Dignitas is a team that just keeps losing. They’ve been at home at the bottom of the LCS standings for years now. In 2022, they debuted DIG academy jungler
Lawrence “eXyu” Xu for his LCS rookie split, and he played on and off DIG’s Tier 2 and Tier 1 rosters for the next two years. There, eXyu faced challenges as part of such an infamously dysfunctional team, and left in dramatic circumstances in a very
sudden and unexpected replacement he went public about his discontent with. But, after over a year away,
eXyu and DIG are shockingly back together, and both struggling player and struggling team are reunited. After last weekend’s challenging loss to Team Liquid, one which showed actual hope for DIG, in the form of a Game 2 win,
Sheep Esports sat down for a chat with eXyu to discuss the team’s difficulties, comparisons to his last time on DIG, and hope despite all the results of the past.
Today’s series was a rollercoaster, marking the third DIG series loss of the split. What were your takeaways from the success in Game 2, and the challenges in Games 1 and 3?
Lawrence “eXyu” Xu: “We need to be more intentional with our practice, still. Our midgame is lacking, and our teamfighting is lacking. Game 1, I’m still a bit nervous going in, made some mistakes in the beginning, and that’s kinda bad. We should’ve won Game 1. We were in a really good spot, but we as a team failed to close it out. Game 2, we put ourselves in a good position again and closed it out. And Game 3, I think we’re quite unfamiliar with this draft. So, we did our best, but didn’t adapt well in the moment.
When you say “you were unfamiliar with the draft in Game 3,” would you point to the Lee Sin pick, or any other elements in particular, as being challenging?
eXyu: I can’t say too much about what we’re good at, and what we’re not, but… That might not’ve been our style.
eXyu: Yeah, it’s a huge difference. This team genuinely believes in each other, and there’s no unnecessary pressure from management. Everyone is very clear on what the goals are, and the path to improve. So, it feels more unified for sure.
Your career in the LCS has had its share of difficulties over the years. Dignitas, too, as a team, has perennially struggled. What’s going to make this split different for you as a player and DIG as a team, to finally find that breakout success?
eXyu: I think we have really good players. We have good players, good management, and good staff. We just need to all play well at the same time, instead of what’s happening now where some games, some people will play well, and someone will make a game losing mistake. That’s just happening a bit too much. We’ve shown that we can keep up with LYON, keep up with TL, and in scrims we also show that we’re keeping up with them. It’s just that in the clutch moments, we’re trying to do too much. And so, we’re not getting the wins, but our gameplay is definitely improving.
eXyu: It’s a hard decision. It’s completely life-changing. I didn’t really have any offers at the time. It was just a spur-of-the-moment decision to pursue what was a far cry of a dream. But COVID gave me the opportunity to do it, so I did. It’s led me here, and I’m super grateful for everything I’ve experienced the last four years. And yeah, it was scary!”
