In past seasons, the LCS became known for its top laners, import and domestic alike.





With the likes of Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, Eric “Licorice” Ritchie, Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong, Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon, Lee “Flame” Ho-jong, and more in the league, others less in the spotlight were sometimes written off. Echo Fox’s top laner, Colin “Solo” Earnest, however, is becoming more noticeable with each passing split.





After a rough Summer Split following his debut last spring, Solo traded orgs to Echo Fox. With the team at the bottom of most preseason power rankings, Solo and his teammates had to step up to make the playoffs and prove everyone wrong. After a 4-0 run in the last two weeks, Echo Fox secured a playoff spot with Solo playing a crucial role in each of those victories, featuring a 7.6 KDA.





At the end of Echo Fox’s fourth win and miraculous entry into the LCS playoffs, we spoke with Solo to gather his thoughts on Echo Fox and being an underdog.





Where do you value yourself as a top laner in the LCS?





Solo: I have always thought I was the best top laner, right? And times, when I didn't play well, or got clapped or something, I always still thought I had the potential. For me personally, I've always put myself up there. I can see why, from fan perspective, [I’m ranked lower] though, because it's a team game. And when the team’s not doing well, it's a little harder to look as impressive as someone who is winning in playoffs and winning ten games a season. So I get it. It's hard to measure success in a game that's team oriented. So I guess I don't necessarily have an issue with it, but I understand that I'm very undervalued.





And partially, that's from the way that I play. I try to be a little bit more selfless with fewer resources because I think I can do more with less than a lot of people. And one of my strengths is being able to take situations that others might struggle with and make them advantageous for the team. But yeah it would be nicer to be more valued, but it's been like this for a while so I'm not bent out of shape or anything. It's always nice when people rate you highly, but I think within myself and with my teammates and org, they know the value I bring so I think outside perspective doesn't really affect me too much.





Someone else who has been known to play with a similar style with less focus and fewer resources is Impact, who you just beat. Would you compare yourself to him?





Photo via Riot Games





Yeah, I mean I've always loved the way that Impact plays. And we have similar playstyles because I've tried to emulate a lot of things he does, and because I think he has the best fundamentals of top laners. I think his laning fundamentals and the way he looks at the game is how you should play.





Sometimes I think he goes a little too far in sacrificing for the team, but I have a lot of respect for someone who will bite the bullet a lot of times just so his team can be in a better situation because he sees it as a bigger picture. But I think that's a struggle that a lot of players have when you're in the moment and having to make a big sacrifice in the game. It feels really really bad, but Impact is really good at seeing past that and not letting it affect him. That's a really valuable trait.





You do play carries pretty often though, but you're still somewhat low resources on them. Like low resource Jayce.





Yeah, but I do get resources. Like the Jayce game we played against OpTic, I got a lot of help that game. [James "Panda" Ding] was playing toward my side a lot. So it's not like I never get resources. I guess I just look at it differently than some players. I just look at what the potential could be of what you're getting in terms of resources.





I think a lot of top laners just call for jungler and don't think about how that affects the map and don't think about if that's better than the jungler being on the other side of the map or doing something differently. By calling for ganks or just wanting the jungler to be near you just so that you have a jungler near you is overrated almost. I mean there's a lot of things going on. But yeah if I need jungle help I call for it. It's not so much that I'm unwilling, I just realize the big picture.





You mentioned before you don't look at stats until the season is over, but what is your valuation on stats though? If you're a low resource top laner who tends to play selflessly, then you won't be number one in many of these categories since other teams play with a top-side focus.





Photo via Riot Games





I mean, as far as the fans’ perspective, I think anyone who is truly worth listening to about analytics about the game would be able to make pretty good judgments off playstyles and actually watching them. Just looking at stats alone does not tell all that much. That's usually why I wait till the end of the season to check them out is because you need a larger sample size than a couple games.





Also, when looking at them you have to think about what champions these people are playing mostly. It's like last split where people were playing GP vs Mundo and they'd be 40 cs up and it inflates your stats, so if you're playing that every game you're going to look insane you know? So you have to take it with a grain of salt.





And just like I said before, people's perception is only worth so much, and I know how well I'm playing. And people behind the scenes know how well I'm playing. So I don't need to worry too much on what other people think. Just trying to stay consistent on that part 'cause I've always tried to shy more away of what the fans think. Not that their opinion is worthless, but it's really hard to play competitive, especially for a long time, if you're really affected by what the fan-base has to say about you.





You mention the people behind the scenes, what do you feel like the perception is from other top laners and analysts, etc?





Uh, hard to say. That's probably something to ask them. I don't have too many conversations with the competition about what they think of me. Maybe it's something worth exploring but I must have some value 'cause I'm playing in the LCS. And I think my team knows what I can play and the type of player I am and what I'm capable of. So seems fine for them.





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Switching gears, what was your reaction when the team went 0-6 and you started to swap players? Did you have flashbacks to Clutch last Summer?





