Following the organization’s announcement of their new League of Legends team, I had the chance to interview two of the team’s players: Kallon “Kerberos” Ram and Felix “Laatch” Melin. Here’s what they had to say.
So how are you both feeling about this coming year?
Kerberos: “Pretty excited honestly. Our team has only just formed and already we have had the opportunity to team up with Cyclone. We just want to see how far we can go.”
Laatch: “We do believe in a good year with a lot of success and achievements, and believe an organization that can back us up is really something that can improve us as a team, and as individuals, of course.”
What do you think you will be working on the most to prepare for events like the ESL UK Premiership and UK Masters?
Kerberos: “I think we have insanely strong individual talent, but we will need to come together as a team if we want to beat the best teams in the leagues.”
Laatch: “I fully agree.”
Have you spent much time outside of the game with each other?
Laatch: “I’ve never met any of my teammates, but we plan to meet at i60 for sure.”
Kerberos: “We only formed a few days ago. I think it was Felix’s idea to start the team, as we wanted to get into the UK scene.”
Do you think that this will in any way harm your synergy as a team?
Laatch: “We’re building up bonds between each other every day that goes by, and we’re getting stronger and stronger. I think living together would be really cool, but it might decrease the level of ‘tryhardness’ since you might mess around with each other every day.”
Kerberos: “We haven’t had much time to practice yet, and in the beginning, it may be hard for us to compete with heavily coached teams, but I think we have the talent to develop.”
Seeing as you’re a new team, do you feel under pressure from the other teams that have been coached longer?
Laatch: “No I don’t, I’m really confident playing against these bot lanes, and overall, I think that our team still has a decent mindset going into games and focusing on the right things.”
Kerberos: “Conversely, I definitely do. While I know a lot of these players from solo queue, this is the first time I’ve competed in the UK scene. I really want to show off my skillset and perform at the highest level.”
Where do you picture the team one year from now?
Kerberos: “A year from now? That’s a tough one. A year ago, I was barely in the top 1% of the player base, now I’m in the top 0.01%. Hopefully, I can continue to improve.”
Laatch: “A year from now, I want to play in a national league. I’m aiming high and I feel like I can complete these goals by putting in countless hours.”
How much time are you willing to put into the team? Have you looked into a schedule for play as a team?
Laatch: “We’re looking for coach and a manager. I’m ready to put in a lot of effort and time, since it’s something I’m very passionate about.”
Kerberos: “We all put a lot of time into the game, so it will help a lot once we have someone to direct us.”
Do you think you’re first place material for both ESL and UK Masters?
Laatch: “I think we’re definitely top-three, but I think MnM is the only team that could cause an upset.”
Kerberos: “Obviously we are going to win, but it’s going to be super hard as we haven’t played against any other UK teams so far since we finalized our roster.”
Laatch: “While we know we are stronger than before our roster changes, we just don’t know how much stronger we are now. We will know after we get a coach and some serious practice together.”
Kerberos: “As Laatch said, MnM is a monster team right now. If we can even go toe-to-toe with them, that will be huge. They are significantly stronger than any other team right now.”
What do you think Cyclone has to offer this year? Leave us your comment down below or tweet us @GAMURScom.
Jordan Aldridge-Payne is an esports journalist for GAMURS and can be reached on Twitter @mrjordanap.
