VANiLLACORE: Can you tell us a few facts about yourself?

"My name is Patrick "Nyph" Funke. I'm 22 years old and live in Ohmden(near Stuttgart). My job is electronics engineer and I have a cat."

What do you do apart from League of Legends?

"Not much lately. After I come home from work I organise some stuff for our team and we start with the training. At the weekend usually I go out with my friends from my town."

When did you start liking / playing video games in general?

"I think I started playing when i was about 8 years old. I love it from the first moment i played."

What made you start playing League of Legends and when did you start playing?

"The first time it came out I thought it was a bad dota copy but then some online friends and rl friends convinced me to play it and so I started with League of Legends. It must be around January 2010."

Do you still remember the champion you played your very first matches with?

"I played Evenlynn in my very first match with some online friends from daoc. She had a stun and invi and I thought she must be op!!!"

Did you play WC3 or dota before?

"Only dota. I bought WC3 just for the fun maps."

What makes you like League of Legends?

"Teamplay is important and I like games where you have your one hero which you can level and buy items. Also the fact that everyone can build a tiny bit differently with runes and masteries is pretty awesome."

Is there anything you dislike about this game?

"I dislike the overall mood in solo queue."

Why did you choose the support role?

"I played a lot of heroes in the beginning but it was janna who impressed me the most. After I joined my first team I started to play all the other supports as well."

Did you ever main another role than support?

"Not really. I can play some other heroes on a good level but I don't have the time and motivation to train them to be on competitive level."

When did you start playing competitively?

"Gamed was my first big team. At that time it wasnt that competitive to be honest but we were one of the best teams in Europe at that time."

Did you ever play professionally in any other game before League of Legends?

"No, I played at the top level in some games but there was never money involved."

When did you join SK and why?

"Right after Dreamhack. Candy and I joined together as the bottom lane. I thought it was a huge opportunity and I have to say it was one of my best decisions."

What did you do to become a professional LoL player? Any tips?

"I think it was a mix of the right skill in the right moment. I never wanted to play professionally, it just happened. But it's really really awesome. Be nice and impress people by playing."

Is it easy for you to maintain the balance between training and playing competitively with SK and having enough time for studying/working?

"It's not. There are like four important things for me in my life: My family, friends, work and playing.



But lately it's like I come home from work and we start training immediatly. So I don't see my friends a lot (only at the weekend) and sometimes I don't even eat dinner with my family. But I will have more time in some weeks and I will try to spend more time with my friends."

What do you like most about your team?

"The overall mood in our team. Sometimes we win sometimes we lose but at the end of the day we love each other."

Is there anything you'd say that you and your team need to work on?

"Yes you can always improve. I think we have to work on some things but I don't wanna tell you ;)"

What (offline) tournament are you and your team looking forward to playing most?

"Every offline event. It's the best part of being a professional player."

Do you have a favorite player/team on EU west apart from SK? If so, what do you like about them?

"I like Moma a lot. He is a pretty smart player and he is also German :P

fnatic is my favourite team. They are also one of the older teams and haven't even changed their lineup so far."

Who is your favorite LoL player overall?

"Oce"

Now let's talk a bit about League of Legends in general. What do you think is the strongest botlane combo at the moment?

"I think there is no strongest combo anymore. Kog maw/vayne + nunu is really strong."

How do you feel about the changes of Sona?

"She is fine now."

What do you think about Riot nerfing the lane sustain of supports to make the game "less passive"? Is it too much of a nerf or is it okay?

"I like the idea. Too much sustain is never good. You would just farm and out-creep the other one instead of nice fights and some cool moves."

Who do you think is the best support champion right now?

"Janna. But we will see how strong Lulu is."

Who is your favorite support champion and why?

"Janna. She is more fun to play than any other support."

Is there any champion in the league you really dislike? If so, why do you dislike him/her?

"Every one shot hero like Veigar is super annoying. You need to buy mr even as supporter otherwise you get one shotted."

If you could change one thing about this game, what would it be and why?

"Lower CV CD again."

Do you think the new and more powerful version of the summoner spell "Heal" is a valid pick on a support or is it better to stick to CV?

"Heal is bad cause it scales with levels and you don't need a lot of them as support. Also they focus on other targets rather than you. So you should take the good old CV or exhaust/ignite for a stronger lane."

Many people complained about the reset of ranks when Season 2 started. What are your thoughts about the current solo queue?

"Not much different than before."

What's your opinion about the balance of Summoners Rift? Do you think that it favors one side?

"I think blue has a tiny advantage with the golems on bot side and nashor on their side but it's not really game breaking so you don't have to change it."

Riot keeps releasing a lot of new champions. What's more important in your eyes: continually bringing new champions to the league or releasing a completely new 5v5 map layout?

"A new map would be cool but I'm not even sure if we would play it on competitive level. New heroes are good for some changes all the time otherwise it would be boring after some time."

All of the new champions are pretty expensive, 6300 IP each. Do you think that price is justified due to the work Riot puts into bringing out new champions that quickly, or do you think it's a little too much, considering the amount of games you have to be playing and time you spend doing that to finally reach 6300 IP?

"For me it doesn't matter cause I have all the heroes and I get enough IP before they release the next one. For other people it could be annoying but there are enough heroes in the rota for testing and if you really like a hero you can buy it. They also lower the IP for the older heroes so you don't need to spend that much IP if you are new."

By releasing so many champions in short amounts of time, do you think that the quality of the champions and their skills are high enough for that price?

"Yes they are."

What do you think about the League of Legends community?

"Overall I like the people. But you shouldn't care so much about the solo queue trash talk and forum threads ;)"

Have you ever written a guide for any (support) champion?

"Not yet. Maybe I will release guides in the future."

Here are some additional questions asked by Wtblife.

Wtblife: What do you think about the competitive US scene in comparison to EU?

"Almost the same."

Is there a special bond between Candy Panda and you?

"We've played together for a long time and often we know exactly what the other thinks/wants."

Since IEM Kiev M5 managed to win most of their games with extremely aggressive counter-jungling strategy and unusual picks. What are your thoughts about the playstyle change-up, which almost every team adopted? Do you personally like it?

"Actually I hate that counter-jungling and wave pushing. It's super boring to watch. I would like to play more kill heroes and stronk ganker."

Your team mate SK Ocelote makes loads of money from streaming, do you think about streaming more often and eventually adding a webcam? I see you streaming every once in a while, but not while playing scrims or any other online qualifiers, is there a reason why?

"I stopped streaming for a while. I moved to a new house and I don't have internet at all right now. As soon as I get a connection that is capable of streaming I will start again. I can say that I will stream a lot more after April."

Do you think Dedrayon will be able to fill the big hole, caused by Snoopeh leaving the team?

"Yes he is an awesome player and brings a lot to the team."

What are SK.LoL's aims in 2012?

"Get first. In the hearts of our fans and in a tournament."

Is there anything you wanna say to all your fans out there?

"Thank you for all your support! After April I have some good news for you but I will tell you more when time is."

Did you always wanna get to know the members of SK.LoL's team better? Then we've got good news for you: We talked to SK Gaming 's Patrick 'Nyph' Funke and can provide you with a detailed and interesting interview.Thanks for your time and all best wishes to you and your team!