After spending much of their debut year in the LTA trying to find their footing, Disguised, the team created by popular streamer Jeremy "
Disguised Toast" Wang, was written off by many. But now, the team that once struggled to pick up even individual wins has rewritten its fate. They've accomplished that through their first playoff series victory, eliminating their opponents, Dignitas, in a decisive 3-1 win. A key part of that change was the team's new midlaner, an LTA rookie with years of deep experience at the Tier 2 level,
Isaac "DARKWINGS" Chou.
Coming into the team after DSG had already finished last twice this year, DARKWINGS had a difficult task ahead of him. But the midlaner has stood up to the challenge and has played a crucial role so far in transforming DSG into a whole new team. Following Disguised's best-of-five victory, Sheep Esports sat down with DARKWINGS for an exclusive interview, learning about his place on his new team, his cautiously optimistic outlook on their chances, and more.
In 2022, Dignitas Academy kicked you after just one split, and last year, they also got rid of your teammate Lawrence “Exyu” Xu. Both of these moves were seen by many as unjust. Does it feel good to send Dignitas home in a grudge-match win?
Isaac “DARKWINGS” Chou: “Yeah, for sure. For sure. It feels really good. That experience kind of hurt me a lot, and I’m sure it hurt Exyu a lot as well, so it feels really good that we sent them out.”
How does it feel to debut this split in the LTA on a team that’s had a lot of struggles throughout the year. Do you think you can be the difference-maker for Disguised?
DARKWINGS: I think I definitely should be. I am a difference, I guess. But I should be able to make a positive difference, maybe bring them up, to at least a middle-of-the-pack team.
In Game 2, DSG came back from a 4k gold deficit to win the game. What allowed you guys to stay calm and outplay Dignitas from that position?
DARKWINGS: We’re kind of picking as much as we can, without doing too much, is our main thing. So that when they overextend, we claw our big win back.
Last year, you won the CLOL Championship title, playing for Saint Louis University. Is collegiate LoL a good path to pro?
DARKWINGS: I personally don’t think it’s a good path to pro. I think it’s one of the few options you have. But unless you’re joining a team like Maryville, and in my case, SLU, which was kind of a good roster that was put together to win CLOL, then CLOL isn’t really a good way to go into pro. But I think it’s a good starting point if you might want to in the future.
You tweeted out earlier that, at the start of the year, you’d “given up on professional LoL.” What led you to that point, and how does it feel now knowing that staying persistent led you to winning playoff games in the LTA?
DARKWINGS: So, the reason why I felt really discouraged to keep playing was, after I won the championship CLOL run and played another split with some of the same teammates, a lot of things happened. I can only assume, but I thought that they were wintrading the split. It really demotivated me. I just felt like a lot of my time was wasted. But, I met someone called Draxyr [Richard Yuan] at a combine. I was talking to him, and he was gauging my skill level, and [told me] if I really wanted to play, keep playing, I could. I was like, “Okay, I’m down to try again.” And I kept trying to improve myself. And I got a chance on DSG, so I was really happy about that.
If you really had dark wings, where would you fly to?
DARKWINGS: Heh, um, I’d want to fly to Japan again. I was only there for about ten days, for a mini-vacation. I really want to visit again, explore, enjoy the food, stuff like that.
What are the odds DSG has to win the LTA?
DARKWINGS: Uh, I think, 5%.
Alright. Now, what are the odds DSG has to win Worlds?
DARKWINGS: Win worlds? 2%."
Header Photo Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
