoppable. • Hey, not a question.. but i rly like u and hope u can get unbanned for pro play ;) I really like you too! I too hope to get unbanned in the future and I'll be able to compete in the LCS or Challenger Series, we'll see. It's all up to Riot now, but they've not banned me in solo queue so far, for which I'm already very grateful. • Ive saw that you recently played alot of twisted fate and wanted to ask your some question about it • sorc boots or cdr boots? Lategame you'll have 40% CDR, even with Sorcerer' Shoes, CDR boots aren't gold efficient. • why always so late lich bane? Athenes or Morello's are core items on TF (depends if you lane vs AD or AP) and I like Zhonya as a second item. The games quickly get to the 30 minute mark after that and if you don't have your Void Staff by then, you'll lack damage. Rabadon is more cost efficient at that time in the game with the amount of AP you'll have, contrary to a Lichbane. • what masteries /summoners to you take depending on the situation? I always run 21-0-9, play with Ghost + Flash if I know I won't win lane (vs Orianna), I like to play Ignite + Flash vs champions like Zed & Yasuo where I feel the potential to win the lane 1vs1 is present, don't like running exhaust in solo queue. • Hey Nicolaj, how come you are like the only one that has this rare carry playstyle in eu/na ? I think it's because I'm very aware of how far I can push my champion and usually I know the limits, strenghts and weaknesses of the enemy's champion, I'm able to kind of "get inside their head" and predict their next moves before they make them, so I'd say my playstyle is with a very high amount of calculated agression. This allows me to often get kills in lane 1vs1 and off that, I'm able to carry games easier than most other players. • What is your name on EUW? Are you ApdoDog2? Apdo Dog2, yes! • What separates a challenger from a D1 player other than mechanical skill? Master Tier.