Over the last decade, a number of players have reached the top rank of League of Legends’ solo queue ladders. Whether it’s Korea, North America, or Europe, clinching the number one spot is always an achievement to be proud of.
But what if you get rank one by playing Master Yi jungle? The accomplishment goes up a notch. Not only is it tough to climb the ladder by maining one champion, but it also gets all the more difficult when playing a unique champion like Yi. He has lots of strengths but also clear weaknesses high Elo players should always capitalize on.
One person managed to accomplish the feat. Patrick “Sinerias,” an Austrian who’s been playing League for a decade, achieved the unthinkable by reaching the top spot on the European ladder with the Wuju Bladesman.
On March 30, Sinerias sat down with Dot Esports to talk about his secrets to climbing the ladder and other intriguing takes on how to become a Challenger player.
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Before he started playing Master Yi in the jungle, Sinerias used to be a Master-tier Vayne ADC main in seasons five and six. The big love for the jungler, however, came a few years later, after Sinerias learned how to play him by watching another notorious Yi player, Cowsep.
Seasons seven and eight were the turning point for Sinerias; that was when he began to fully focus on Yi and grind solo queue. This season, he reached League Challenger in February and hit rank one towards the end of March.
“It was a challenge I set for myself and pushed to the limit for that goal,” he told Dot. “Eventually, I ended up becoming the best Yi player in the world.”
Even though the champion is not usually seen at the highest levels of play, Sinerias succeeds thanks to his rock-solid mentality, which he says helped him to get to the point where he’s at now.
Sinerias believes the biggest difference between him and most Challenger players is how he cares a lot more about solo queue than they do, which allows him to have a better and more consistent mentality, both inside and outside of the game.
“While I do tilt, I believe my overall mentality is great,” he said. “Long queue times, getting target-banned, or people saying that they don’t want to play with you are all things that might affect your mental and thus, your performance. Some Challenger players, while having exceptional mechanics, can get mentally destroyed and worsen their consistency for those reasons.”
Sinerias says he struggles with target bans on a daily basis, which sometimes forces him to play other champions. Even though he thinks his other picks are not as strong as his main, he’s confident enough to say he can play most junglers at a low Challenger level. When he’s not on his main, Sinerias usually either plays meta junglers or champions that suit his ally team’s composition: Jarvan IV, Ekko, Evelynn, and Kayn are among his preferred secondary picks.
Regardless of what he plays, however, Sinerias’ playstyle as a jungler is always looking to get full control of the game to ensure he can carry from any state or situation.
Now he has been consistently in the top ranks of the EUW Challenger solo queue, Sinerias has discovered a few “secrets” to climbing the ladder. Mentality, mechanics, and macro, he says, are the focal points each League player should work on if they want to get to Challenger.
“If all these three things are at a Challenger level, then you will become Challenger,” Sinerias said. “Of course, there are other things like confidence that might affect it, but what I’m trying to say is that you have to be consistently strong at all these factors, especially your mental which is more prone to fluctuations. Focus on your macro, rewatch your own games, and always strive to win. It’s never an easy thing but it’s the best way to go.”
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He also mentioned finding a unique playstyle helps you grow even more. To differentiate yourself from others, it’s not enough to just play typical champions. The secret is playing one or two champions at maximum and making sure to become the best at it.
Being at the top of the ladder means having the chance to play against the crème de la crème, and it’s not a surprise to see players wanting to face the strongest players possible. Sinerias is no exception as he revealed who he thinks is the “end boss” of the EUW solo queue.
“My worst ‘nemesis’ is Agurin, who I think is the best solo queue player,” he said. “When he’s in tryhard mode, Agurin is probably the hardest one to play against, it’s always an enjoyable challenge for me. I believe that if you’re to beat him consistently, then it’s like clearing the final level in a single-player game.”
Sinerias also praised two familiar names from the pro scene: Selfmade, who Sinerias said is gifted mechanically, and Nemesis, who he says is the best mid laner in the West.
Sinerias peaked at 1759LP this season so far, according to his OP.GG, and is currently in the top 30 on the EUW ladder above 1370LP. He believes he can go way beyond his peak, however. The goal for the rest of the year is to surpass the 2000LP mark.
But Sinerias’ goals aren’t only related to his own solo queue rank. He’s also planning to bring more educational content on his Twitch and Youtube channels.
“My other goal is to grow my community and help those who reach out to me and want to climb the ladder,” he said.” I’m also planning on going to Korea later this year. If I get the chance to fly there, I will have one month to go full grind on League and challenge myself to get rank one in Korea as well. It will be tough, but I’m so excited to see whether I can pull it off.”
