Longtime LCS fans will recognize
as a journeyman of the league, part of many rosters over the years. But Armao’s LCS career finally seemed to end after Immortals disbanded, and the following year, he settled into the CLOL team of his new college, UC Irvine. And yet,
somehow, Armao returned. Top LCS team LYON, the current two-time reigning champion squad led by superstar jungler
, has seen
the latter take the opening weeks of Summer Split to return to Poland for personal matters, with the team in need of another jungler to fill his shoes fast.
Though two years off of his last LCS stint, and having competed over the past year as a collegiate toplaner, Armao is back in the LCS, to cover for the league’s very best jungler. And in his first games back, Armao fit snugly into LYON, jungling solidly in a 2-0 victory versus FlyQuest. To discuss the win and his temporary return to professional play, Sheep Esports sat down with Armao after the series for a chat.
It's been about two years since you last played in the LCS before today. Was it a shock to get this opportunity to step into a top team after years away from the league?
Jonathan “Armao” Armao: “Yeah, for sure. I was just at home. It’s summer. I go to school, I go to UCI, so I’m done playing competitively. But they were kind of in a last-minute situation: they couldn’t use any Tier 2 players, from what I understand, or Tier 1. So, they asked me, and I was like, “why not?” The team’s good, so I figured it would be fine to come and play.
Inspired said in the LYON video that he'd "make sure to help [the team] as much as [he] can, even though [he] will be online for a bit." Have you got a chance to communicate with him yet about filling in his spot?
Armao: Yeah, he watches the scrims, the first block, a lot, because of the time difference. He gave me a ton of feedback, a ton of stuff. I actually haven’t played that much jungle recently, because when I’m on UCI’s League team, I was playing toplane. So, I haven’t really played jungle consistently for a while. But to be honest, jungle is kind of simple. It’s pretty easy to like, in a couple of days, get back into it. Because you’re just killing camps, and then otherwise, you’re playing the game. It’s very helpful, because I can just ask questions on stuff that I’m confused on, since I have so few games of jungle recently. I mean, he helped so much. Actually, he was doing more than I expected, because, obviously, he’s kind of home, and has his own stuff going on. That was great.
Besides briefly playing with on Team Liquid Academy in 2021, this is your first time playing alongside any of these players. Was it difficult to get integrated into an unfamiliar team, or is LYON such a well-oiled machine that it was easy to slot in?
Armao: Yeah, it’s very easy. The hard part is just that in the scrims, I wasn’t playing that well, because I’m so rusty, and, you know, it’s just a different game. The players are very smart about the game, which I expected because they’re the top team, and watching their games, they play well and they play smart around the map. It’s easy to mesh with that, because I still feel confident in that aspect of the game, playing the game diligently. Because I hadn’t played jungle and stuff, mechanics and individual plays are lacking for me, but integrating with them is super easy. I’m sure next week will go well as well, and then hopefully Inspired is back, so they can go win LCS again.
Today you beat , who is nearly a decade younger than you. Do you think veteran players with room to grow are written off because of this idea of the "known quantity?"
Armao: Ah, I think certainly that happens sometimes. I mean, a perfect example would be Dhokla. Obviously, he’s on LYON now, but he’s had a harder time than you’d expect getting on teams, I would say, in between splits. He always makes Worlds, and then he’s kind of teamless, and then he gets a team again, and starts winning everything. So, I certainly think that is the case for some players. I’m not interested in playing competitively as a full-time thing. I’m a student. In my case, nothing there for me. But, I think for other players, definitely. For sure people get written off, just blanket. But, I do think the young players on their team are quite good, like Gryffinn and
(
Michael Luu). They just didn’t play that well one day. But I’ve seen a lot of Gryffinn in solo queue when I was playing more, and he was always pretty strong.
Not only are you returning to jungling, but the rest of the map looks very different, especially bot lane. Is it weird to come back to such a bizarre bot meta, playing around Jayce versus Sylas bot?
Armao: Yeah, I would say that was probably the hardest thing. Because, before, the meta was just normal, and you just kind of pick champs and teamfight. The last time I was playing, there were also AP junglers, kind of, like Brand and Lillia. Now, it’s like AD assassins, and botlanes playing mages, so that was strange to adapt to. It is similar to a meta from 2021, where the supports just roam around and go top. I had that experience, so I kind of understood jungle’s role in that, but I would say it made it harder to come back, versus if it was just an AFK farm-teamfight meta. That would’ve been easier for sure.
Your username, which is your surname, is a homophone of “our mayo.” Do you like mayonnaise?
Armao: Umm, I do. I do eat mayonnaise on food. It’s true. That is just my last name. It’s completely coincidental, the mayonnaise, but I do like it, yeah. It’s good.”
