After years of playing League of Legends as a mid laner and even stepping up to the EU LCS with H2k-Gaming in that role, Marc “Caedrel” Robert Lamont finally found his home in the jungle.





The British star joined Excel Esports ahead of the 2019 League European Championship, and played his first full split at the highest domestic level with the organization.





Although the roster fell short of finals in their first LEC season and finished 9th with a 5-13 record, a 3-3 end to the split has given the United Kingdom representatives hope for their Summer campaign.





Upcomer spoke to Caedrel during the off-season, speaking in an unfiltered interview about his swap from mid to jungle, and his burning desire to show his talents on the glimmering lights of the international stage.





So it’s been a few weeks since the end of the regular split now. What have you been doing in the offseason so far?





It’s been a bit weird really, because I got home and told myself I wasn’t going to touch League of Legends for at least two weeks. I unpacked my bags, went to the gym, and then chilled, and after like two hours I thought “I’m pretty fucking bored, time to play some League.”





Staying off the game didn’t last too long. I’m trying to stop playing for a bit, but at the same time I want to keep grinding for summer even though it’s two months away. I’m trying to hold myself back, but I’m not having too much success.





Is there any particular reason you can’t stay away from the game?





My mentality is quite weird. Most of my teammates go home and see friends, they take a long break. The way it works in my mind is that if for example Jankos [Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski] or Broxah [Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen] play a day of League and I don’t, then I’m one day behind them.





It’s one of my downfalls, and advantages I guess, because I tend to sometimes over-do it all. I’m trying to keep that balanced, but at the same time I just want to play.





Is there anything else you’re planning to do to distract yourself from thoughts of Summer Split?





I might be heading to Rotterdam to watch the finals with the rest of the Excel boys for fun, even though that’s more about the game. I had a holiday planned, but I decided not to go in the end. I don’t have too much planned, just catching up with family and friends, and taking the time off to reflect. I play other games for fun too sometimes, but it’s just with my brother on the consoles more than anything regular like League.





Photo via Riot Games





Looking back at your spring performances now, what are your first thoughts on Excel’s 5-13 finish in LEC?





The last three weeks were pretty good, we went 3-3 which was fine. I had way higher expectations and really wanted to make playoffs this split. I rewatched all of our games when I got home, and it was sad to see some of the losses were kind of in our hands. We had the game in the bag, but we didn’t close it out.





I remember a game against G2 in week two where it should have been ours. Splyce in the first week, the Vitality game where we just forgot about Baron, those all should have been ours. We had so many small hiccups that led to losses, and if we didn’t do these things we probably would have finished sixth.





Towards the end of the split we were a playoff contending team I feel. We took down SK, Schalke, and Vitality quite handily, and we lost to Fnatic, Origen, and G2. It really felt like we were a playoffs team. We had that feeling you can have at the end of the split where we were winning but we couldn’t make it to the finals. That’s the worst feeling.





Do you think some of those early season struggles were just down to the fact Excel has a roster that is just coming together this year?





The biggest factor that I can think of is that at the end of the split it was essentially just Expect [Dae-han “Expect” Ki] and four rookies. I played like six weeks of LCS in summer last year, but I’ve never played a full split, so I’m like a semi-rookie. Then there’s Special [Joran “Special” Scheffer], Jeskla [Jesper “Jeskla” Klarin Strömberg], and Mystique [Patryk “Mystique” Piórkowski], so on paper it’s four rookies and Expect.





To expect this team to play really well right away, and to their highest standards on stage is hard, because there was a bit of stage fright. It took a lot of time to get used to each other and you could feel that, we had that slump in the middle of the split from that too I think. Sucks looking back knowing that it was just a time thing for the team coming together, because I really wanted to make playoffs.





Do you feel like even though you did miss out on finals, the tail end of the season’s results can put you in a good place heading into Summer Split now? Can you make that goal of playoffs?





I actually think Summer will be harder than Spring. A lot of the teams will be more developed, and there may be a few trades and swaps here and there to make teams even stronger, so it will be a lot tougher. We’ll be okay, I think we can make finals. I’m confident we can do that.





These last few weeks of Spring have given everyone so much more confidence, and drove us a lot. If we just went 0-6 because we knew we were out of finals contention, then the split would have ended on a big low. Now that it ends on a 3-3 instead, we all feel really motivated to try even harder. I definitely feel more motivated for Summer, and I’m sure the others will as well. As hard as the split will be, I think we can make finals.

