Cloud9 had potentially the most successful day in North American League of Legends history, going 3-0 in the final group round robin and securing the 2nd seed. Cloud9 were one match away from coming first in their group, but eventually lost in the tiebreaker to China’s Royal Never Give Up. Eric “Licorice” Ritchie showed up big on off-meta picks, Singed and Hecarim, to propel Cloud9 to Worlds top 8 for the third year in a row.

We chatted with Licorice about Cloud9’s amazing day and which team they’re looking forward to facing — or not facing — in quarterfinals.

This is probably the best North American performance in the Group Stages ever. What do you think?

I don’t know if I was ever doing it for North America to be honest (laughs). I don’t think I ever showed up for practice or showed up on stage and was like “Let’s do it for NA.” I just want to do it for my teammates because they’ve all been working hard… and also for myself.

What was it like to be able to succeed with all these teammates that you’ve been working with for so long?

It’s been interesting for sure. We’ve really had quite the rollercoaster ride of a year with huge ups and downs. Honestly, it’s just been fun.

What was your first thought when you got picked into your group?

It was gonna be really hard if we wanted to make it to quarters. I think that Gen.G underperformed though, compared to what they expected and also what the general public expected as well. That helped us out a lot for sure.

What was the biggest reason you were able to take down everyone?

We were just confident, actually. That’s what we were missing during the first round robin of groups and also in play-ins. We were really confident in just taking fights and believing that we just can fight them while doing something… and win.

I want to ask you about the Hecarim… I don’t know the matchup at all. Does it actually beat Aatrox?

I think so… I don’t think I’ve played it against anyone that’s well-versed in the Aatrox side of it so maybe it’s like… if you played a thousand games of it, it would turn out that it’s actually Aatrox favored or something. I like the matchup and I like Hecarim as a champion. It’s really strong if you can play it and I just like picking it.

How much of a role do you think that surprise picks like that played into your success?

I think it definitely makes it harder for other teams to prepare against us since they won’t really know what they’re going to be playing against us. And obviously we have more practice on the matchups than they do so that’s definitely something for us too.

Now that you’re set for the quarterfinals, which team do you want to play?

Of all the teams, I just want to avoid KT. I think they look super strong and I’d say they’re pretty big favorites to win Worlds this year.

What’s a dream matchup?

Not KT. (laughs)

So, this is your first Worlds and you got to travel to Korea with your team… What is this whole experience like for you?

It’s a lot of fun. This is actually my third time in Korea. I came on one team bootcamp back when I was in Challenger and I came by myself during the offseason before joining Cloud9. I was staying with GBM, who helped us out with the bootcamp, which was really nice. Shout out to GBM!

It’s been a lot of fun. I’m fairly used to traveling. My parents were even able to to come out and support me during the Play-In stage.That was really nice to see them then as well.

Overall, what are your feelings about your success today?

It just feels really good. I can’t say that I expected today to turn out the way it did, like when I woke up this morning. It’s just been a lot of fun.

Does it feel real?

Sometimes not really, but yeah.

Photo: Riot Games