Natus Vincere have fallen out of contention for the
League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Summer playoffs. After back-to-back
defeats to Movistar KOI and Team Vitality, the new squad faces the prospect of finishing their first split without taking a single nexus from their opponents. With their fate sealed, the team now turns to their final match, hoping to salvage some pride against GIANTX. In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, AD Carry
Lee "Hans SamD" Jae-hoon sat down to discuss his team’s performance, what contributed to NAVI’s struggles, and his views on the LEC Summer format.
What went wrong against Vitality?
Lee "Hans SamD" Jae-hoon: "We did not play like ourselves against Vitality. We were fine against Movistar KOI, but today, everyone performed very poorly. In the second game, we had a plan, we had a strong early game, but we took a bad fight we shouldn't have around the second drake. We just did not know what to do in game, so we lost.
Why do you think NAVI ended up in last place this split? Was it the format, or something else that held the team back?
Hans SamD: We barely played any officials, only four best-of-threes over the group stage. This format is really bad for newer rosters like ours. We have a really new roster with three changes from last split. We needed experience to get better, but this format did not give us the time we needed. Our roster in itself is fine, we just didn't get to play together for a long time, contrary to many teams here. We had about two or three weeks of scrims and were thrown into officials.
How have scrims and the team atmosphere been this split, both before and after week one?
Hans SamD: Our scrims were going okay. We've had a rather positive atmosphere behind the scenes generally. After week one, we had some issues in our approach to the game, so we had a few bad results, but we fixed it the next week and adopted new concepts. We've played pretty well in scrims since then.
Do you think the performance against MKOI is a better reflection of NAVI’s true level?
Hans SamD: Against MKOI, I played hyper carries. Today, in game one, we played Corki Bard into Xayah Rakan: we should have generated some leads in laning phase, but we made mistakes and botched it. In the second game, we had Lucian Braum into Ziggs Alistar. We had a winning lane, but we didn't play it well enough. Against MKOI, we were fine in lane, but I was dropping a lot of resources during the first lane swaps, and in the second game, we didn't get to pressure the enemies enough.
How do you feel about your entry into the league? Has it been difficult mentally given the results?
Hans SamD: I never expected we'd lose every match like that. I thought we'd at least win something. It's a difficult position, I have Malrang (Kim Geun-seong) on support, and he just changed roles. We're fine as a botlane duo, but neither he nor I had enough time to fix our issues. He only got to practice his role for two to three weeks. It's not enough to perform well. I'm also really disappointed in myself, how I showed up in the LEC. My performance hasn't been good at all. When I was in the LFL, I had confidence, I played really well. Since I joined this league, well, I wouldn't say I lost confidence, but it's been hard.
Historically, you've had difficult results when playing on stage, both in the LFL and LEC. Did you ever see stage play as a stressful thing, something that could affect your performances?
Hans SamD: I don't think so. I don't have an issue with stage play.
How has your experience been playing with Malrang since his role swap to support, and how do you feel about his adaptation so far?
Hans SamD: When I first played with him, well, it wasn't good. Still, we've been trying to improve, both in laning and teamfighting as a duo. He is slowly improving, but the issue at play is how little time we had. If he continues to play support next year, I believe he can be good at this role.
Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games
How does the level of ADCs in the LEC compare to those in the LFL?
Hans SamD: The level has been pretty different. Every AD Carry here is a very good player, the level is pretty high. The LFL had some pretty good players too, but it's definitely higher here.
Do you have any regrets from this split?
Hans SamD: [Pauses] Hmm... Regrets... I'm not sure how to say this but, my only regret is not having had the time to make this work. Joining a team before the last split of the year like this, it's just a really difficult task, not only for me but also for my teammates. We didn't even win a single game. We still have one more match to play at least, but I don't really know if I have a next year to look forward to.
Are you disappointed that you won’t get to play against Steven "Hans Sama" Liv this year?
Hans SamD: I'm really sad. I hope I don't get kicked from the team so that I can continue in the LEC next year and play against Hans Sama."
Header Photo Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games
