Danil ”Diamondprox” Reshetnikov after week four of the LCS. Photo: Riot / Flickr

They started the LCS EU season in the worst way possible, losing five straight games.

But Gambit Gaming has turned it around in an incredible way and are now the hottest team in the league with no less than seven straight victories – a streak Diamondprox attributes to hard practice and solid coaching.

– The bad results early were our own fault. At least now we know better what time we need to get back into good shape, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

In the first five games of the EU LCS, nothing seemed to go Gambit Gaming’s way. The team, who won IEM Cologne as late as December 2014, struggled to get a point on the board and after the first two weeks they looked like a sure candidate for a place in the bottom of the league when the split ended.

– On one side I mostly thought: ”Meh, again?” and was disappointed in myself. But on the other side I still believed in our team strength and was trying my best to make our practice more efficient, Danil ”Diamondprox” Reshetnikov says about the tough start.

”We had a late start of our practice”

In his opinion, their bad results were because of three different issues affecting the team. Mainly, he mentions the fact that they didn’t have internet in their apartment so they couldn’t practice as efficiently during the start of the season.

– I’d give this problem a strong 50 percent of the whole thing. And we had a late start of our practice for LCS after the post-IEM holidays. It’s our own fault. At least now we know better what time we need to get back into good shape. I’d give that 30 percent.

– And the coach not being with us and not being able to fix our attitude and mental problems, that’s the last 20.

”Talked about how to play in the late game”

As coach Jordan ”Leviathan” Thwaites joined the team and their internet issues were resolved, Gambit Gaming slowly saw themselves turning things around. But they still suffered setbacks before the snowball started rolling.

– When we finally had some progress in our biggest problems, lack of internet and our coach being in another country, I finally saw the light and understood that if we would practice hard, we’d succeed.

– Our first decent game was against Copenhagen Wolves during the third week. We were doing really great in the early- and mid game, but when it came to the late game we got lost and made a couple of poor calls that resulted in a loss. That was truly disappointing, but after that we talked a lot about how we should play in the late part of the game and decided that next time we’ll do it much better. From there we only rose higher.

What are some other things you talked about in the team to turn things around?

– Mostly we just kept practicing all of the time and not giving up. After some time it just started to get better and better.

You mentioned Leviathan in an interview and talked about how much he’s helped the team. What kind of stuff has he done?

– Personally, he helped me to fix my mental weaknesses like lack of concentration sometimes and some other things. Also, he taught us how to practice better and more efficiently. Everything else is top secret, Diamondprox says jokingly.

”Jarvan was useless after the early game”

While on their initial losing streak, Diamondprox lost three out of four games playing as Jarvan. But he things that was just a coincidence.

– That was mostly not because of a champion but because of several problems. Us playing poorly and our team comps being bad for him. Jarvan is a great follow-up to chain crowd control, but he’s by no means the first one to engage if enemies are playing smart and not getting caught. Often we ended up in situations without another good engage at all, so I could only apply early pressure but was useless for the whole game after.

Pressure – the key to success

During the first five games Diamondprox had a 9-23-29 KDA, something he turned around for a 25-7-65 KDA in the five following games. Something he attributes both to a more aggressive play style but also to him practicing better with the coach helping.

– I was especially aggressive in my Sejuani games. I pressured those jungle camps so hard that they agreed to fight on our side and we won. Aggressiveness is only good when you’re doing it in a smart way and it’s actually needed. Otherwise it can only lead to a loss.

– And I feel that even if I didn’t find as many good things as I found in the end of the Summer Split with Kha’Zix, Rammus as a counter to Yasuo, Gragas as the best jungler with Yasuo for example, I’m practicing really well in terms of personal skill and, thanks to Jordan, I finally fixed some of my mental issues.

”Try my best to prepare for IEM Katowice”

Diamondprox doesn’t want to reveal what kind of issues Leviathan has helped with, outside of the lack of concentration. But now him and the team are looking forward to another event, when the IEM World Championships in Katowice are just around the corner. He attributes their past wins to a focused practice for the single events they’ve won so far.

– I think it’s mostly because IEM’s are huge events without any other ones around and we were practicing directly for them for a long time, so that led us to some victories, he says about their successful past at the tournaments.

What are your expectations for this year’s tournament?

– I dislike expectations, but I will try my best to prepare for this event because I think it’s the second biggest event this year right after Worlds.