In the days leading up to the Summer Split, Gambit Gaming announced the departure of long time support Edward, and revealed that a substitute would be filling his spot. After a strong showing with the team at Dreamhack and in Moscow, I had a chance to speak with with Andrey 'Darker' Plechistov, who now represents Gambit officially from the Support position.

Hello, say hi to your fans!

Darker: Hello everybody who’s reading this and especially our fans, I’m Andrei “Darker” Plechistov.





What's it like coming in to support for a team as high caliber as Gambit?

Darker: It’s a very cool and awesome experience. When I was invited to play in the roster it was an opportunity I couldn't miss.

How are you getting used to the support role? What improvements do you feel you personally need to make to reach the top level?

Darker: I just need more experience overall, like playing soloq as support and playing support at the competitive level – both of these activities will help me a lot in deep understanding of the role. I wouldn’t say that i’m too far behind, yes I have some things to work at, but they are more about getting match-up and lane phase knowledge which comes naturally from experience.

Edward was known for his aggressive playstyle, which Gambit has grown famous for. Does your playstyle mesh will the team? What about with Genja, how is the synergy there?

Darker: Edward and Genja always had bad synergy in my opinion, but they are both really great players and Edward is a “playmaker” so it helped them a lot to work together even without being a strong pair of players. My top priority is working on playstyle that will help my team the most while having good synergy with Genja at the same time. It’s really hard task, but I believe we could be even stronger team when I make it.

Gambit is a team that is expected to do well, and you are filling the shoes of the All-Star voted Edward, is there a lot of pressure? How do you handle it?

Darker: I don’t feel much pressure in that way. I just think I have a “job” and that “job” needs to be done well.Feeling pressure won’t help me much but will make me stressful so I just avoid it and focus on playing my best in every game.

What is the overall attitude/mindset of the team after making the switch?

Darker: I think my team is very hungry in terms of willing to win right now, everybody is so motivated and I really like it.

Is it difficult adjusting to the level of play in the LCS? How different is competitive play than when you participated at IEM Kiev on White Lotus?

Darker: It’s difficult because all of the opponents are very good and very professional, but I enjoy it and competing on the highest level is so interesting that I don’t care about “hard” things on my way.

When I was playing in WL it was really different story, we weren’t friends with teammates and we didn’t like playing with each other that much, I didn’t like how we played as a team at IEM Kiev so I parted my ways with that team immediately after tourney.

You used to play on MTG with Darien and Genja. What's it like to play with them again and how have they changed since you last competed together? How different are their playstyles/levels of skill?

Darker: I feel like Genja was always playing like now, nothing really changed from my point of view, but Darien improved a lot since then, without a doubt these guys deserve the spot where they are at currently and I'm glad that they achieved such high results.

After coming into the Summer Split at 0-2, the team must have been unsatisfied. What factors came into play during those losses, and what changes have you guys made since then?

Darker: Can’t really say what happened there, we were playing really below our real level that day, everybody was out of his comfort zone probably or something like that. The next day we discussed our falls and did a lot better overall.

With your recent wins, do you feel like things are starting to flow better with you?

Darker: Yes of course, everybody in my team is playing really great and I feel i’m improving as well during those matches.

We've seen a handful of champions from you so far, which support is your favorite to play and why?

Darker: I guess I like playing Zyra the most just because of the impact she can bring in teamfights and ganks.

Who are your favorite AD carries to lane with? Against?

Darker: ﻿I like champions such as Varus, Ashe, and Caitlyn to lane with cause they have decent range and some poke abilities. Against - I hate twitch a bit, but after our win against LemonDogs when we really dominated their Twitch + Nami lane it feels way better.

You recently played Fiddlesticks, a pick not commonly seen in the LCS. Why is this, and what types of strengths does he offer?

Darker: Sadly fiddle wasn’t the best support to have in that game, we failed draft pretty hard in my opinion so I couldn’t show his good points in that game. Overall he has one of the strongest CC in the game – his fear (Q), also decent harass in lane with E and nice teamfight presence with ultimate which deals damage even without any dmg item and nice passive which really helps a lot if you have some magic damage in your comp.

Who do you feel is the current "safe" or go to pick for support? Who do you feel is the strongest support currently?

Darker: For us it’s Sona I believe, some teams are feeling the same about Thresh. In my opinion Sona is also the strongest support right now (3.7 patch), we’ll need more experience to see who’s going to be next #1 supportin 3.8 patch.

Has baiting and outsmarting your enemy played a part in your recent success?

Darker: No doubt ;)

Of the current LCS teams, who is the scariest or most difficult to play against?

Darker: I would point out three teams: ATN, because they are really strong at the current meta. They are also great players and pick the strongest heroes and play solid overall. Fnatic, because they are experienced and sometimes really hard to predict. Last but not least MYM, who have shown that they are ready to compete at the highest level, also their mid laner is a really strong carry. I’d say that this summer split is much stronger than spring and in my opinion every team is very strong and has a chance to beat anyone. Some teams who aren’t doing well now will do better in the future for sure.

As a whole, how do you feel the current regions stand in terms of global competition? Who do you feel is the strongest region?

Darker: I think Asia is ahead right now. Other regions can catch up if they put in enough effort and dedication.

Which EU team do you feel has the best shot at winning worlds?

Darker: Gambit.

With patch 3.8 finally here, what types of changes can we expect to see in competitive play? How do you feel about the patch, does anything stand out to you?

Darker: I expect junglers to carry really hard in this patch. For me as a support nothing really special, changes to Sona could be pretty crucial though.

Do you think Gambit's playstyle is favored with the changes?

Darker: Yes I think so, because Diamond is amazing player and this patch he will have more power to carry games.

What is the best summoner combination for supports in your opinion?

Darker: Flash and ignite or exhaust depending on the situation. Don’t see better options for now.

What was it like to go 6-0 after what seemed to be a rough start?

Darker: It feels great. I feel my teammates deserve those victories, we practiced a lot before LCS in Sweden.

How does it feel to win at home in Moscow?

Darker: Feels really great, showing good performance in front of our own Russian crowd is an amazingfeeling, I wish everybody could experience something like that in their life.

What's it like the during the hours leading up to an LCS match?

Darker: I think nothing special, we just try to focus on game and discuss draft and strategy with my teammates.

What is your goal in competitive League of Legends?

Darker: To make my teammates and all Gambit fans proud of me and to enjoy living as a professional player.

Any shoutouts?

Darker: Shoutouts to all my friends from Kaliningrad, my family, girlfriend and to all Gambit fans.