Coming off another stunning win Sunday night, Albus NoX Luna is the talk of the League of Legends World Championship after a 2-1 opening week. Slingshot’s Andrew Kim talked to Alexander “PvPStejos” Glazkov about getting to 2-1, the key to success and whether or not he’s satisfied with the splash his team has made.

Andrew Kim: I gotta say, in that game you showed incredible coordination and intelligent communication. You have to tell me what was the team like when everything clicks like it did today?

Alexander “PvPStejos” Glazkov: In the game, we have two people mainly proposing the decisions, me and Likkrit. I am controlling the most of the moves on the map, and if Likkrit sees some good movement on the map as a support, he is like going “OK guys, we go over here and fight” or something. Rotations are all me, but the calls of “ok guys we’re going here” is all Likkrit.

AK: Why do you think G2 lost against you?

AG: Well, I have to say the game started with pretty bad play from Perkz, a similar mistake of what actually Faker did. They both had cleanse and they failed to use it on the first or second CC, so they used it between them. So we had enough time to make the maximum damage on Orianna, and he died. Because of this, the temp of the mid lane was lost (to G2.) The Lee Sin couldn’t pressure Anivia and make those Insec’s moves and rotations because the vision was pretty solid from me and the team. After that, we had very good ending from a skirmish where we lost a kill but Expect followed and went too greedy and we took a kill. After that we were like “ok we can farm,” the setup was pretty fine, we actually showed that we will win the team fights in the late game because we have stuff like Brand and Locket Elise – there is a big story about the Locket on Elise and how it came to be – and also after that, Trick started to try and pressure top lane, and take advantage by making Trundle a split push boss, for that he lost Infernal. After these moves it was like, full control for us on the game and we were slowly but steady trying to end. All G2 tried to do was try to catch me. Sometimes they were successful, but they would use ults, flashes and time to try and catch a jungler that is not going to do something useful. The crowd was like “this guy is going tanky; don’t focus him,” but they were doing it. When it came to the team fights, we had pretty good but bad move. We didn’t get Ocean Drake in time; we lost it. In this moment, Likkrit says “OK guys, we go nashor.” I watch, OK yes on the map they don’t see, we have wards and pink, so we go.

AK: So the Baron call that caught G2 completely unaware, that was Likkrit’s call?

AG: Yes the baron call is always Likkrit’s call.

AK: Now that you mention Likkrit, he has proven himself to be a very passionate and fiery support. You have to tell me what it’s like to share shot-calling with such an aggressive player. Do you find that it’s hard to try to convince him to do something else?

AG: Yes, actually. Sometimes it’s like “OK (do) this,” and I have different opinion but when I agree with him we get he wants, and if we don’t agree, we don’t do it. But usually he’s saying the right things so we don’t have any dispositions.

AK: This is your first world experience. What do you think is the key behind Albus Nox Luna’s success?

AG: Well, actually in Week 1, I think both teams that we won against were not prepared for us enough. I don’t think it’s a problem of players maybe, it’s more like a problem of their coach or analysis staff because they are not ready for us at all. I’m not sure if they watched our LCL matches or how much they watched it. Sometimes you need to just understand, some teams what they want to do, what they’re going to do. In our team, we have a coach who makes us some analysis and I think that some solo queue games you are playing before the match are not that important than understanding like the style of the enemy team. I always watch our opponent’s matches and try to understand their logic.

AK: I want to ask about your Elise pick some more. You mentioned that there is a story behind the Locket Elise.

AG: Now in the middle of the season, my support is like “Boys, I am Brand.” I’m like “What?” and we’re starting to play and I notice there is no Locket. There were some times when we went Nidalee with Locket, people who played against me say, “What is this? You bought Locket? Are you serious? On Nidalee?” Sometimes I build GA or tanky on Nidalee. Sometimes you need defense and utility that Brand can’t give you. So sometimes I sacrifice my play for the team, I think.

AK: Do you ever think “I hope Likkrit builds these items” or something like that?

AG: That’s especially on Brand. On other champs, he’s always building like Locket and other stuff. You can’t have damage and utility on one champion at the same time.

AK: You’ve certainly made a splash in the world scene, and outside there is Chinese, Korean, American, and European media wanting to talk about Albus Nox. I think that was part of your goal to make people watch the LCL. Are you satisfied with what you’ve done so far? Or do you want to make an even bigger impression?

AG: I’m not gauging fame or something like that because it’s always possible to (end up) 2-4 . I don’t feel anything about our wins at the moment. Until we go out or stay in group, it doesn’t matter, you have to end your quest, and then you are thinking of other things. So I will answer this question after our play after the group stage.

Cover photo courtesy of Riot Games