Interview with Splyce Trashy on his team's recent successes and his expectations for playoffs
In this interview, DIG Novalas catches up with Splyce Trashy on his team's recent successes and his expectations for playoffs.
Jonas "Trashy" Andersen is the jungler for Splyce. In the past, Trashy has played for teams such as SK Prime & NME Esports. After NME was relegated, Trashy moved to EU for the 2016 Spring Split and joined Splyce. Splyce, after struggling in the Spring Split, has made a strong resurgence in the Summer Split securing 2nd place in the regular season. Now Trashy, along with his all Danish team, have high hopes for the playoffs & Worlds.
After the final week of the regular season, Splyce secured 2nd place. How do you expect to do in the upcoming playoffs?
Trashy: It’s hard to say. It really depends on who we play and how we adapt to the new patch, but I'm confident that we can beat any team if we perform and play at our highest level. I feel like every team in playoffs can win against each other, so it will be very interesting for us to watch the quarterfinals and I hope that will give us an edge going into semifinals.
How do you expect to do against Gamers2 in a Best of 5? The last time the two teams played in Week 7, it ended in a tie.
Trashy: As I said prior, it will depend on how each team adapts to the new patch, but I'm fairly confident that we can take them to 5 games.
Following that up, how do you feel about the jungle matchup? You vs Trick.
Trashy: I have practised so much against him in scrims that I understand how he approaches the game, so I think it will come down to who can work together with his team the best. I have a lot of respect for him and I know if I don't play at my best, he can take over the game.
What do you think went wrong in the game vs Unicorns of Love?
Trashy: Well, we tried some new stuff that we have not practised, so the series was mostly just to have some fun and give some entertaining games to our fans, and I think we succeeded in that.
What prompted the Akali top and Sion support picks?
Trashy: Wunder wanted to play Akali vs Irelia, and Mikyx is a Sion only player in soloQ so nothing special behind the pick. Just fun picks that would make the game more entertaining.
The level in play from Splyce has increased exponentially since Spring Split? What happened that made you guys play so well?
Trashy: Our macro has improved a lot and overall, everyone has stepped up their game. So it's a mix of a lot of things that made us improve so much. I'm still surprised that we are this good and need to get used to the thought of us being a top two team in EU right now.
You've been in the relegation tournament twice in the last year and a half. How does it feel to have fulfilled one of your goals in making the playoffs this split?
Trashy: It’s obviously a great feeling. The matches in the relegation tournament have been some of the most stressful games I have ever played, but this time around it's a whole new feeling. I can finally look forward to playing playoffs and I am super excited about it!
As a jungler, how do you feel about the current state of the jungle meta? Do you have any unique picks that you may be able to pull out during playoffs?
Trashy: I think the jungle meta is good overall. You can play carries and tanks at the same time which is pretty unique compared to other seasons. I can't go too much into new picks, but since lane swaps are not a thing anymore, junglers with lvl 3 powerspike will be seen more often because you can’t just avoid giving pressure the first 5-6 minutes of the game that a laneswap could give you. So you can expect to see more priority on picks like Elise, Rek’sai, compared to Gragas, Hecarim who need to get past early stages of the game to be powerful.
It's been a line of discussion where some casters & professional players feel that the level of play in EU has gone down since Season 5. How do you feel about that assertion?
Trashy: I honestly don’t think EU is that bad right now. Most people hype NA to be the strongest western region at the moment, but I think that will bite them in the ass when we hit worlds. The only NA team that has shown good play is TSM. I haven't been impressed by any other NA team. It's fair to say that EU is worse than last years OG and FNC era.
What are your feelings about the upcoming pre-Worlds changes, dissuading lane swaps & encouraging 2v2 lanes?
Trashy: I will have to see from practise how it goes. But overall I dislike it because I had the perception that lane swaps were a good thing for the game overall so people don’t always just pick for strongest lane, but instead have diversity in picks & bans for more unique champions to be played. With the changes, we will just see a lot more focus on lane bullies and globals to pressure bot tower, because first tower gold is very OP at the moment.
If you do make it to Worlds, what region's teams are you most excited to play against?
Trashy: Obviously, I want to play Korean teams and see how we can rank up against them, and how I personally rank against the best junglers in the world. That is what we practise for every day; to see how well we can mash up against the best players in the world.
Any last words or shoutouts?
Trashy: Big shoutout to all our fans who kept supporting us even when we were fighting for relegation last split. I hope we can keep showing good results in the future to make you guys proud and hopefully go to worlds and represent Europe.
Also shoutout to all our sponsors, our Head Coach Jakob 'YamatoCannon' Mebdi, Manager Hans Christian 'Liq' Duerr, Team Assistant Jacob Brisby and Splyce owner Marty 'Lazerchicken' Strenczewilk who have made this seasons journey possible. Wouldn’t have been possible without you guys!
