Echo Fox has claimed 1st place in the NA LCS spring split against Cloud9.

Both being tied for 1st place, Echo Fox and Cloud9 had to win against their opponent in order to secure 1st place and possibly the playoffs in today’s game. With an unusual draft phase, C9 Licorice put everyone on the edge of their seats with Lucian top. A pick that Huni himself had created. As expected, Huni and Echo Fox knew how to play against the top lane match up and secured the win.

Giving where credit is due, Huni was not the only player responsible for winning the match up. Dardoch played a substantial part to make sure the pressure on top side stayed with Huni.

After the game, Inven Global interviewed Echo Fox’s jungler, Dardoch. Let’s see what Dardoch has to say about Licorice’s Lucian pick, Huni, and Cloud9’s no brain team comps.

¤ How do you feel about securing 1st place today against Cloud9?

It feels really good. We know we have a hard week ahead of us next week, but we are glad we got to start off like this. We have hard teams to go up against and to start off by beating C9. It feels amazing.


¤ Do you think your confidence in winning has changed since you guys are now 1st place in the NA LCS?

Our confidence level has stayed the same as a team. We have a good gauge on how our skill level matches out with other teams. Us as a team can see the flaws in a team throughout the whole league. There are exploitable parts in everyone’s gameplay. As long as we know we are playing our best, we can take a game off everybody.

¤ Talking about today’s game, we cannot ignore the picks and bans. What did Echo Fox and Huni specifically think when you guys saw the Lucian pick?

We were originally thinking of picking something other than GP in our 4th pick. We just expected that they would ban GP because we have shown we can play as and against GP really well. We were really surprised when GP was left open for picks 4 and 5. When Huni locked in GP, he told us that they have a counter pick 100% ready. We kept wondering what it would be because we didn’t think Licorice could play Lucian. When Licorice locked in Lucian, Huni just started laughing. It was more like Licorice was challenging Huni. Huni was willing to accept that challenge for sure.


¤ In the match up against Huni and Licorice, do you think Licorice played Lucian badly or do you think, since Huni created the match up, he knew exactly what to do?

In my understanding of the match up, Lucian will almost always have the 1v1 pressure. However, there are times when GP can fight back in lane if he plays well. Going into the match up, Huni knew he would be okay in the 1 vs 1. In the match up, it is also really important how the jungle pressures the lane. During the game, we knew we were way comfortable playing that kind of match up compared to C9. Echo Fox has been playing this style for the whole year while C9 has never really played well around the top lane. This is funny because, top priority is exactly what you need to do to play Lucian top.


¤ What was your mindset in ganking Lucian? Did you know some parts weren’t warded so you pathed a certain way or?

For the most part through our scouting intel, we knew that C9 swapped their vision to bot side after the first few minutes of the game. This is because C9 plays more around their bot lane than they do with Licorice. Playing with a Lucian, your team tends to move from the normality of the team. You need to cater everything towards the Lucian pick. I guess we were expecting more pressure relief from C9, so Lucian can 1v1 freely in lane. However, Cloud9 opened themselves up a lot in left side mid. Multiple times, I would walk straight into the jungle and ward. Most of the time, Licorice was just overextended. It was just Licorice’s mistake more so than us playing well against it. I only went into the jungle to ward because Huni said he can win the 1v1. However after the level 5 gank when we traded flashes, it was mostly Licorice overextending without Flash so…

¤ Before today’s match, Jensen said in our interview that Echo Fox plays a lot of no brain comps. Do you agree with what Jensen said?

I would just argue that C9 plays more no brain comps to be honest (laughs). I mean, they played Ezreal-Alistar-Orianna-Jarvan-Lucian. Aside from Ezreal and Lucian, those champions are pretty easy. I really don’t have a comment on that. We just play what is best, and we win (laughs).


¤ What are the biggest differences with being with Echo Fox compared to the other teams you have been with?

The other teams I have been on had communication issues. The biggest difference being on Echo Fox is that we almost have no communication issues ever. Everyone is mostly on the same page for the entirety of the game. It shows in our gameplay that we are really coordinated.


¤ Because Huni has been on SKT before, Huni gets most of the spotlight. Other than Huni, who do you think on your team, yourself included, is spotlight worthy?

I think everyone is spotlight worthy but if I had to pick one person, it would be Fenix. Fenix was the biggest question mark coming into the split. Everyone knew I was going to be fine. The attitude issues were a question mark, but it was never a question of skill. Huni came from the World Finals, so he wasen’t questioned. Our duo came from Dignitas and did well in the NA LCS. Meanwhile, no one expected Fenix to really blow everyone out of the water. One, I’m really proud of him and two, there are a lot of things he does for the team that most people don’t see.


¤ If you had to pick one person on your team to change how they play for the better of the team, who would it be?

If I had to pick one person, it would be me. I would have a lingering bad habit when things go poorly in game. I would vent negative things out of frustration. It does nothing for our team. If I lose a camp in the early game, my mental would shift a bit. Everyone on my team is really good. I would do nothing to change anything about them.