In the upcoming 2018 Spring Split, if we had to choose a team that could be the uprising of the EU, it would be Team ROCCAT. This is because Profit, former SKT T1 top laner, and Blanc, a big newcomer from the LCK, has joined the roster. The potential from these players matching alongside the synergy with Memento, jungler for ROCCAT, could create wonders. If HeaQ and Norskeren both perform well, it may be just enough for Team ROCCAT to even aim for the World Championship.

In order to hone their skills and practice, Team ROCCAT has come to Korea for their bootcamp. Luckily, we had an opportunity to meet with Team ROCCAT. Although we interviewed ROCCAT right after a series of scrims, Team ROCCAT tried their best to focus until the end and presented a very uplifting mood.

Setting their goal for the World Championship, Team ROCCAT has now taken on the role of the dark horse for the European region. Shall we dive right into what Team ROCCAT has in store for us?

¤ Could you introduce yourselves?

Profit: Hello I am Profit. I am now with Team ROCCAT, and I am excited to be here in Europe. I am excited because the last time I was here, I didn’t perform as well. Gaining a second chance to prove myself gives me a new sense of excitement.

Memento: I am Jonas Elmarghichi. I am also known as Memento. I am the jungler for Team ROCCAT. I have always wanted to go to Korea. I feel like I can always learn so much from this region. They are the best for a reason. This is one of the reasons why I chose Team ROCCAT as my team. ROCCAT was going to go to Korea for bootcamp. The other reasons are that I really like how the team is very positive and works very hard. I don’t think anyone here has a big ego and they try their best. I respect that about my team.

I already learned a lot from the boot camp. Especially from solo queue; everyone try hards. No one ever gives up. The scrims have also been going great. The team is improving really fast. I’m just overall enjoying Korea so far.

Blanc: Hello. I am the mid laner for Team ROCCAT, Blanc. I am honored to be playing in EU since last year, throughout this year, and onto next year. My performance was not as good as I hoped in the last season. I am going to try my best this season, and I hope you guys will support me along the way.

HeaQ: Hello, I’m HeaQ. I’m the new starting AD carry for Team ROCCAT. I have previously played for Giants and NIP. I think Korean boot camp has been great. All the games will make you really tired, so you are going to get a lot more practice out of them. Also, I like the culture here compared to that of EU. There are a lot of restaurants and cafes nearby. It is very convenient.

flyy: While we wait for Norskeren, I guess I will introduce myself. I am Tomislav Mihailov. I am the team manager for Team ROCCAT. This is my 5th year as a team manager for ROCCAT. This year we had to rebuild the roster fully. What we looked for were people who can actually work together, work hard, and have the potential to develop into something more. Even if they may be players who are new to the scene or players that have not been able to shine prior to now; we just wanted to have players that we believe in to be good in the long term. All 5 players have these qualities. They are all really hard working. None of them are even close to being toxic.

These players have the potential to actually be a real team compared to other EU players. I think this is the key to success from what we saw last year. It wasn’t about solo kills or solo performance. It was more about who can perform best as a team, and who can coordinate best as a team. This is what we have right now.

Norskeren: Hey, I’m Norskeren and I play support for Team ROCCAT. So far in Korea, I like the solo queue a lot. The players are just much better. We have been scrimming here, and they were pretty good scrims. We have some good and bad results in scrims, but we are learning fast.

¤ What have you learned so far in the Korean solo queue? Do they throw a lot?

Momento: What I learned so far in Korea is that... I learned how to become a team player not only inside of the game but also outside the game as well. Learned how to be a leader as well. I feel like I learned to trust other people more. In Korean solo queue, there is a lot of trust. If you want to ping for a tp play, they act on it immediately. I basically just learned how to be a team player and not be greedy for myself.

¤ You don’t have to be too serious about it. It was just a fun question (laughs).

Momento: I mean, that is what I learned.

HeaQ: As far as Korean solo queue goes, I didn’t practice that much in the off season. I was a bit rusty. I always tended to back off in scrims because I tend to feel rusty. I think everyone here can agree on Korean solo queue.The majority of the games are really good. Korean solo queue allows you to improve your mechanics a lot faster. As far as Korean teams go, if you make one mistake against them, they just win the game. We learned not to make any late game mistakes because Korean teams capitalize on it, unlike in the EU. Not to make any mistakes is what I learned in Korean boot camp.

