Heading into the 3rd week of the NA LCS, Cloud9 has claimed another victory under their belt.

Against OpTic Gaming, Cloud9 had a convincing win with every player on the roster proving their worth. Some people were skeptical about the new top laner for C9, Licorice. However, Licorice has proven time and time again that he is a player with mechanically prowess. Showing off his Camille in a previous game, Licorice is a top laner to be respected.

After the game, Cloud9’s top laner, Licorice, was interviewed. Let’s see what he has to say about a potential Riven pick in the near future.

¤ How do you feel about your win today?

Pretty good. I can’t say we were expecting a super tough match, but I think we all played really well.


¤ What are your thoughts on being able to debut as apart of C9?

I think it is a huge opportunity for me. It is something everyone wants when they enter the scene, to not have a kind of warm up team. Usually, you will be put in a Challenger team. It does come with a lot of pressure not starting off with a Challenger team, but I have been enjoying it so far. My teammates have done a lot for me, and I am very grateful.


¤ When we interviewed with Reapered, he commented on you being a very macro heavy player and had high expectations for you. Did you hear about this?

Uh no I didn’t. Reapered just tells me that I am a little bit dumb (laughs). He says that I am a no-brain player.


¤ What parts does Reapered want you to work on? In other words, why does he call you ‘dumb’?

In scrims, I would have very meaningless deaths. I would die where I am not supposed to be or I would get caught out. So far, this hasn't happened on stage. It might just be a scrim thing. Moving to Challenger to the LCS, I think there is still a lot I need to learn.

¤ Putting other people’s opinions of you aside, what do you think your opinions are on yourself as a player?

I’d say right now, I am a mechanically strong player. I played last week against Huni and Ssumday. I didn’t feel like I was outclassed in lane in any way. Because of this, I think I am fine mechanically. I just have a couple of things to fix regarding where to be around the map. I guess that would be my weakness right now.


¤ Since you said you feel very confident mechanic wise, have you ever felt the urge to play more of Jayce and Riven top in live games?

We played the Jayce last week, and it didn’t go too well. We might pick it back up again, but I don’t know if we will. Riven is… (laughs). Riven is kind of a meme in the C9 house. We had a couple of scrim games with her, but I’m not really that good with Riven. It didn’t really go well (laughs). Maybe some point in the future.


¤ What made you choose top lane as your role?

When I first started playing the game, I started as a mid laner while playing with my school friends. To be honest, they weren’t very good. What I realized was that, the best way to win was through the mid lane in normals. I naturally fell into it. When I started to look for going pro for League, a team approached me and said they were looking for a top laner. I was queuing soloq mid but put my secondary as top. I could play a bit of top, so I said ‘why not?’. I started to play top semi-competitively in random tournaments, and I started to do a lot better.

¤ As a top laner, it is very important to make use of your jungler efficiently. How is your synergy between your jungle, Svenskeren?

I’d say it is pretty good. Sven is a really smart player, especially when it comes to playing around top lane. Most of the time, I don’t even need to prompt him. Basically, the conversation would go like this. I would say ‘we can do something top’, and Sven would say he would be there in 2 waves. He makes it super easy.

¤ Out of all the top laners that you have met in the NA LCS, who gave you the biggest impression?

I think it would have to be Huni. The two big names I have played against so far are Huni and Ssumday. In the game against Ssumday, he didn’t really have a chance to do anything. This was just based on how my team was playing around me. Ssumday didn’t ‘wow’ me but at the same time I don’t think he could. He didn’t have the opportunity to. Meanwhile, Huni played really well against me. I think he outperformed me for sure that game.


¤ Which top laner do you look up to the most?

I guess the top laner I would look up to the most would be CuVee. I think he is just a solid top laner. He plays tanks and carries well. On top of all this, CuVee plays really well with his team.


¤ Khan is also a world class top laner and has gained some fame recently. Why CuVee over Khan?

When I watch Khan play with his team, it seems like bot lane plays with no resources and his team sends everything into the top lane. I mean, Khan does really well with those resources and carries games. However, CuVee is just overall a well-rounded player. This is why I look up to CuVee a bit more.


¤ Asking a question we asked Svenskeren, Cloud 9 has consistently qualified for Worlds. C9 has even gotten far as to the quarterfinals. Although Worlds is still far away, do you think you will be able to uphold the tradition and make it to Worlds?

Although we are only a couple days in, I think it is definitely possible we can make it to Worlds based on scrims.


¤ Lastly, anything you want to say to your fans?

Uh, thanks for the support (laughs).