It was certainly different than the roster swaps on Clutch. I think on Clutch it was more of personality issues than it was necessarily just play stuff. But yeah, making decisions for rosters swaps is always tough. It's really easy to be results based when it comes to roster swaps. If you look at what C9 did with theirs, it looked really good. It seemed like they were innovating and they were so smart for taking this risk, and then you look at ours [on Clutch] and it didn't really pan out. So it's easy in hindsight to say it wasn't the right choice. You know, it's always a gamble and at the end of the day you're kind of trying to push the team further and push players further for the long term. And I think even though we lost the four games we had Panda in, I think we are seeing now that there was some growth from the players and the team. So there was benefit from it, even if it wasn't directly just bringing in Panda.





Do you feel like you changed your play to be a bit more selfish when you had a rookie jungler in?





Photo via Riot Games





Not necessarily. I don't think people adjusted their play all that much, I think everyone just had more appreciation for each other. I think people appreciated [Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae’s] proactivity more. And I think Rush also took a step back and realized that he has to listen to the laners a bit more as well when he wants to do things. Everyone kind of grew from it and it just made us more cohesive and improved our teamwork. So it was beneficial even though we didn't win a game from that scenario.





When are we going to see a Solo version of 2017 Spring split Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell where you take yourself from solid top laner to solo carrying every game?





That was a really good split from Hauntzer, but my perception of that whole situation is... I don't even understand what the fans think about it, as if that was Hauntzer's peak. But he's been a good player even past that point, right? It's just sometimes in a split, there's a certain level of—I don't know what you want to call it—magic, luck? But sometimes things just work out really well and you get on a roll and you have this edge over everyone. And Hauntzer had an edge over everyone.





In that split he got second place MVP. Obviously he isn't playing at that high of a level right now, but a lot of things had to go right for him to do that, and he is certainly capable of doing that again, it's just all about getting the pieces together. I guess to bring it back to me, yeah I'm certainly capable of having that level of dominance. I just have to be as consistent as possible so that when things come together, meta, playstyle, etc. you can kind of get that edge and you can kind of dominate your position.





What are thoughts on the playoffs now that you ended the season 4-0?





I mean, I don't want to jinx it by talking about playoffs. But yeah, we are playing really well right now, but we just have to keep on remembering why we are playing well. Really solid draft plans, really solid communication early game and teamwork, and ride on that. Making playoffs is kind of a reset of the season and anyone can make a name for themselves. It's a whole different game, the best of 5s.





Do you think that the 4-0 run makes a statement for you personally and your name? You mentioned earlier it's hard to shine on a losing team, but you just beat three top teams and squeezed into playoffs. Does that change anything?





Hmm, maybe. I mean I think I've been playing well throughout the whole season we just haven't been winning as much. But now that we're winning, it obviously looks better. I think that's a big part of it, you can do more when your team is working together and I think individual performance is propelled by your teammates as well. And my teammates have been playing really well and helping me, so I have been able to do well myself.





Yes they have. And along with a couple of them, you destroyed TSM's hopes and dreams this time last year. Now you get a chance to repeat that. How do you feel about it?





Photo via Riot Games





It would be pretty funny if that happened again. I don't think TSM is overrated, but I think they've been very fortunate in a lot of their wins and the way that they came. But it'll be a hard team to beat for sure. Maybe it's good for them that they don't have nearly as much hype as last year. So I think that's a bit better for them, but yeah as we've seen the last couple of weeks, every team is vulnerable.





I think maybe TL doesn't have so much of an edge because they aren't playing for a perfect season and they're already first seed so they're kind of looking a little bit soft right now. So maybe they'll bring it back together for the playoffs, but I'm not afraid of any of the teams we could get matched up against. We just have to play the best we can.





What do you feel about the Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik matchup?





We'll see. I haven't played him in four or five weeks or something, so I don't know. I know he likes to play a lot of carry stuff, but it seems like they're really bad at top 2v2. So I think Rush and I can win those. I'm just going to feel out the matchups, I think all my picks that I'm confident in I'm not afraid of anything he can play versus me so we will see who plays better that day.





Anything you're specifically looking out for for the best-of-five rather than best-of-one?





Best-of-five is just about making adjustments as the game goes on as quickly as possible. Identifying what’s winning and losing for you. But yeah I'm feeling good playing TSM again. I've always thought we matched up pretty well against TSM even though we lost twice against them. And we have Kim "SSONG" Sang-soo as well, so I think he has some insider information as well in how they function in a Bo5, and I think we just have a lot of things going for us right now. I mean we're both pretty hot teams, right? They're winning a lot, we're winning a lot now. I don't think they're complacent, but I think in a lot of their wins, they have not been punished enough. I think they are more vulnerable than they look, and I think we can exploit that.





Anything else you want to add before we sign off?





Nah, I'm just stoked we made it.