Norskeren: What I learned about Korean solo queue is that the game is never over. It is a clown fiesta. There is fighting all the time. Teamfights are so important in Korean solo queue. I remember my first game in Korean solo queue. There was so much fighting, and I thought it was just that game. I have played a 100 games almost. Every game is action packed. It is really easy to train your mechanics in games like these. The players are already good even at Diamond 1 and Masters. I can only imagine what it is like in high Challenger. Having players from Longzhu, Samsung, and SKT in your games, they are just so good.


¤ (To Profit and Blanc) You have heard your teammates talk about what they learned in Korean solo queue. Do you think they have actually improved a lot?

Blanc: I think they improved a lot since they first came here. When they first played, they would play for themselves mostly. Now, they tend to move with the team. Even on the first days of scrims, we didn’t have any synergy and did not know how to make plays. As time passed, they began to evolve as players.

Profit: I have to agree that they did improve a lot. I guess you could say that you learn a lot from losing? You learn a lot from losing compared to winning.

¤ Were there any fun moments you remember whilst in boot camp here? I heard you guys went to Lotte World.

flyy: For me for example, I have seen a ton of people walking in the streets with pajamas and slippers. They even wore slippers in the middle of the winter.  

Norskeren: I almost killed a kid. It was my first time ice skating, and there were so many people blocking me. I had to stop, but I didn’t know how to stop. I turned around and a kid was right there. I almost chopped up his legs. It was quite close.

Blanc: I ordered chicken for them a few days ago. From that point onwards, they always ask me to order them Korean chicken. They kept saying it was so delicious.


¤ Which chicken brand did you order from?

Blanc: Kyochon chicken. They won’t stop asking me to order more for them.


¤ Who likes the chicken the most?

Blanc: Norskeren likes the chicken the most. It seems like Korean food doesn’t match well with him, so he keeps not finishing his food. He doesn’t really like rice or noodles.


¤ Blanc said you really like chicken.

Norskeren: Yeah (laughs).


¤ Why do you like Korean chicken so much?

Norskeren: I eat food here that is not chicken, like kimchi and spicy ramen. I don’t like spicy food, and I don’t normally eat it. A little spice just kills me. I just like chicken, and it is really good.


¤ Anyone else suffering from the Korean food?

Memento: Oh fredy122. He is upstairs (laughs).

flyy: Yeah, fredy has been missing European food quite a lot. We all like Korean food but at this point it is a little too much. We are craving a steak, a good burger, and good pizza.

¤ Were there any other Korean foods you suggested to your team?

Profit: They told me they really wanted to eat some ramen. They all were thinking “If we come to Korea, we need to eat ramen.”. After they tried instant ramen, they didn’t like it as much and said they wanted it eat the more expensive ramen.


¤ So do you not like instant ramen?

Memento: No. I don’t like instant ramen. To be honest, I don’t even really know what ramen is.


¤ Have you guys met some pro players in the Korean solo queue?

Memento: I met Pawn in solo queue, and I thought it was going to be a free win. However, he locked in Mundo top with smite. I was like “omg not like this”.

Norskeren: We had BDD yesterday. He was testing out Zoe. We kind of lost. It is kinda funny. You look up to these players but when you meet them in solo queue it is different. They are human I guess.


¤ Did you say anything to him?

Norskeren: No, we didn’t know he was BDD. He had a Korean name, so we couldn’t read it.


¤ What about you HeaQ?

HeaQ: I met Cpt Jack in solo queue.

Norskeren: We met Doublelift and Olleh as well.

Memento: I thought we were going to win, but we had some Chinese players that ran it down mid so…

¤ How was Doublelift?

HeaQ: It is hard to say because the game ended really fast.

Norskeren: They are really good.

HeaQ: Yeah, they are really good. However, our jungler came bot lane and he died so... Game was over. Judging only from the first few minutes, they seemed really good.


¤ There are a lot of foreign players that have come to Korea for boot camp. Were there any players from overseas that made a good impression?

Profit: Diamondprox. He played Xin in my game, and he is extremely good. He made me realize Xin is good.


¤ (To Memento) Do you think Xin is a good champion right now?

Memento: Xin is not even a champion.

Profit: I think EU players need to experience for themselves how good Xin is.

¤ (To Blanc) Have you met any overseas players in Korea?

Blanc: Not me. All the overseas players have already climbed so high to Diamond 1 and Masters. Because of this, I didn’t really get a chance to meet them in solo queue.


¤ Which player on your team do you guys think you have the most synergy with?

Memento: Not Profit, that’s for sure.


¤ I’ll give you guys a count to 3 and you guys all pick a player you have synergy with.

