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SuperMassive talk MSI and big ambitions for Worlds
The Turkish team might not have gone far at the Invitational, but they’re just getting started.
Not many will be surprised by Turkish team SuperMassive’s finishing place at the bottom of May's Mid-Season Invitational, not even the team themselves. League of Legends is dominated by the core regions of NA, EU and South-East Asia. However at least one of their results in Shanghai did raise eyebrows, enough to turn the world’s gaze away from eventual victors SKT – a victory over eventual runners-up, CounterLogic Gaming.
It’s hard not to see this one upset as a sign of things to come. Since the team’s formation in January this year, they've passed through every hoop the wildcard international region has thrown at them, and are determined to make the most of their time on the global stage. We caught up with toplaner and captain Berke “Thaldrin” Demir, AD Carry and Support Nicolaj “Achuu” Ellesgaard and Mustafa Kemal “Dumbledoge” Gökseloğlu, and team coach Adrian "hatchý" Widera to find out more about SuperMassive’s giant ambitions.
What was it like all coming together for the first time in January?
Dumbledoge: Coming all together as a team was really exciting for me at first because I was sure that we were going to dominate Turkish Champions League (TCL) with the best players in the region and the best management, but it didn't start like that.
Hatchy: I wouldn't say it was perfect from the start; that's one of the reasons as to why I'm here. [Hatchy joined two weeks after SuperMassive’s creation] I'd say the expectations of being a super team in Turkey made it harder to perform from the very beginning, our position in the Turkish league had to be earned, not given. But quite quickly it turned out that we're a super team for a reason.
SuperMassive huddle before one of their matches
© Riot Games
Was winning the Wildcard even something you had considered at the time?
Hatchy: Our goal from the beginning was to get to MSI, so we were really motivated going into IWCI. We knew how strong we are so it was clear to us that anything else than a win at IWCI would be a failure.
Thaldrin: I think we all knew that we could win the Wildcard, but we just had to handle our problems and issues first. Our problems were minor stuff and it was holding us down from winning. As the time passed, we all saw that we were improving as a team and getting better and better day by day.
Dumbledoge: During the split, we were struggling with basic things like being a team and macro plays. But after Finals, we started to feel like we were on the right track and we can achieve our goals. I knew that we were going to make it to MSI after winning the Turkish finals.
The standard of competition at MSI was extremely high, do you feel like you gained some really good experience of high level matches, despite your overall results?
Hatchy: I think we've managed to put up a good fight against most of the teams, a lot of our games were really close for the first 20 minutes of the game. But the best teams are way better than us when it comes to late game. The edge that they have over us is that they play versus the top-tier teams all the time in their leagues. The possibility of playing versus teams on such a level meant a lot to us, but we have also felt like we're not lacking that much when compared to them, and we want to put up an even better showing at Worlds.
Achuu: Even G2, who have like a year-old roster, maybe less, had the same issues, which shows that to play against the top teams you need to be together for awhile. The difference between us and the rest of the MSI teams was not our individual skill, but how we played as a team, and being better at playing as a team only comes with practice and a lot of hard work.
You managed to pull off a win against CLG, who ended up as runners-up to SKT in the finals, that must have felt really good, right?
Hatchy: Of course it felt good! We knew that we could get some wins, maybe it wasn't clear before we went to MSI, but once we were there we felt like we were good enough to do it. I think it's not unreasonable to say that we could've maybe won one or two games more, especially our G2 games. So while it felt good, there was some serious hunger for more that is going to drive us through the next split.
Dumbledoge: We kind of celebrated as if we won semi-finals after that game! To be honest, after we won against CLG, I was sure that we were gonna finish top three because they also beat SKT in their group stage. But things didn't end up as I calculated.
What was it like taking on SKT? They dropped a few games through the tournament, but looked a pretty convincing winner in the end. Do you think they’re the best team in the world right now?
Hatchy: SKT are amazing. Watching them playing versus us wasn't comparable to me to anything else I've seen. I've been watching hundreds of games of our team in the last months, but only when we played versus SKT it felt like it's a team from a different planet. Whenever we came up with something, they already knew what we were thinking about and had the counter-play ready.
Achuu: The thing about SKT, I always feel, is in group stages they're just feeling out the teams. Also it's best of one, and SKT are really good at playing best of five too, which clearly showed against RNG and CLG. I think they're the best team in the world for sure, they are so hard to play against.
Thaldrin: I believe the strongest part of SKT is their long series. They might drop a game or two during the series, but they will most likely win the series. Because they adapt to the enemy’s strategies so well and overcome them pretty easily during the series.
Dumbledoge leaves the stage after a game at MSI
© Riot Games
How do you feel about the recent changes to Dragon and Rift Herald overall, have they changed the game much? What about your own team play?
Hatchy: I like the changes, besides the fact that I'm not a fan of randomising the gameplay, things you have no control over changing the flow of the game. Sadly Dragon changes give us exactly that. One of four types of dragon will spawn randomly, so if you pick a team composition that is not good at fighting around dragons, you'll be in trouble if the strongest, most important dragon spawns.
Achuu: I feel the Dragon changes are kind of silly since it makes some Dragons useless in a sense, but also make some of them top priority. In some cases you can give up the bottom half of the map if it's a Dragon you don't want, and just focus topside, which I don't like too much, but we'll see.
Thaldrin: I believe the changes around Dragon added some RNG-based stuff to the game, which can be defined as luck-based, which makes it more interesting. Also I really liked the Rift Herald changes, it's more of a buff for the toplaners now, and it lasts 20 minutes, which is really huge for the split-push pressure. But I guess there will be nerfs coming for the Herald buff, we'll wait and see.
What about the big changes Riot have made to AP items and mages? Are there any particular characters you think are really strong after the rework?
Thaldrin: I think Swain and Vladimir are really huge right now due to the changes to their kit and to the mage items. For example; Viktor was kind of getting dropped down from the meta, but with the new changes, I believe we'll see him more in the competitive matches. I also believe that we'll see so many toplane Swains. I had some time to test this champion, and I can easily say that, he's really strong and will find a place for himself at the next tournaments.
What’s next for the team? What are your hopes for the split and beyond?
Thaldrin: For this split, of course, we expect to win it as well as the Wildcard and go to Worlds. Our goal was to get out of the group stages when we formed the team, and I believe, after playing against the MSI teams, we can do that if we work hard enough.
Dumbledoge: Our first goal is winning the TCL again, of course, and having a chance to participate in Wildcard, but my biggest goal is making it to Worlds.
How do you feel about the state of international play right now? Do you think the dominance of South Korea, EU and NA is coming to an end?
Achuu: I think South Korea is still far too good, I feel the gap between EU and NA is slowly closing in some way, so that's good to see.. but South Korea is still at the top for a while.
Thaldrin: I'm not sure about South Korea's dominance coming to an end, but I can say that EU and NA will have a harder time from now on. The gap between the major regions are getting closer and closer, and also the minor regions are catching up to the major ones, which will make the competition even more intense.
Hatchy: It would be a nice statement to make to end the interview, and we're definitely getting there, but realistically – we're going to take it step by step. First we'll try to be as good as NA and EU on a consistent basis, then we can think about the rest. Korea is unbeatable.
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