It's been quite a year for Adrian Ma. He entered this year thinking he would be attending Robert Morris University as one of its League of Legends scholarship students, but after being scouted by the former LMQ team at the end of last year he found himself on one of the hottest teams in NA. With the ascendant formerly known as WizFuJiin by his side, North America's most aggressive jungler to back him up, NA's only remaining samurai in mid, and a World Champion rounding out the squad, he now looks forward to facing Team SoloMid for a shot at the North American finals in his debut split. I got a chance to catch up with the region's hottest new support player, and find out how they felt against Gravity, how apparently CLG steals their strats, his thoughts on TSM, and his reflections on his first year.

You're in the semifinals in your debut split of the LCS. How does that feel?

I feel really good about it, but I'm pretty sad we didn't go 3-0. We shoulda went 3-0. The Fizz cheese surprised us.

Apollo said when I interviewed him last week that he didn't know what to expect from Gravity, saying they were a “weird team,” but was pretty confident. What did you expect going into these games?

I thought that as long as we weren't too shocked by their cheese, we're better in every single lane. Just raw skill.

In that second game, was it just that the Fizz caught you completely off guard, because you banned it every game after that?

Yeah, the Fizz and Rumble caught us off guard. ...and XiaoWeiXiao didn't have masteries that game.

Yeah, I saw that. I guess there's another Piglet. Did he realize that in the game, or did he figure it out after?

He figured it out after. Impact was all, “XWX, did you forget your masteries?” and he said “No, I just deleted them!” He tried to play it off, but I think he forgot it.

Every other game seemed to go really well for you guys. How did it feel inside the game?

I love playing with Rush, because with him we can play really good mindgames because he's always really aggressive. We can act like he's in our lane, when he's not, and they play scared all around the map.

Every other jungler has really moved over to those tanky junglers, heavily prioritizing the Sejuani, but Rush has stayed true to the Vi, the Lee Sin. Do you feel like you don't need those tank junglers when you have a player like Rush?

Yeah, I don't think we need the tank junglers. But if the tank junglers are really strong, he'll learn them. Coach doesn't think we need to learn it yet, but he's been playing 'em.

The series had a lot of really specific target bans – you guys took out the Urgot every game, Gravity took out the Lee Sin, the TF, the Yasuo – how did you approach the pick/ban phase going into it knowing that both your teams are really unpredictable?

We were really surprised by their bans. It's really surprising how they banned TF and Yasuo. Those were our two strong champions, revolving around the mid lane, but XWX's champion pool is really deep and strong compared to Keane's, whose is really weak, so we were really confident.

XWX has been pretty much the only player who's really stayed true to that Yasuo. What makes you guys so confident that it's still a strong pick?

He's a master of it. He'll win matchups he shouldn't be winning, and he picks it into counter matchups and still wins. It's really funny to watch him to play. We build the team around it.

So you guys were planning on bringing out the TF this series?

CLG stole our strat. They don't know how to play the TF comp. Everything they did, we would've done better. We played it against them.

Vlad showed up just about every game this series – what makes it so strong? Some players have had a lot of success on it, and some people like Zion in the previous series didn't have too much of an effect on it.

Zion actually picked it up from Impact, because he lost so much to Impact. I think Impact and XiaoWeiXiao are really good at Vladimir, and he's just a really strong pick. He does so much in team fights. With Sivir speedup, he can beat anyone, and he can one-shot people.

Before, he wasn't picked because he was so easy to bully early on in the game. Is that no longer a concern?

Most junglers are playing more defensive, farm-heavy junglers like tanks. But Rush can still play aggressive, so they can't play Vlad as effectively.

This weekend was the first weekend on 5.6. Did this change anything?

Nothing really changed.

Not even lookin' at that Bard yet, not even with the buffs?

Bard's a weird champion. I've been trying it out, and I don't think he's ready. It'd have to be a perfect situation to pick him.

Now you've got TSM. How do you see TSM matching up with you guys?

I feel like we showed so much this week. We have to come up with new plans and strategies, and we don't know what TSM's been practicing since they have a bye. We don't know what they've picked up. It's gonna be really hard and unpredictable, and they know so much about us already.

The mid lane is gonna be something people are really looking at, with XWX and Bjergsen possibly the top two midlaners. Does having someone with such an imposing presence as Bjergsen in their mid lane affect the way you approach the game? You can usually assume XWX will probably win lane...

It's gonna be way different. We can't always expect XWX to win, so...I think XWX can actually win. Bjergsen? Overrated.

What about your matchup against Wildturtle and Lustboy?

Everyone calls us an average bot lane, but I think TSM is the best bot lane NA. People think Aphromoo and Bunny are better than Lustboy, but I think Lustboy is miles better than them. They just look more flashy.

Yeah, I actually agree. Lustboy's vision game is incredible.

His vision game, and his mindgames are really good. He actually understands the game, while other supports just try to look cool.

Speaking of looking cool, you tend to bust out that Leona, which is one of the biggest playmaking supports, and you're one of the only players who really seems to be dedicated to that Leona. What is it about that pick that you keep coming back to?

It's so easy to play Leona. We can dive, and we like being aggressive. I can tank so much and have a good amount of CC. The only thing that caught us off guard was the Fizz, because every time I tried to flash towards him he'd dodge my skills so it was really frustrating.

The Nautilus support you busted out in the first game seems to be one of those pretty cool engaging supports. You think that's got legs, and gonna stick around?

It's gonna be around now. It's pretty strong, but it's not OP.

For you personally, you made the choice to leave school from RMU and come here to participate in LCS. Reflecting back on that decision, how has your pro career worked out for you?

I'm really happy I chose to leave RMU *laughs* But I heard they qualified for Top 4, so that's good for them. Being pro is way more fun.

You think you're gonna stick around for a couple years if you get the chance?

Yeah, I definitely wanna stay a few more years, but I will go back to school eventually.

When you go back, what are you thinking about studying?

I actually wanna do something medical – science field.

Any shoutouts? Anything you wanna leave the interview with?

I really want to say thank you to my manager Alex Gu for believing in me. I didn't choke. Thank you to our sponsors Koios and Azubu.

Alright! Good luck next week!