¤ Did anyone pick Profit?

Memento: WHY WOULD YOU PICK PROFIT??!!? HE IS A TOP LANER.

HeaQ: Can I explain why I picked Profit?


¤ Yeah of course.

HeaQ: When I first started to play with Profit, his English wasn’t that good. However, whenever he said basic English phrases, I knew exactly what he meant by it. When he said something ingame, I was the only person who knew what he meant. I had to translate what he said to the entire team sometimes. On top of all this, since I knew him before in NIP, I just feel like I know exactly what Profit wants to do. This is why, I think I have the best synergy with him out of the entire team.


¤ (To Blanc) Can you tell us why you picked Profit as the player who you synergize best with?

Blanc: Because of the language barrier, it is hard for me to really communicate with the English speakers of my team. It is just a lot easier to communicate with Profit. I think I just need more time with the English speakers.


¤ (To Norskeren) Your ADC didn’t pick you (laughs).

Norskeren: I picked Memento because I was with him previously. I feel like I am closer with him. When we screw up, we don’t hold anything back. We just say things very straight forward. We would say “Oh you suck” or “Oh you did this wrong”. He just feels like a younger brother to me.

¤ So,‘Young brother’. You picked Norskeren as well?

Memento: Yeah I did. I have a lot of synergy with him. I mean I have synergy with everyone. Me and Profit for example do a lot of ganks together. I have played with HeaQ before as well. Maybe I have more synergy with Blanc? Just because I gank his lane a lot.


¤ (To Profit) How do you feel about getting picked by 2 of the players on your team?

Profit: It is unfortunate I got 2 votes instead of all 4.


¤ (To Profit) What were your reasons for picking Blanc as your most synergistic teammate?

Profit: First of all, we both learned how to win games from Korea. Because of this, we both know what we need to do in order to win games more easily. Since we both know exactly what to do in games and give each other helpful feedback after a loss, Blanc was my go-to choice.


¤ We will do another vote. On the count of 3, pick a player whose champion you do not want to see.

¤ Who picked Memento?

Norskeren: Me


¤ Which champion from Memento?

Norskeren: His Lee Sin (laughs).


¤ How come?

Norskeren: He has gotten a little bit better, but his ults are so horrible.

Memento: Maybe if I one trick him. Lee Sin is just overrated. I don’t want to play him.

Profit: I think his Jarvan is pretty bad.

Memento: I told you my Jarvan is not that bad anymore… don’t say that.

Profit: Maybe because I played so much Jarvan top. When I look at his Jarvan combos, I think to myself “I don’t think that is how you combo as Jarvan”.


¤ (To Memento) You can defend yourself if you want.

Memento: I have nothing to say. I am the best. My jungle is really clean. If you want, I could show you my Lee Sin right now.

¤ Who picked Profit?

HeaQ: Me.


¤ Which champion?

HeaQ: So, Profit likes to play a lot of Rumble right? In SKT, Rumble might have been a good pick for him. However, from my experience playing with his Rumble in NIP and scrims in ROCCAT, the Rumble win rate is probably close to 5%. I’m not saying he is bad at the champion. I’m just saying he is not playing well enough for him.


¤ Blanc didn’t you pick Profit as well? Which champion?

Blanc: Yeah I did. My choice is Jayce not Rumble.

Profit: My main champions are Jayce and Rumble…

¤ Why Jayce?

Blanc: Because of the Maokai and Kha’zix meta right now, he started to go Jayce mid saying that there is no way to win in the top lane. However as you know, mid Jayce is not that good. Profit would pick the champion and after a few seconds the game would be already over.

Profit: Wait dude cmon... I got 3 kills last time in lane.

Blanc: Even if you get 3 kills, it is a bad pick regardless.

Profit: Then, it is not my fault but the champion’s fault.


¤ You want to defend yourself Profit?

Profit: This is the pilot’s fault. Jayce’s fault.

Blanc: When we were scrimming, he played Jayce. After getting ganked, I watched him CS. I was worried that the enemy top and jungle would snowball but I didn’t say anything. I just don’t get why he would play Jayce in general.

Profit: The enemy picked Malzahar. I thought “Oh this is 100% a Jayce game” but ....I guess Jayce’s nerf was too big.


¤ I heard Rumble and Jayce both got nerfed, but more so with Jayce.

Profit: Jayce got no benefits in the new rune system and his items got nerfed as well. He is now a very risky champion. He used to be tier 1 in the top lane, but after the nerfs he doesn’t have any damage.


