This year, the League of Legends World Championship missed out on the whole-hearted interviews from The Shotcaller. With the outlet ceasing operations, Alex "LocoEX" Hugo and Darius "DariusExMachina" Matuschek have parted ways, finding success in Fnatic and Schalke 04, respectively. 

During the Group Stage, Lara Lunardi got to catch up with Alex Hugo, now LEC  Team Manager at Fnatic, about his 2020 year, entering a new environment, and the team relationship over at Fnatic. Beware of community submitted questions!

This year, the community has really missed the Shotcaller’s coverage of Worlds, so I wanted to catch up and see how you guys are doing over in China, and what you guys have been doing. Darius ended up going to Schalke, and you ended up with Fnatic. Are you proud of where you guys got to in 2020?

Sure, we also have been proud of what we have been doing before, right? The Shotcaller was definitely worth our time, and we were very sad about ending the project in general. We would have loved to continue it, it just wasn’t possible, so we looked for new opportunities, and we are very happy with where we landed.

Unfortunately, Darius did not make it to China, it was very close. We almost ended up together in China but we are definitely where we are right now.

Do you think there would have been a lot of rivalry between you two then?

Definitely. We are still united in rivalry with other teams.

You’ve worked with other teams in the past. Did you miss the emotional rollercoaster that only people that have worked with a team know of?

I definitely missed that a lot. That was also the main decision why I went to work with another team. Before, when I worked with other teams, we had a tournament schedule, and not a proper league, so it’s been quite different, but I really missed working around teams, having the competition, the preparation, the ups and downs. I am happy I am able to experience it again.

Was it easy for you to bond with your teammates?

Everybody is very nice. We had a lot of people joining Fnatic in January, so it wasn’t just me coming in. It was also Javi, Mithy, Oskar (Selfmade), we were all new people and formed a new group pretty quickly.

And how is the routine in China with everyone?

It’s not very different from other big competitions. Surely there are more health regulations, which totally makes sense, but we still have the usual schedule we have in Berlin.

Community Questions

Well, as you saw, I made a little thread on Twitter, where the community asked some questions…

I’m going to start with Su Collins’ question: 

Hyllie would probably die first because he would be running, totally unprepared. Who would I choose though… Martin would probably sit back and develop the best strategy. But as the best fighter, it probably would be Oskar.

Really? Not Bwipo, full tank?

Nope, not Bwipo. Oskar.

There’s a question from Darius! 

Easy story. I always tell them they are supposed to pick Shaco, right? Cause he is the best champion. But Kevin, our analyst, tells me that Shaco is just too good, so he is banned in every official competition, and that’s why we don’t play him.

Next question:

It’s Tresor.

How do you even know that?!

Sure I do. That’s part of my job right. I know every player’s favorite cereals.

Okay, next...

Favorite place is the hotel, we haven’t seen much else. My win rate is about 60%. I’ve only played maybe 20 games since we were here for four weeks, I didn’t really play much.

Last question, from Dr.Puppet…

Why do you let Nemesis eat Rice with Kit Kat?

When I learned, it was already too late. Nothing I could do against it.

Looking for more Worlds 2020 content? Check our official League of Legends page!

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