One does not think of the North American League Championship Series without thinking of Team SoloMid. TSM struggled this Summer, narrowly making the playoffs and just barely placing third, but are now one step away from going to Worlds. TSM Support Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez and company defeated Echo Fox 3-0 to advance to the final gauntlet match against Cloud9.

We caught up with the Team SoloMid Support to discuss the team’s struggles, their match tomorrow, and the upcoming World Championship.

VP Esports: Your last series with Echo Fox was actually really close — what changed and why was it so one-sided this time around?

Mithy: I think we came in with a completely different way of playing the game. Our drafts were different from how we usually play. I feel like that caught them off guard. Everyone also seemed to be able to step up more. It felt like we were more on the same page. Our game was also really structured — everything we did in the game had structure to it. Whoever made a mistake, said this is was “my bad” and just continued to focus on the macro. It just felt like there was structure in macro and made it easy to go forward with the game. We did outplay them in certain areas, but that’s what I took from the game.

A lot of criticism has been levied against the bot lane for poor performances, but it seems like you guys have been performing a lot better recently for TSM. What changed?

There’s just many things people can’t really understand or get a grasp of. For me, the way we were playing the game before just made it a struggle. We didn’t get many resources and whenever we got resources, it wasn’t at the right time and I had no synergy with my jungler. I just kind of played my own game and felt really disconnected. That just made for us not performing very well. When you’re not on the same page and things happen to you as a professional that you don’t expect like “this team is going to fight here or this team is going to do this,” you don’t have that type of anticipation.

When you’re not ready for those moments, you tend to fu** them up. It can feel really insane no matter what team you’re on. You see all these superstars join teams that can’t seem to find their angle and that’s mostly why. That’s a big part of why we haven’t been able to show up — not to say that we’re better than we look or not — just that those are things people don’t take into account when looking at new players in new teams.

You mention synergy — is that why you’ve stayed with Zven for so long? What’s your relationship and what’s kept you guys together?

Personally, I just think he’s a great player and one of the best. He is very different from me in his work ethic and I feel like that is a puzzle piece falling in. His motivation drives me to stay up late and match him. We are different in many ways, but at our core, but we both want to do absolutely everything we can to be the best and win every game. Even though our personalities are different in many cases, I just feel like we connect very well with each other. All that makes me want to stay with him — I just don’t see a reason why not to.

In the same vein, Bjergsen received a lot of criticism and the team struggled to get it together. Did you ever feel like he was too passive or was it just TSM’s communication?

It’s like I said before, a new team brings many different things. An ideal way to make a new team is to do what TL did who went “We have Doublelift, let’s just cater around him and play our roles toward him and make sure we can draft toward him,” basically optimizing one playstyle. It worked wonders for them, but we didn’t really take that approach. We basically catered to every playstyle and every situation. It was just many things going wrong because we didn’t have that one goal or one optimal playstyle to play through. We’ve had a lot of struggles and we probably will be having a lot of struggles in the future. I feel like once we start to understand each other better — and we’re in a good place now — it’s going to get easier and easier like it was in G2 where we could play at least two styles.

Now, you have your last match against Cloud9 tomorrow. They’ve been really good lately and one of the best in NA, how do you feel about the matchup?

They’re a great team. They finished second place and won against us. They have this sub system going on too which is kind of scary. I’m excited for the final gauntlet match, it’s our redemption and at the same time, it’s really important for both teams because of the legacy the organizations have. It’s going to be a big deal and I just hope that we can perform like we did today, if not a bit better.

If you can make it to Worlds, what’s the most exciting thing about attending?

Not-not going. Honestly, the most exciting part about going to Worlds is going instead of not going. I’ve been going to Worlds ever since I started my professional career so for me not going is just a huge disappointment. Other than that, I just feel like it will be a great experience for our team to get a grasp of international play.

We will probably just get sh** on, but since we’re playing all these different styles, we will pick up on other teams doing the same thing and how they perfect them. Hopefully that opens up our mind to different ideas and how to execute different styles so we can do better as a team. I’m not sure if we’re going to do well, I really don’t care. But that’s my biggest goal. If we do make it to Worlds, I think we’ll have a great second year.

You mention improving — are there any supports that you would want to learn from?

I haven’t really been able to get a grasp of how supports are playing the vision game and macro because it’s harder when I’m not playing against them or watching VODs from their point-of-view. It’s really hard to target those areas and see what they’re doing different from me. Apart from that, there’s just some supports that are so good mechanically — I’m just excited to get destroyed by them and be like wow “this guy is insane.”

Who are those supports?

I think RNG’s Ming is just crazy good. Gen.G’s CoreJJ is also really good and really consistent. Just Ming, he is so good and always playing mechanically perfect. I think that’s just insane to watch. Every other support is just really consistent with their team, engages at the right time and does everything at the right time. Ming is just one step above mechanically.

Also, KT Mata. Mata is just so proactive in the way he plays. Vision-wise, I don’t really understand how vision score works, but he is always on top of it. His proactivity, how much vision he puts down, and how much he pressures is something I’m excited for. Although, we probably aren’t even going to get a chance to scrim those teams. He’s just been so good, especially on Pyke, he is probably one step above mechanically as well.

What about a support like SwordArt?

SwordArt is a “friend” of mine, but I’ve been meeting him always. We have a close relationship. I haven’t been following LMS at all and I’ve seen nothing of him so I don’t want to say anything about him. I just know he is always up there and one of the best, super consistent. He is like Mata, in the sense that it feels like he is the one leading his team. That’s something I respect a lot.

Your old team, G2, is also looking to qualify tomorrow — do you have any words for them?

I just wish them the best of luck. I think that the best would be that they make it and we make it. If that’s the case, I don’t think we would fight against them

You actually can play against each other if one of you loses to a wildcard team.

If that ever happened, I think that would be pretty bad, but at the same time pretty exciting to be in that position. Yeah, just in general, I wish them the very best and hope they can make it and we can make it right after.

Photo: (Lolesports, Riot Games)