¤ Memento?

Memento: Blanc’s Zoe… It is not like you are bad at the champion. Zoe can’t push, and I like mid laners that can push their lanes, as a jungler. This is why I don’t like Zoe.

¤ (To Blanc) Do you think Zoe is OP?

Blanc: There are a lot of mixed opinions. Some people say she is OP and others do not. In my opinion, she is really bad as a first pick but pretty good as a counter pick. I don’t believe Zoe is OP.


¤ On the count to 3, please pick a player that you guys think is the most likely to show the best performance in the team.

¤ If you guys could have picked yourself, would you guys have?

Profit: Uhh... I want to believe in our bot lane so that they will do well.


¤ What about you guys (Team ROCCAT with exception of Profit)?

Memento: I picked Blanc. I think Blanc is mini Faker. I think Blanc is just Blanc. He is really good and extremely smart about the game. This is why he is going to be the MVP.


¤ Did you pick yourself Blanc?

Blanc: Regarding my performances from the past few years, I haven’t been able to perform on par. When I was in Jin Air, I was a sub so I couldn’t really play much. I still believe I have a lot more to show people. We will have a lot of interesting matches coming up, and I have a feeling this year is going to be a good year for us.

¤ (To HeaQ) You picked your support right?

HeaQ: Yeah. I chose him because he will only get assists so chances of him getting MVP is low. Also the fact that, he is really good mechanically and is a playmaking support. I think if the team learns how to play better together, Norskeren will be the EU Biofrost.


¤ Who do you think will be the MVP flyy?

flyy: I am going to be really cheesy and say the team is going to be the MVP. We have really strong players. Like I said before, we need to link as a team. If we work as a team and perform well, the MVP for this spring season will be the team. However, like everyone has been saying, Blanc and Norskeren are standing out right now because of their mechanics. Some players may shine and be the center of attention, but the rest of the team is always backing up these players who shine. I think Profit still has a lot to show as well.

Memento: SKT Profit.

flyy: Memento is really good at leading the team. What to say about HeaQ... A lot of people right now are giving HeaQ a lot of criticism on Reddit. I just think people are underrating him so much. If you look at the kill participation and other team-orientated statistics, you can tell that he is the best performing ADC in all of Europe.

Memento: He is a good player because he works hard.

¤ If you think you guys can make it past the playoffs raise your hands.

¤ If you think you guys can make it past the LCS.

flyy: We’ll go as underdogs. We will attract more attention as well.

¤ If you think you guys can make it to Worlds.

*Some have their hands up*


¤ If you think you guys can make it to the quarterfinals of Worlds.

flyy: Don’t push it (laughs). We believe we can go far. However right now, we want to set up small goals in order to go to the next one, then the next, and etc.

HeaQ: I care more about my teammates being the best at their roles rather than setting up these goals. I trust my team to be at least the top of their roles by the end of spring and into the summer season. I don’t necessarily expect to go to Worlds, but I trust my team to get there. This way, we will have no regrets as we all tried our best.


¤ Final question. Is there anything you guys want to say to your fans, friends, and/or family?

Profit: There seemed to be fans that supported me when I was in SKT that continuously supported me when I went to EU. Since the games in EU are held in the am on Korean time, I want to thank all those supporters for their support. Not too long ago, it was my birthday. Even then, my fans sent me gifts and supported me. I want to thank them as well. Finally, I want to tell all my fans to continue supporting me in Europe if they can. Thanks!

Memento: If I have any fans, I want to thank them for supporting us. Because of them, we can actually play this game and enjoy it. We won’t let you down, that is for sure.

Blanc: I think there are a lot of people that have forgotten about me. I promise to you guys that this season will be different. Stay tuned.

HeaQ: I hope the ROCCAT fans are not too scared of me joining since I was already in 2 teams in one year. Team ROCCAT gave me the benefit of the doubt. I will try my best.

Norskeren: I think we are going into this season as a dark horse. I won’t ignore it. I want people to think we are the underdog team. Hopefully, this will help us get a lot more fans. We may not have the best history as individual players, but we will try to create the best history as Team ROCCAT.

flyy: For me, I just want to thank you guys for choosing us. This bootcamp, at least for me, has been a great success. The growth I see, how fast you guys have improved, and how you guys work together as a team is quite impressive. I could say that we have already had a better start compared to that of last year. You guys definitely talk more with each other compared to the beginning. I actually want to thank you guys for being here and trusting in us.