RGE Larssen: “I definitely think I’m the best mid laner in Europe”

Rogue remains at the top of the LEC standings after Week 7 despite them going 1-1. They are now locked in for playoffs along with Fnatic, G2 Esports and Misfits Gaming. Week 8 will be a good test for Rogue as it is the super week where all teams will play three matches, and they will also find out who they will be facing in the first round of playoffs.

First and foremost, Larssen, thank you so much for accepting this interview. We’ve come to the end of the week for Rogue and you guys go 1-1. Talk to me about this week of games against Fnatic and Excel, and were you satisfied with your performances?

Larssen: Not really. We always want to go 2-0, but the Fnatic game was kind of hard. They played well and it got hard after the early game, and our composition was quite weak when we were set behind. It was a hard game, which sometimes happens and shows we can obviously do some things better, right? It was small mistakes that led to the game being very hard. Fnatic is a good team, so they’re not gonna throw the game completely.

But the game against Excel was very nice. We were all very aggressive and not afraid to make plays happen. So I’m very happy with the game against Excel and not so happy about losing against Fnatic, of course. But it’s alright.

stop invade my buff 🤡 if you come your team more scared 🤡 @Odoamne 🤡 pic.twitter.com/SY2fzupk8e

— 김근성 (@malrang12) February 26, 2022

Going 1-1, of course, Rogue are still at the top of the table.

Larssen: Yeah, our first one, actually, I think.

Yes it is! You did have an 0-2 in week five, and then you guys bounced back by week six to go 2-0. I’d just like to ask you a little bit about what has changed since your 0-2 week for Rogue.

Larssen: Not too much has changed. We’re still the same team and we didn’t panic after going 0-2. We definitely changed some stuff and we’re more active in what we need to improve, but not much changed. Just some things that we need to improve that we are focusing more on. We’re been more willing to talk about our problems a bit more on what to improve at and other stuff.

Speaking of improvements, Rogue’s biggest improvement, in my opinion, for this year has been the general absence of ‘Rogue Time’. Talk to me a little bit about that, because I’m pretty sure that a lot of people have been wondering what happened to it.

Larssen: Honestly, I’m not completely sure. Our Nashor takes are way better, definitely. I think last year we were struggling with using Nash, starting Nash and stuff like that, but I definitely have a lot more of a voice in the team now and I think I’m quite good on how to play Nash and stuff like that. It helps, I think.

I usually always know what to do with Nash but we had some disagreements last year. We disagreed on how to play the mid game and stuff, and we didn’t completely trust each other in the game. We had some trust issues in-game, for sure. We didn’t really play as aggressive as we needed to in the mid game and I think we were way too afraid last year.

So those were kind of the big issues, we were not aggressive enough in the mid game and we didn’t really trust each other as much as we needed to. Definitely, we’re a lot more aggressive now with our leads, I think.

I just want to touch on something very quickly that you mentioned. You mentioned you being a very strong voice when it comes to Nash and I’m assuming objectives in general. Would you say you’re the leading shot caller for Rogue now?

Larssen: I wouldn’t say so, I think it’s just a team thing. We’re all shotcalling. However, definitely around Nash, especially how to take Nash and how to use Nash, I’m often very vocal because I’ve been studying so many LPL VODs. That’s because I think they’re very good at snowballing the game, starting Nash and getting Nash.

Last year I studied so many LPL VODs and I tried to teach my team how to play Nash better, but we were not really as open minded to improving our plays around it as we should have been. I mean, everyone is vocal around the whole game and mid game and stuff. It’s definitely not like we have a main shot caller, everyone is talking.

Though right now, I haven’t watched as much LPL this year. Last year, I especially studied it because we were kind of struggling in the mid-game, right? So I spent a lot of time watching how they get Nash and how they play with it because they’re really fast at securing Nash and abusing it. I think all of the top teams are quite good at it but obviously sometimes they’re burger flipping a bit too much and sometimes Nash gets stolen. Despite that, the top teams for sure are really good at it.

When I spoke to you and Trymbi last year and I asked about ‘Rogue Time’, both of you gave me vaguely similar answers. You guys were saying that it has something to do with scrims, and I believe both of you mentioned that you have to change the way you scrim as well. Do you think that has been a contributing factor of why there’s been a bigger absence of ‘Rogue Time’ so far?

Larssen: Scrim culture has been better for this year, for sure. Our culture last year was not so good at certain points. I think now we mostly see the game kind of the same way and we’re following each other. We’re not afraid to just do more aggressive plays when we get ahead and skip some farming steps, for example, and just try to abuse our leads more. So I think it’s more about that.

Now for the next question… I more or less know what you’re going to say because I’ve interviewed you more than once, but generally you should never assume so I’m going to ask you anyway! Now that Rogue are locked into the playoffs, which team would you personally like to face for playoffs?

Larssen: What answer do you think I would give?

You would say you don’t care too much and you just want to win it all.

Larssen: Ah, yeah. True (laughs)! I mean, you need to beat everyone to win, right? I think what we want to do is to win the whole thing and that’s definitely what I want to do. So for me, it doesn’t matter who we face. If we have to face a strong team in the first leg of the playoffs, that’s fine for me as well.

Its that time again! PLAYOFFS LOCKED IN COMMS 🔥#LEC pic.twitter.com/bkSKjbn2bQ

— Rogue (@Rogue) February 23, 2022

My assumption was right, but moving on! There’s a lot of talk about Rogue’s preparation for best-of series this year. Are you guys changing anything in preparations for playoffs this year or are you just going into it with the same mindset?

Larssen: We’ve just been doing what we have done throughout the season. It’s not like anything changes coming into playoffs, we’re still doing the same work day-to-day and week-to-week. The only change is that you can prepare for one specific team since it’s a best-of-five and that’s it. But otherwise not much has changed, we’re still scrimming every day and working to improve. The only thing as I said is we’re able to do more specific drafts and focus more on the team you’re going to be playing.

As we get into the playoffs there have been a lot of talks on how our mid laners for Europe has been doing this year. Based on your performances recently, where would you rank yourself among the European mid laners currently, and who do you think are top three?

Larssen: I definitely think I’m the best mid laner in Europe, right? I think so far from games, Vetheo has been the best performing mid laner, but I definitely think I’m the best mid laner. For the top three it’s kinda hard because I think there’s actually a lot of good mid laners. There’s like five really good ones, like Perkz, caPs, Humanoid, Vetheo and me.

I’m not sure exactly where to place them and I think we’ll see it in the playoffs more because that’s when it really matters, and every game will be on stage and it’ll be really fun. So I think it’s hard for now, but Vetheo has definitely been performing very well.

This is gonna be a hypothetical question, and I don’t want you to think I’m jinxing you or Rogue. Let’s say let’s assume that Rogue smashes playoffs and you guys go to MSI 2022. Which team and which player do you want to meet at MSI?

Larssen: I haven’t really watched that much LCK and LPL this year. I mean, I watch like the top teams but not too much. Honestly, I would like to meet DWG KIA because they’ve beaten us twice, in Worlds 2020 and 2021. It would be nice to beat Showmaker but, that’s like, really far away right? It’s not something I think about too much right now.

Can DK remain undefeated?@DWGKIA face off against @Rogue! #Worlds2021

📺 https://t.co/JQuVelpnKd pic.twitter.com/9yUSaaH6Eg

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 15, 2021

That’s fair enough but it looks like DWG KIA might need a lot to get to MSI this year…

Larssen: Yeah, it looks like it. But in the playoffs, anything can happen.

Thank you Larssen and good luck in Week 8.

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Image Credit: Riot Games (Michal Konkol)