Interview With Team Legion's Alex 'iNoobish' Mata
eSports Central
We were able to catch up with Team Legion's Alex 'iNoobish' Mata at PAX Prime. We asked him questions about the support role, the bottom lane meta-game, and Team Legion going forward.
Here with iNoobish, how was the event for you?
As a support player, what do you think differentiates support players from each other. For an up and coming support player what do you need to focus on?
You said you are more of an aggressive player, what is your favorite aggressive champion to play?
I remember around IEM Hanover and the tournaments in the Spring, it was
Corki/
Leona. What changed in the metagame, was there a nerf, because that was like THE aggressive bottom lane.
Corki/ Leona was one of the strongest bottom lanes. Then there was 
Ezreal/ Leona, something along those lines. The only problem I see with Leona is that she is a champion you have to all-in with. If you 
Zenith Blade in, you are basically fighting. If you don't mean to and you accidentally Zenith someone down the lane, they might be baiting you. 
Blitzcrank is better because you are pulling them to you and 
Taric can disengage after the stun, you don't have to go all the way in. Leona is more risky than some other supports.
Going into the future, we don't know where Team Legion stands with Season 3 because there will be more qualifications since there are 8 teams. What are you guys focusing on now? What is Team Legion's strategy going forward?
What was your practice schedule coming into this tournament?
Do you think it is beneficial to, in those types of situation, to theorycraft? Does that give you an advantage over teams that grind all day?
The strategy that Dignitas pulled out in the 2nd game was a very poke heavy composition, the team is trying to just farm and get to the late game. As a more aggressive team, what kind of mindset do you go with to combat this strategy?
Any shoutouts?
Here with iNoobish, how was the event for you?
This was one of the biggest events I've been to and outside of losing Friday, it was pretty fun. It's been a fun event, going around checking out the exhibits and checking out panels.
As a support player, what do you think differentiates support players from each other. For an up and coming support player what do you need to focus on?
The main thing is probably positioning. If you ever watch Patoy he has wonderful positioning on pretty much everyone. He plays 
Nunu and pretty much any ranged support. Then you have supports like myself, Xpecial, and Elementz that probably go a bit more aggressive with Blitzcrank, Taric, the melee supports. Really, it is positioning and probably managing your gold. You have to know what to buy and when to buy it.
Nunu and pretty much any ranged support. Then you have supports like myself, Xpecial, and Elementz that probably go a bit more aggressive with Blitzcrank, Taric, the melee supports. Really, it is positioning and probably managing your gold. You have to know what to buy and when to buy it.
You said you are more of an aggressive player, what is your favorite aggressive champion to play?
Recently it is Blitzcrank. Probably the most popular aggressive support. It has been coming out in season 2 a lot and is probably the best solo queue support out there. Before that it was Taric but with Blitz you have more flexibility and more opportunity to create plays with the 
Rocket Grab, and overall good damage.
Blitzcrank. Probably the most popular aggressive support. It has been coming out in season 2 a lot and is probably the best solo queue support out there. Before that it was Taric but with Blitz you have more flexibility and more opportunity to create plays with the Rocket Grab, and overall good damage.
I remember around IEM Hanover and the tournaments in the Spring, it was
Corki/ Leona. What changed in the metagame, was there a nerf, because that was like THE aggressive bottom lane. Corki/ Leona was one of the strongest bottom lanes. Then there was Ezreal/ Leona, something along those lines. The only problem I see with Leona is that she is a champion you have to all-in with. If you Zenith Blade in, you are basically fighting. If you don't mean to and you accidentally Zenith someone down the lane, they might be baiting you. Blitzcrank is better because you are pulling them to you and Taric can disengage after the stun, you don't have to go all the way in. Leona is more risky than some other supports.
Going into the future, we don't know where Team Legion stands with Season 3 because there will be more qualifications since there are 8 teams. What are you guys focusing on now? What is Team Legion's strategy going forward?
As of right now, we are trying to be one of the 8 teams for Season 3. Unfortunately we go knocked out by CLG, a good team. The top 3 teams in North America is obviously, TSM, Dignitas, and CLG, they are the teams that have made it but there is 5 other spots. For the remaining teams, I think we are probably one of the strongest contenders for the remaining 5 spots. That is what we are going to work on; trying to make it to be one of the 5 spots.
What was your practice schedule coming into this tournament?
It was kind of hard. Everyone was coming back from Raleigh and we have like basically one day, maybe two for some players, to readjust the layover at your house or something and then come back. A lot of our preperation was talking rather than playing. Talking about picks, bans, strategies we may use or may not use. What the other team, CLG, was going to do versus us. Trying to be prepared. As far as mechanical skills, we had like a couple of hours before the matches to go into the player lounge, hop on the computers, and try to last hit, things like that. Mostly it was just trying to talk because we didn't have the best performance at Raleigh and with PR0LLY coming back, trying to get him back in the swing of things.
Do you think it is beneficial to, in those types of situation, to theorycraft? Does that give you an advantage over teams that grind all day?
Yeah, well two things here. If you are playing a lot of League all day and doing like a 10 hour marathon of like train and practice some thing, that you get the practice of how you want to run this comp. Also, you look at VODs or replays of yourself or replays of other teams and being able to slow it down because you will mess up a teamfight. In League of Legends it is really snowbally, if you lose a teamfight at dragon, that team is more than likely to get the advantage. Slowing down the fights and being able to pinpoint like hey after this happened we should have initiated or disengaged. Things like that make it better because when you are in the game you have less of the hesitation calls. Teams like TSM, as soon as something happens and they know they take the advantage, they flash in, you know, Regi flashes in and everyone follows up. We are trying to be like that because specifically in game 3 versus CLG where both teams were dancing around dragon for like minutes. There are many spots we could have taken advantage of.
The strategy that Dignitas pulled out in the 2nd game was a very poke heavy composition, the team is trying to just farm and get to the late game. As a more aggressive team, what kind of mindset do you go with to combat this strategy?
When we are in the game and the stakes are high, you take the moment to calm your team down. This game is on the line, it is close, no one wants to do anything risky. Literally you just have to have someone or have the team be calm and as soon as you see an opening, everyone has to be on the same page to take it. If not then teamfights happen and you will end up losing the fights or the game.
Any shoutouts?
Shoutouts to our sponsor Razer, MaxFrag, Imgur, Arquade and my parents that weren't able to come to this event but they are a huge support to me.
6,815
There are no comments yet. Be the first!