Dignitas scored another win in their effort to break from the middle of the pack, beating Golden Guardians in the second weekend of the LCS to secure themselves a steady 3-2 record. FakeGod knows the team has a lot of work to do to prove they’re a cut above the other young teams but feels confident in the roster’s capabilities.
FakeGod is excited to show that Dignitas is stronger than people expect (Photo via Riot Games)
We caught up with Dignitas’ toplaner after the team’s victory over Golden Guardians to talk about their hot streak and to hear his thoughts on how NA is fostering young talent.
Hotspawn: Congrats on that win! First off, I wanted to hear how you’re feeling after the game vs Golden Guardians?
FakeGod: [laughs] I don’t actually feel that good. From my perspective, I messed up my lane and my team just carried me. It’s still a win, but I don’t feel like I deserve it because I messed up my lane.
Hotspawn: You guys won, so that feels good, but are there any key takeaways from that game to take into the rest of this weekend?
FakeGod: Not really, we’re playing pretty clean right now so we just have to keep doing that and not take strange fights. There was at least one strange fight that was taken, but overall I think these first two games we had this week are [some] of our cleanest. I just think we have to keep that gameplan and keep improving on that.
Hotspawn: You mentioned that you had one strange fight, could you talk about that?
FakeGod: It was when our jungle and mid lane just fought them in the topside under tier 1 [turret], even though we didn’t see anyone and they could’ve had five members there. And they kind of did, so it was just a bad fight.
Hotspawn: You said you guys are feeling pretty clean, how confident are you feeling right now as a team?
FakeGod: I still don’t think we’re at the top right now, but we’re not at the bottom. Cause we just beat the other teams that are assumed to be at the bottom. Pretty clean wins in both of them. I’d say we’re in the middle right now. It could go either way, up or down from the middle, but that’s how I’d rate [us] right now.
Hotspawn: And how’s the atmosphere on the team right now? I’m sure you’re experiencing some growing pains as a new team, but just in general?
FakeGod: There’s some growing pains right now for sure, but we’re growing into it well so far. I think right now we got past the growing pains, and we’re improving pretty well together now. I’m excited.
Hotspawn: And how’re you feeling individually? In terms of confidence in your own play.
FakeGod: I’m pretty confident right now in how I’m playing. I’m playing pretty well usually, in most of the games I play in general. Except this game I guess [laughs]. Our bot lane is a smurf, our jungle’s a smurf, mid lane is sometimes not a smurf [laughs] but we’re still improving. I’m excited to keep improving, and [to have] a place with the other top teams. Right now we’re being ignored— so just keep ignoring us I guess, we won’t be there for long.
Hotspawn: I wanted to talk to you about the top lane meta right now— could you tell me your thoughts on it, and how you think it suits you?
FakeGod: I think the meta right now is just dictated by the items. It was Goredrinker, and then Steraks, and now that [it] was nerfed there’s only one champion that uses it, which is Renekton. It’s just about who uses the items well and who has a good kit in general. It can be strong or weak side, the meta, in terms of the champions picked right now. I think it’s pretty good right now, it’s really versatile. It’s not only tanks or only bruisers, and I think that meta suits me pretty well. I’m fine either way in regards to my playstyle, so I’m good with it right now.
Hotspawn: Do you have any personal goals for the split? Obviously, everyone wants to win LCS, but speaking more on an individual scale.
FakeGod: My goals are just to do my best and play with no regrets at the end. That’s my personal goal. And obviously, win LCS and go to Worlds, but that’s everyone’s.
Hotspawn: Shifting gears a little, there’s a big conversation about the NA talent pipeline right now— I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that, being one of the newer players in the scene. I’m wondering how you feel the NA organizations are doing right now in terms of fostering younger talent like yourself?
FakeGod: This year is a special year because there was a lot of turnover. But before that, I don’t really think that Academy and LCS were that connected. Only by some freak accident where players in Academy in LCS were swapped around could [new] NA talent be seen. I don’t think this year was a turning point for the orgs, like “oh we have to use [new] talent,” except for maybe Dignitas, cause I feel like Dignitas were the only ones who actually decided to go into this year with that plan. The other ones were just like “because of Covid and NBA we have no money, so we’re just gonna make a new roster with these rookies.” I think it could be better for sure.
FakeGod was brought up from 100t’s Academy to the main roster in Spring 2019 (Photo via Riot Games)
Hotspawn: So you think a lot of the turnover we’re experiencing right now is a result of circumstance, rather than intentional change?
FakeGod: Yeah, mostly circumstance. The orgs weren’t like “Reddit has convinced us! We will bring in the rookies, we cannot win unless we bring in the rookies,” it’s [more] like “we have no money.”
Hotspawn: Even though it was by chance rather than some great new effort by orgs, do you think it’ll be a long-term benefit for the region? Or is this just some one-off thing?
FakeGod: I think overall it’ll be a benefit because it shows that NA talent can compete. Unless they don’t [laughs], but then it’s still a benefit because it shows something— that having new teams like Immortals and Golden Guardians and Dignitas [is] a benefit overall.
Hotspawn: Definitely. I’m gonna give you a hard question now— can you think of any changes to the system that would help foster young NA talent?
FakeGod: That’s hard. Maybe the connection between Academy in LCS could be better, but I don’t have a solution to that myself. The only weird thing that could be considered would be the top Academy teams could [play] the lowest LCS team, but that sounds kinda weird. I’m not sure what the best way to connect the Academy and LCS together in a decent way would be achievable, besides just roster swaps between the teams themselves. That’s just my thoughts, I don’t have an answer.
Hotspawn: No worries, I didn’t expect anything crazy.
FakeGod: I can’t solve all the problems from the last five years!
Hotspawn: Yeah, fix it for us! I think that’s all I have time for. Do you have any parting words for the FakeGod and Dignitas fans out there before we sign off?
FakeGod: [laughs] Okay hold on, I messed this up last time. Thanks for supporting us! That’s it, thanks for supporting us. I won’t mess it up by adding another sentence, I’ll keep it clean.
