Immortals continued its impressive summer split of the North American League Championship Series over the weekend, defeating Apex and NRG 2-0 to improve to 15-1 heading into the final week.

Thanks to Team SoloMid’s loss to Phoenix1 on Saturday night, Immortals is tied with TSM atop the standings heading into a matchup against them in the final week of the regular season that could determine who gets the top seed in the playoffs.

Immortals has suffered defeat only three times since forming before the spring split, but two of them have been to TSM: Once earlier this season, and once in the semifinals of the spring playoffs.

Slingshot’s Vince Nairn talked to Immortals support Adrian “Adrian” Ma after the Week 8 wins to talk about TSM, how he got to the LCS and Immortals’ hopes for the playoffs.

Vince Nairn: What are your thoughts after moving to 15-1 on the season?

Adrian “Adrian” Ma: This week we played Apex and NRG, and we made a few mistakes, but the second games were really clean games, and we won decisively.

VN: Last split, you lost once in the regular season, in the playoffs and have lost once this split. Is there a trick to keeping your minds on improving even when you’re getting good results?

AM: There’s a lot of mistakes we make when we win. Each week, we work on our goals and try to fix them by the end of the week. We reveal our goals when the week starts again, and we try to slowly fix our mistakes. In best of threes, I think we’re learning way more because we’re playing so many games, and we can adapt and change in a series. I think best-of-three series are even better for us because if we make a mistake Game 1, we can come back and play better.

VN: What do you think of the new patch Riot released a couple days ago (Editor’s note: Riot has since rescinded some of the proposed changes) and might take into effect right with the playoffs and worlds?

AM: I don’t know for sure, but I feel like it’s gonna be really focused on bot lane and whoever gets the bot lane first can snowball. It’s gonna be bot lane focused. I think it’s gonna be good for Immortals.

VN: So you are unique because you were the first person to play for the LCS after starting with a college team. What was your experience like at RMU, and what made your decision to come to the LCS?

AM: My experience at RMU was pretty short (one or two months), but it was my first time being in a team environment and being outside my house. It was tough having to communicate with five people and having a coach. It was so new to me. It helped me understand I need to be a team player, and it got me a little ready for LCS.

VN: Was there any hesitation? Or was it a matter of having to go after a chance you just got?

AM: I got this chance. I gotta go. I’m gonna show up at RMU until I was good enough for LCS.

VN: Did you expect it to happen that quickly?

AM: I didn’t expect it to happen that quickly, but I had a feeling I would be leaving eventually. I was just waiting for my time.

VN: How does education play into your thoughts going forward? Do you ever wanna go back?

AM: I really wanna go back to school. I wanna play as long as I can while I’m on top, and then I’ll probably go back to school and play League while I’m in school. Best of both worlds.

VN: What was the life balance like the short time you were in school?

AM: It was really hard to balance when I did it. High school and college were way different because high school, I would breeze by and hardly pay attention to school and play games all day. When I was in college, I had to balance school, playing games and sleep, so it was really hard and different for me.

VN: Obviously you have TSM next week. What’s it like coming down to the last week and playing them for first place?

AM: I’m really excited to play TSM. We’ve been scrimming them a lot. I think we have a really good chance. It’ll be a close series. We’ve been thinking about this for weeks.

VN: When it’s like that, what is a match like this going to come down to? What are the little things that might make a difference when you’re playing?

AM: I think it’s just adjusting in game. When we have a lead we have to not be too greedy with it, and then we have to close the game out right.

VN: You went 17-1 in the spring split, lost in the semis, came back and have done well, but you’ve been kinda overshadowed by TSM’s undefeated start. Do you guys have a chip on your shoulder at all?

AM: Yeah. We really want to beat TSM and not make the same mistakes we made spring split.

Photos courtesy of Riot Games.