Counter Logic Gaming (CLG), who didn’t even reach the playoffs in the last season is running at first place. They're doing quite well recently.

CLG has been a strong team in the NA for a long time and is one of the most famous teams in the world. However, they’ve been losing their popularity due to their recent underperformance. Huhi said that he was sad about that, but he said this situation was a big source of motivation for him, and he was just marching forward.

Huhi said that the reason CLG is performing better this split is that they solved a problem out of the game. In the interview with Huhi after the game on Saturday, were able to hear about how CLG changed and how they are currently.

Your results are comparably better than the last season. What has changed?

It seems like we’re more prepared compared to the last season. There were many problems out of the game during last season. This time, we solved those problems before the season started. I think we’re having good results since we can fully concentrate on the game.

What do you mean by ‘problems out of the game’?

There were problems with communication. After we lost Aphromoo, we had trouble with shotcalling, and there were many opinions on that matter. So it was hard to concentrate on our game. Last season, we weren’t able to solve this problem, but this season, it’s been solved.

Was it difficult without Aphromoo?

If I said it wasn’t, I’d be lying. Aphromoo was a player that held a big role in our communication, and he was one of the main pillars of our team. After that pillar was gone, we weren't sure about how to fill his shoes. We weren’t able to divide his role among ourselves. So we failed the last season, and now everything is finding its place.

Now, who’s the main shotcaller?

Now we’re all making calls. We’re not putting much pressure on one player, and we’re trying to have somebody making calls if another isn’t making any calls.

Last season, we had one player doing most of the calls. At first, it was me, and it wasn’t very good. Then it was Biofrost which also wasn’t very successful. We tried giving that role to another player, but it wasn’t that good. Now we’re all sharing that role and we all support each other.

CLG is a traditionally strong, famous and popular team in the NA, but it seems that you’re not drawing as much attention as before. What are your thoughts on that?

I feel really sorry. It was sad having fans withdraw attention from us, and it was even disappointing when our results weren’t as good as we thought. But being disappointed changes nothing; we’re trying to use it as a good source of motivation. Now, we’re more motivated than ever.

Reignover joined the team last season. How is the synergy with him?

Of all the junglers I played with, Dardoch was the player that I felt the most comfortable with. Except for Dardoch, I feel the most comfortable with Reignover. Of course, at first, it wasn’t that good, and there’s still trouble in making decisions. Since it’s our second season together, the whole synergy is a lot better now. Both being able to speak Korean also makes it easier to communicate. As time goes, it gets better and better.

Even if I can speak English, there are times that it’s hard to express my thoughts in detail. When I play with Reignover, this gets easier. What’s interesting is that since I’ve been abroad for so long, I can’t say what I want to say in Korean (Laughs). This could be a problem, but in that situation, I just talk in English. Reignover understands English quite well, so we can communicate in two different languages.

Being able to speak any language I want to use is a big advantage for me. Reignover is more fond of speaking Korean, but he tunes in with me. (Laughs)

It seems that Darshan is in a very good form.

During practice this week, we weren’t confident. Our results weren’t good, and our plays were absurd. We played as if we were playing solo queue, and we had problems in both macro and mechanics. After we talked about the serious situation, we tried hard to solve the problems. I think that’s why we were able to get good results in the competition.

Reignover said in an interview before that you’re changing the plays so that he can be aggressive when needed.

I think we used to be a team that overplayed from time to time. I don’t know when, but after we heard someone told us not to do any risky plays, we started not to do any plays that had even the smallest risk.

But now, we try to fight when needed even if it’s risky. Even if we’re ahead, we can’t snowball without fighting. We’re trying to change our problems. Now we’re doing our best to make ‘good’ fights when we need to fight.

Who told you not to do risky plays?

All the players and coaching staff had said it. We wanted to be known as a ‘smart’ team. What we were aiming for is winning a game with 0 kills and 0 deaths. However, this was nearly impossible, and it seemed that it was causing trouble to our team so now we’re trying to fix it.

What would be your goal for the season?

Of course, it’s getting to Worlds. The best way would be finishing 1st this season, and if we can’t, I want to go by winning at Regionals. Since Worlds is in Korea this year, I really want to go. I think it has been a year or two since I’ve been to Korea (Laughs).

Why haven’t you gone to Korea recently?

Well, first of all, I didn’t have enough time. (Laughs) I did have time after the last season, but I was too disappointed that I didn’t want to go.

Didn’t you have enough time to go during the offseason last year? Don’t your parents miss you?

I just happened to not go. (Laughs) I always speak with my parents over the phone, but I’m kind of like the prodigal son. (Laughs) It’s hard to contact frequently because of the time difference.

There’s a lot of words on the NA solo queue ping issue. What do you think about that?

I can’t say that ping doesn’t affect playing the game. In the KR server, the solo queue is nearly as good as scrims, so it’s more of a practice.

Also, the ping isn’t the only issue here. Macro is also a lot different between the NA and KR servers. Here, everybody just enjoys the game. Many people think that they’ll do a 1v5 and carry. I think the reason it’s loud about the NA solo queue is that of these two things combined.

Any last comments?

Worlds is in Korea this year, and it has been a long time since I played in Korea. After Bigfile Miracle, I haven’t played there. (Laughs) I didn’t have a single win in Korea; at that time, we went 0-6, and then I came to the States. I really want to go and get my first win in Korea.