The 2020 League of Legends World Championship has been captivating fans across the world, and while we're only watching from home this year, we're keeping you updated with the team's movements all through the off season! This time around, we had the opportunity to catch up once more with DIG LoL’s LCS Top Laner, Omran “V1per” Shoura, to discuss his life since we last saw him on the main stage. To find out about V1per’s thoughts on the season that was, the 2020 World Championships, and more, read on!

How have you been spending your time since the season has concluded?

V1per: When the season finished, I flew back to Canada to spend more time with my brothers and generally just hang out with my family. I’ve mainly been playing solo queue and as you know I just managed to hit Rank 1 which has honestly been a really good grind. I’ve been able to work on my bad sleeping habits too, so it’s been a successful off-season so far!

Congratulations on your huge achievement of grinding your way to Rank 1 in the NA Solo Queue ladder! What was your journey like? What kind of commitment does that require?

V1per: This off season, I felt like not many people were playing in NA. It’s felt really easy to play, and I made sure that every time I queued up it was at a time when the good players were on (I never queued up past 3am, just at normal times). It made the grind easier, I had heaps of sleep whenever I played and it’s worked out pretty well! I feel pretty deserving of rank 1 and my play has been really good.

We all know of the threat you can bring to any game if Riven can find her way through the ban phase, so speaking from the perspective of someone who has been target banned in the past, how hard is it (in your opinion) to one-trick your way to success in solo queue?

V1per: I feel like one tricks play their champs so much that they have a very thorough understanding of their champ. If you understand your matchups it can really make your climb easy, and there are some struggles of course but the top tier one tricks can climb really easily when you know your matchups. It’s like that for me with Riven, and I’ll still struggle sometimes especially against ranged matchups, but I understand every single one of her matchups and when my matchups just come down to skill, I never have any problems. It has to be like that if you want to climb but you can get pretty far if you know what you’re doing.

Let’s talk a little more about 2020 for you. While we didn’t get to see DIG LoL lift a trophy or claim a place at Worlds, what are your biggest takeaways from this chapter in your career?

V1per: Honestly it’s been a pretty weird season for me; getting swapped in and out between Academy and LCS, I’ve never had that happen before. After starting the season 0-8, I’m just glad we made it into playoffs… I’m always curious as to how we would’ve done if we had our winning roster from the beginning, I feel as though it could’ve been way different. When I was in Academy, I just wanted to be back in LCS originally, but over time it helped me slow down and focus to the point where when I got back into the LCS I thought it was too soon, haha!

Although the season was full of ups and downs, you maintain a positive mindset about your future, remaining firm that the best is yet to come from you; what helps you keep your head high and what advice can you give to people to help them persevere?

V1per: It’s been hard to keep my head high. It’s easy to say that, but it’s hard to continually underperform and still stay strong, but I want to keep going. Everyone has seen my solo queue performance, and based off that, I know I’m nowhere near the level I’ve shown so far, so I’ll only give up when I no longer feel that way. I’ll keep going until that moment and keep being confident that the best is yet to come for me.

Talking about Worlds now, North America has faced a lot of criticism for their performance as a region in being knocked out in the Groups Stage, but what’s your take on the amount of backlash NA has received?

V1per: NA always struggles at Worlds, and I don’t think any level of backlash is deserving usually but I understand peoples’ frustrations that NA struggles to make it out of groups. But if you think about it, FlyQuest and Team Liquid went 3-3 at Worlds, beating some top teams along the way even though other teams performed better. People get frustrated and fixate on that, trying to figure out why that’s happening, and I think a big part of it is the amount of imports in NA.

The very first thing people consider to solve the problem is importing, and it rarely ever works out like that… it might work in the LCS but it doesn’t often work at Worlds. It’s definitely a problem when there aren’t that many rookies that can go to Worlds and show off in my opinion, since there’s such a huge amount of Academy talent that can help NA perform in the future.

Who is your hot pick to win Worlds 2020?

V1per: I’m all in for Damwon Gaming. I really like that team, they’re my favourite and their playstyle just looks so much more dominant than any other team in my opinion. I’ve been keeping an eye on them for a while now, and it was always my thought that they’d win Worlds one day.

Looking forward to the future, what kind of goals are you setting for yourself over the next year or two of your life?

V1per: Before I stop playing League, I want to go to Worlds. I won’t stop, no matter what, and that’s my main goal for the next few years. I want to get to the same level as these teams we’ve just been talking about and make it onto the international stage.

Finally, GeneralSniper, your younger brother, after winning Twitch Rivals said that you were the reason he made it to where he was; with the tutelage you’ve offered, do you think you might translate those skills into coach or analyst roles in the future?

V1per: I honestly think so! I’d do a pretty good job being a lane coach for top lane with my understanding of the game. As for my brother, I feel like he’s giving me way too much credit… he just won another tournament that not so many people heard about! We’ve been watching VODs together, going through his laning phase, and working on that together which has been really cool.

Thanks again for sitting down with us to chat, is there anyone you’d like to give a shoutout to conclude this interview?

V1per: To all the Dignitas fans, my personal fans who have been there through my career, and of course my family as well, thank you for always being there and supporting me!

We'd like to thank V1per for sharing his thoughts with us once more and wish him the very best as he stays on the grind until we can see him on stage once more next year! You can stay up to date with everything V1per @hiitsviper on Twitter; stay tuned over the next week for a highly anticipated guide featuring one of V1per's signature picks!