In addition to their teammates on ﻿Echo Fox Academy﻿ and ﻿Team Liquid Academy﻿, Samson "﻿Lourlo﻿" Jackson and Matthew "Matt" Elento spoke with Upcomer about their seasons in the Academy League. They contrasted their time there to the LCS, and spoke about how they utilize the system in new ways.





Both players have become leaders in ways they had been unable to on the main stage, and Matt, in particular, speaks of a newfound passion he had lost.









How do you feel you’ve been able to utilize your time in Academy this split?





Lourlo: We started off pretty bad. I came into Academy wanting to be a resource hog a little bit, wanting to carry these games. But then I started realizing that if I didn't start teaching my team how to play the game correctly, we aren't going to win these games anyway. So we lost a lot of games early cause I think I was a little too selfish with my picks and how I was playing. And then I just came into a week during Urgot/Sion meta, and I was like “Pick me Urgot/Sion and I'm going to teach the other four how to play the game properly.” And then I took two weeks just teaching them over and over how to play for vision, how to control objectives, etc. Then we went from 2-5 to a six-game win streak since we started playing as a team. And then we were 8-5, then 1-1 the rest of the way into the playoffs.





I think overall it's been a good experience for me, because I've had a lot of leadership qualities in my past teams, I've just been in really unlucky situations I think. Like the TL 2017 run was so unlucky, the 2018 GGS run I feel like, well especially summer split we could've definitely made playoffs. There were just some really unlucky games. We were tied for first at some point, we were 5-3. And then we just didn't win a game the rest of the split.





Things like that were hard, but I think being in Academy overall has given me a better grasp of what I need to work on. And it gave me room to help other players too which felt pretty rewarding. I think my ultimate goal is to get back into LCS because I want to play long term. And I think I'm still LCS caliber as a player. Like I've subbed in for LCS scrims and I do pretty well. I just haven't had a shot to show it on stage yet this year. But I think I'll just keep playing, keep practicing, and I'll get to show it soon.









Matt: Ever since my rookie split, I've been sort of a role player, so this is my first split in Academy and I really expanded how I wanted to play the game and how I wanted to be utilized with my team. And I learned the skills to not only be a leader in game but out of game. So it really felt like I needed to step up and be a leader with having some rookies and some people who aren't so experienced. Mike Yeung being the most experienced. I'm not some sort of completely reformed, changed player. But I definitely learned a lot even not being in LCS. Learning what I want out of draft, what I want out of practice, what I want from my team, and what I want in myself.





So it's been a really good learning experience for me to take control. It's also an expectation shift. In the teams I've been on, I haven't had the best roster or the best environment and it seemed like I was always asort of doomed for last place. this time around, being in Academy especially, my expectation since day one was to get first place and to try to do well in Finals in Academy. And that's still my goal today. That's a really big difference waking up trying to destroy people and waking up just trying to survive.





You guys have obviously been starting in LCS for a while (others have played up there too, but not as much as you both), what is your plan for getting back there? Are you trying to fight for a spot this offseason, or are you just riding this wave and seeing what happens?





L: Part of me wants to go to Korea and just try to get my mechanics up to par for Summer and maybe I get an offer. But I just really want to be on a team where people don't only respect me, but we all respect each other, because I think a lot of times in esports, people make a team and they lose a couple games and mentally break down. I made sure with this team, even when we lost a lot of games, I made the players still want to play the game, still want to trust each other.

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And it shows, we started winning. Our first game after we were 2-5, we won in 18 minutes. And it was against 100 Thieves funnily enough. We were just hard rolling over them, and we kept winning over and over. I think building a good comradery is really needed in esports. And I feel like some teams have it. I think a team that has a lot is C9, and maybe that's why they have so much international success, but I feel like a lot of teams are missing that in NA.





I feel like LCK teams, and even EU teams, they build a strong culture. And I feel like that's why they generally show good results at Worlds, it's because they trust each other. Even if it was like game 4, game 5 even, they understand how to back each other up. When it gets bad in NA, people mentally collapse, they don't trust each other. And you just can't win, you can't progress. So I think that was my main focus with this team, and it's going to be a focus moving forward with whatever team I join.









M: I do think that I would be LCS ready, and I'm sure most people in Academy would say that, but I was fortunate enough earlier on in this Split to scrim with the main team. And even just in a few of those scrims I got to play with them gave me some passion and gave me a reminder of what it feels like to be with a good team. It's been a while since I played with a good team that I was just fortunate to be on. Players like Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, Nicolaj Jensen, Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong, and Jake Kevin "Xmithie" Puchero are all really good teammates and really fun to play with. That gave me the motivation for this split to rejoin LCS. I really want to play well. I really want to play on stage and show what I'm worth.





Give a shoutout to another Academy player! You know more than most what it takes to be LCS ready, so who is deserving of a starting spot?





L: It's hard to pick one but all my teammates excel in different things. Mechanically, David "Yusui" Bloomquist has been performing really well. But also, James "Panda" Ding. He’s been growing so much, it's actually crazy. Like, he was really bad at the start, if I'm being honest. Like, he didn't know how to play the game at all. Then in less than three months, he is one of the top academy junglers, he played in LCS, he was doing well in the LCS. He improved incredibly, I've never seen a player improve that fast with how little experience he has. And even our bot lane too, they've had some explosive games too where they just hard win bot. Lawrence "Lost" Hui has some insane games on Kai'Sa, even Lee "Fill" Hyo-won has insane games on Thresh. I think everyone had their moments of glory during the Academy season, but it's hard to pick one in my opinion.









M: I think Quentin "Shoryu" Pereira, I think it's really fitting. He's had some nice performances. he's improved a shit ton. funnily enough, right after Omran "V1per" Shoura promotes, I feel like he's on that track of promoting as well. And I really think Shoryu is going to be the next up and coming ADC for North America.





(Matt only) That’s fitting because Shoryu shouted you out as well for perfectly enabling his playstyle. How do you feel like you stack up to the competition yourself?





M: Oh bro, I feel like I'm the best support: not from KDA or stats or whatever: but I feel like if there was a poll about who every player is afraid to play against, I feel like I'd be at the top of the supports





(Matt only) How was it returning back to the studio and playing on the stage after the whole year playing from your comfy scrim room?





M: I did not get used to playing on stage the fastest. Early on in the series I didn't do too well I was a little distracted. I think the brightness and all the extra stuff was affecting me a bit, but I think I got over it. I think next week against C9 I'm going to be a lot more confident playing on stage.