Voidle: We'd cosplay as Volibear and Udyr

Hello, I am Erih Sommerman or better known under the nametag "Voidle". I am the current support for the newly-qualified LCS team H2K.

I had been playing a lot of Warcraft 3 around eight years ago when I stumbled upon DotA. I fell in love with the play style of the game and continued to play the game most of my days after school. As I had become better and better in DotA, the game had become less appealing – the patches were rather slow and I felt as if I had learned everything there was to know about the game.

Then I found an advertisement on the internet about League and decided to try it out as it had the same style as DotA. League was a lot more intense and, due to fast content release and quick patches, never failed to become boring. I started League in August 2010, and to this day, League is my go-to game.

Considering I had been a part of the LCS before and even went to worlds, requalifying meant as a sign that I still am capable of performing when it matters. I am happy that we as a team get to showcase ourselves battling the strongest of the EU region. We have had decent-to-good results vs most LCS teams while I have been on the roster, and I think we can prove that we deserve to be taken seriously.

We had two coaches who did most of the research on the enemy picks and bans and also found out some weak points that potentially could be exploited. We didn't fear the Challenger teams as their teamwork and mechanics were lacking. Our strength has always been in our mechanics, but Prolly and Brokenshard helped us develop our teamwork and strategy, and I think the results were very visible, especially in the Bo5 vs Giants.

I think we will continue in the same fashion. Our new Mid laner might force us to change our strategies a bit, but I expect us to go into the games with the same preparation and attitude.

It feels great to be one of the few people who even get the chance to play in the LCS. I am of course a bit sad that I can't spend that much time with my family and friends in my home country; nevertheless, this is an experience I want to be a part of.

I like the new jungle when it comes to experience, gold distribution, and clearing speed. However I don't like the fact that laners can effectively take a camp and get level 2 before the first minion wave falls. I think if Riot changed the starting spawn timer of the smaller camps, the game would be more open in terms of possible picks, especially in Bot lane. I like the fact that the Jungler can just go for one item, optimize for tankiness or damage, and then combo on top of it with a slowing Smite. Regarding the Baron and Drake changes, I have only words of praise for Riot.

The best way, always, to adapt to a new patch is spamming SoloQ. Usually I start with trying out the champions that got changed and then seeing how they interact with the new items and map changes. For example, melee supports can be both weaker and stronger on the new map. If you have a really bad level 1, you can just take Frog or Golems for the extra experience and rush 2. On the other hand, the enemy might try to punish you for that by poking you down to such low HP that you can barely even show up in lane.

Also the thing I had the most trouble with was when to expect a gank from the Jungler. The jungle is slower, and the routes are different, so sometimes I feel forced to gamble for vision, but once a clear meta establishes it will be a lot easier to predict the enemy Jungler.

My favorite heroes are Thresh, Alistar and Malzahar. Thresh is a high-skill champ where hitting or missing one hook can decide the outcome of the game, not to mention the ability to do flashy plays with lantern and hook combinations. Alistar fits my playstyle very well where you just have to lay low in the beginning and then explode on the map with ganks and dives. Malzahar is the champion I used to play all the time when I was maining Mid. People do not understand the strength of the champion, and I do certainly like to prove some LCS Mids wrong in solo queue.

I really liked Samsung White, as they always had good strategies and team fights. They pushed every little advantage they had and played smart when forced behind.

The supports I respect the most in EU are Yellowstar and Mithy. Yellow was the first one in S4 who really started roaming all the time and gaining some vision which most have learned by now. I have also liked Mithy since S3 because he is capable of doing some really top level mechanical plays, at least in scrims.

If he would want to become a pro at League, and he had already invested much time into it, I would advise him to stop. Being a pro requires a lot of talent and time – it is an investment that is as unsure as drawing a winning lottery ticket. Unless you enjoy the ride, I suggest not taking it.

Mostly spending time with friends, watching movies, or going outside to catch up with what everyone has been doing. League takes a lot of time, and keeping in touch with your friends is something I try to do whenever I get some free time.

We are not yet living in our gaming house, but when we were boot-camping we mostly used to go out to eat after scrims or played some games to relax and get the mood up.

We would cosplay as Volibear and Udyr and share in the feast.

I think probably our last boot camp in Netherlands, when Febiven was still on the roster, was the most significant one. We stopped blaming each other for mistakes and instead tried to improve our teamplay which was definitely the best step we could have taken.

Chelsea.

The latest Hobbit movie was quite interesting and action-packed. In general fantasy or action is the stuff I prefer to watch.

During Copenhagen games, we went shopping to the grocery store. While we were exiting the store, Hjárnan kinda baited me on the cyclist-lane, and I ended almost making someone fall when I didn't notice him coming from behind.I jokingly said "fok you dude" to Hjarnan, as he had set me up. Funnily though, the cyclist stopped right before us thinking I had said the phrase to him. "You are blocking my way, why do you have to be so rude?" I apologized to the cyclist but I wonder if he realized I said the phrase to my friend.

You can follow me at
https://twitter.com/voidleee
Thank you and have a nice day!