After multiple strong weekends, 100 Thieves are back in playoff contention after back-to-back disappointing splits. Upcomer had a chance to sit down with 100T support Zachary “Aphromoo” Black to discuss how the team identity has changed and who the catalysts for change were.





100 Thieves are back in playoff contention. How does it feel to be back in the race?





It feels stressful man—it’s a grind. Today was a must win for sure. We got four more games left and I’m just looking forward to securing our playoffs spot. That’s our main goal. We play Clutch, CLG, TSM and Golden Guardians.





That’s not an easy strength of schedule… How confident are you that this team can make that run?





I’m pretty confident actually going up against all these teams. We’ve scrimmed them a lot, know what their style is, and it should be pretty simple for us going into it. In particular for the bottom lane, I’m very confident going up against any of those bot lanes in the next four games. No worries there.





Which one will give you the hardest time?





TSM usually five man plays around their bottom lane, which is annoying. You just touch them and they all TP *laughs* so that’s probably the one that’s going to suck the most. Other than that, I haven’t played up against Huhi yet. That’ll be exciting. We’ll see how it goes.





Has he come to you asking for any tips or tricks on his new support position?





Sometimes, but not a lot.





Do you just straight up lie to him and give him fake information?





*Laughs* No, I’m not a dick. He’s doing well though.





If you had to rate how he’s been doing so far, what’s impressing you?





I think his Tahm and Lux are really good and he knows how to pressure a lot. What’s really important that Jay does is making sure the team is all on the same page. That’s the main focus of good supports and what they gotta do. You have to ward for where you’re going to play and know the right timing. It takes a lot of experience and learning. Not so much just playing the champs.





You’ve been on two teams with huhi now, first CLG then 100 Thieves. Was it hard saying goodbye to him a second time?





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Yeah it sucks, but he’s in a better place now. I think he’s enjoying his time a lot more playing support and it’s a new role he has to learn. I think the change in mentality and environment is good for him.





Back on the subject of 100 Thieves, there’s been discussion from other pro players that you’re one of the teams to fear in the LCS right now. Why do you think that is?





I think it’s play style. Bang and I have a lot more synergy now and are punishing a lot more. Being able to facilitate more plays around bottom has been a major plus. I think our mid and jungle veteran experience also helps. We just take it slow, methodical, and make sure we play on our timing. We don’t really like to force and rush things too much. We’re not the chaos kind of style—we’re more controlled. Everyone else is trying to speed up when they don’t have to while we’re comfortable slowing it down until we’re ready.





At the beginning of the split it didn’t look as controlled. What steps did you have to take to get to where you are now?





Yeah, obviously a lot of arguments, a lot of grinding, and getting on the same page for me and Bang. There’s a language barrier, so we’d say one thing then do something else. We had to first get through things like that. It was also just finding the right pieces too. We made a lot of roster swaps from the academy to the main team which helped.





During that time, were you ever concerned that you might lose your starting spot?





I think everyone was. No one really knows what’s going to happen. I was playing in academy, others were playing in academy sometimes. Whatever fits best for the team to get the win is what’s most important. If that’s me, then alright cool. If we think that a different set up is going to help us win then that’s all that matters.





That’s very interesting hearing a response like that from a pro player, but you have been playing in LCS for quite a while now. How have you seen yourself change and develop personally since your time back in the “Rush Hour” days?





Yeah, I’ve been here a lot, and when it comes to who’s playing, what’s most important is always the team. Obviously I want to play on stage for sure, but if it’s not me then that’s cool, too. I’ve always felt that way and focused on that. Team success will always come first, and being able to put the team first is really important as a player. If you do put yourself before the team, usually you’re not as successful or you’re going to cause tension unnecessarily within the team because you’re more selfish. It’s not cool working with players like that.





Any names in particular?





Uhhh, no comment *laughs*





Fair enough. This is a newer look for the 100Thieves roster this summer. What makes this specific roster work?





I think jungle as a role needs to be an early game leader and we didn’t really have that before. We didn’t have too many voices at all before. We brought in Soligo, you know, a rookie coming in, so we didn’t expect super early game prowess in shotcalling. Deciding where we’re going to go, which sides need to play safe, usually the jungle controls that.





Maurice (Amazing) is super outspoken, tells us what he wants, tracks the enemy jungler perfectly, and being able to listen to that and have everyone play out their lanes is a really big bonus for us. Also having Ryu in the midlane makes us really stable. He’s a veteran and can play any of the matchups. He’s also just really good.





What’s important to us is having everyone on the same page and having a stable game. Don’t complicate it, just keep it simple.