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Photo via Riot Games





If you had it your way, would the split be kicking off in the next week or two instead of waiting over the two month break?





I do really want the Summer Split to start this weekend, and just keep going until we hit that point, and we make it. I want to get into it right now with a clean slate to gun for finals. It’s hard to take a break when you’re not feeling satisfied.





As a person I’m really competitive, a lot of people do things for the fun of it, and people join this league sometimes to just be in the league. I enjoyed LEC less because I didn’t get a chance to win it, I was sitting at home watching playoffs and just wishing I was there.





This was your first full split in the European league. What kind of feelings did you have now that you’ve solidified a spot on one of the 10 LEC teams?





It’s a great feeling, when I role-swapped last season I was really unsure of where my future was going to lie, which is why I tried so hard to make sure I was ready for LCS this year. I played so much solo queue and hit rank one, and sat there for like two months, and people started to recognize I was good at jungle. When it came to offseason I was really nervous, and I wondered if I had done enough to prove I was ready. It seemed like I did because a few teams gave me a chance. As soon as I got the Excel chance I gave it everything.





Do you think your first split with the UK organization was a personal success?





My performance this split was okay, it could have been better. The first four weeks I was good, then in five and six I fell off. I picked it back up in the tail end, and I think I proved that I deserve to be here. I performed a few other junglers even though we were ninth place, and that was satisfying for me. I just need to fix that slump and Summer Split can be a lot better.

Photo via Riot Games





Throughout your career you’ve played mid lane, and even a season as a bot laner. Do you feel like you’ve finally found your place on the Rift in the jungle?





Yeah, this for sure is my best role, it’s fits my personality. I’ve never been able to climb so high in solo queue on just one role before. I feel so comfortable and happy in the jungle, and when I played mid lane I was a bit hesitant, I felt like everything wasn’t coming together for me in mid even though I felt pretty strong. I don’t think I could have hit an international level in mid, which is my goal. I knew the only way to change this was to scrap it and start fresh.





After five or six months of playing jungle my confidence level now is night and day, and I’m confident I can play internationally in this role, which drives me a lot. I’ve tried a few things, in a few roles, with a few teams, and now that I’ve played jungle I’ve realised this is where I fit in, and this is where I’ll be staying for the rest of my career for sure.





What precipitated the change to the jungle? Did you sit down with the H2k coaching staff and figure it out, or did the idea just come to you?





It was kind of weird, I was grinding in offseason for H2k as a mid laner, and I was queueing with jungle second. I wasn’t too excited whenever I got my primary role, but when I got jungle I was thinking “Oh boy, this is going to be so much fun.” I felt like I could solo carry every game in jungle, and I felt so confident and could pull off all these risky plays. Then I’d get mid again and I remember thinking “Ah okay, fine, I’ll play mid.” I was queueing mid/jungle and really just hoping I was going to get filled jungle.





Then when I lost confidence on stage, this feeling started to really grow, and I thought “fuck it,” and went jungle primary for a week. After that week I realized I’d found my strength. That’s when I started grinding like 20 games a day for like three months straight and was just having so much fun.





How did the backroom staff at H2k take it when you told them you were moving away from the position you were playing with the team?





I was really close with them all, and I gave it to them straight. I told them I’d lost confidence in myself in the mid lane, and said I’d step down from the team. I told them if things worked out with me in the jungle in solo queue then I’d love to come back, but if it doesn’t good luck in playoffs. By summer they wanted me to come back again.





In the first few weeks in the jungle my performances weren’t that great, but in the closing weeks I played really, really well and finished off by rolling Schalke, who were the second place team at the time. It gave me a lot of confidence, which added to the confidence on getting rank one in the jungle, so I felt like I’d made the right decision.

Photo via Riot Games





Was there ever a point after you left H2K to pursue the jungle role that you thought maybe you’d made a wrong decision?





Obviously there were thoughts in my head that I wouldn’t get an opportunity at LCS again. I’d let people down already, so I didn’t think I would be getting a second chance. After playing solo queue for like four months people began to realize how good I was at jungle. There were only a few junglers in high elo that could just solo carry games, and I became one of them.





I’d get autofilled and people would ask me if I wanted jungle, because they knew I could win it for them, and people started to talk about me. H2k heard about that and they were in a slump at the time, so the stars aligned and they gave me that second chance. I was quite lucky with that, and massively grateful for how it all worked out.