In his short career, David “Insanity” Challe has proven himself as a player capable of stepping up when given a shot. The League of Legends Championship Series 2021 Season marks Insanity’s first real chance to make a name for himself as Immortals’ starting mid laner.
After splitting time in 2020 Summer with Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire on Immortals, Insanity’s confident he’ll perform as the team’s new starting mid. (Photo courtesy Riot Games)
Following IMT’s 1-2 start to the LCS Lock In opening weekend, we spoke with Insanity about maintaining a growth mindset, what drives him as a player, and the new era shaping up at Immortals.
Hotspawn: Hello, Insanity! With the loss on Sunday you guys are off to a 1-2 start, but it was kind of expected since you’re playing without the full LCS lineup. Where’s your head at after this weekend?
Insanity: I think I’m still in the same mindset. Whether we won or lost this week, I’d still be focused on improving as a whole and as a team. Obviously we don’t have our full roster of players here yet; we’re using our Academy team this time around to play with our solo laners. I still think we have some good cohesion with this roster even, and I still have high expectations for when we do start practicing with our main team. No matter what, I’m in a great mindset right now. I don’t even think I played bad versus Luka “Perkz” Perković.
I’m not really afraid of anybody
Hotspawn: Interesting you bring that up, because you’ve been super open in the past about accepting mistakes or being willing to go for things in games even if they end up making you look silly. Mind shedding some light on how you maintain a mentality like that as a player?
Insanity: I don’t really see the player in front of me rather than just the champion, if that makes sense. I’m not really afraid of anybody and I don’t think that anybody is so insanely far ahead of me [in terms of] skill level. I think that I’ve caught up and that I’ll surpass them eventually. It’s just a matter of time, practice, discipline, and consistency.
Hotspawn: That’s a great focus to keep. Now I know you weren’t shy in your matchup with Perkz, but did you notice anything about his play that differs from what you’re used to seeing out of LCS mids?
Insanity: He’s not afraid; I think that’s the biggest thing. Most NA mid laners play very scared, very passive, and to not lose. I think the good mid laners in this region, especially the imports, play to win. They play to win lane and to win the game and that’s something that I strive to do. I think I can be great at that and it’s only a matter of time.
Hotspawn: Mo “Revenge” Kaddoura spoke a lot about how IMT was super focused this offseason on getting a good coaching staff and good players that can compliment each other and develop. After being on the team last year and being part of this new project, can you share a bit about your experience with the org so far?
Insanity: I think my experience so far has been kinda shaky. Not really great, not really bad. I think this year, though, is the best it’s been and things will only go up from here. I think our coaching staff is amazing, their minds are in the right place for all this and I think they’re really focused on the team as a whole and the org as a whole making it better and better as time goes by. I think that’s something I really wanted. I don’t wanna be in a team environment where even just one person doesn’t have the same mindset or the same goal as the whole of the group and we have that here. We have a great, fun group that can just keep learning and improving together.
Hotspawn: When you say shaky, do you mean the org wasn’t able to create that environment you’re talking about for whatever reason?
Insanity: I think last year was just bad circumstances in my opinion. Not much was in the players’ control in my honest opinion. It was just a rough year overall for everybody involved. Even still, I learned a lot from that roster. Working with Jake “Xmithie” Puchero, Apollo “Apollo” Price, Nick “Hakuho” Sergeant, and even Kieran “Allorim” Logue. They’re all great people and they were great teammates. What they taught me, I’ll take with me to this year and build upon that as well.
I think there’s a lot less pressure when it comes to online.
Hotspawn: Is there something in particular about you as a player or person that you’re aiming to improve upon this year now that you’ve taken that step to become an LCS starter?
Insanity: The one thing for me is to play every scrim like it’s a stage game, because that’s something that I struggle with. I think learning how it feels on stage and learning how to incorporate that feeling into my practice as well is a pretty big step for me.
Hotspawn: Has everything being remote with COVID-19 affected how you approach that goal?
Insanity: Yeah, I think there’s a lot less pressure when it comes to online. I think a lot of players that are playing in the LCS would be playing like they do on stage. I think some would be better than others and some would be worse when they’re on stage, you know? That comes down to personalities, that comes down to experience, whether it’s as a rookie or a veteran. I personally liked playing on stage a lot more than just playing at home because I think there’s a greater feeling to it. There’s a pressure, but it’s a nice pressure. It’s just a nice feeling.
Hotspawn: Nice! How’ve you and your teammates been interacting outside of the game?
Insanity: With this group of players, we kind of know each other already so it’s not very difficult. It’s honestly been really simple. We talk a lot and talk after games, we’re open to flaming each other in memeing ways and even serious ways. I think everyone here just has a super easygoing attitude and it’s super easy to get along with each other. Right now, it’s mostly online; I don’t think we want to have any interactions because of the COVID situation. I think we’re all just really fun people to be around and we enjoy each other’s company.
Hotspawn: That’s great to hear! To close us out, do you have anything to say to people who may or may not have been following your career and aren’t really sure what to expect out of you this year?
Insanity: Honestly, just expect great things. Whether it looks rough, or whether it looks good already, just expect great things. It’ll go up and it’ll go down, but at the end of the day when we look towards the long term goal I think that at the end it’ll be way higher than it is right now.
Immortals play their next match against FlyQuest on Friday, January 22nd at 7 p.m. PDT.
