Now that the LCS is on the same patch that we play in solo queue, there’s bound to be some newfound interest in the scene for a sense of inspiration. The pros will do all the hard work for us to find out exactly what is the best in each patch within days of its release!

That’s why we sat down with Dignitas Support Jonah ‘Isles’ Rosario to discuss what these LCS changes will bring from the pro perspective, and what these new Dignitas team changes will bring for Dignitas!

I went through your timeline in the Academy scene in NA to see if you have ever even played with or against Tomo, and I only managed to find one single game. I’m sure you have had plenty of solo queue encounters with and against him, however, so what were your thoughts on Tomo before having him as a teammate?

Isles: One day I noticed, when playing against ADC players in general, that some are just difficult to play against. ADCs who pushed the limits of their Champion in a way that's also cognizant of their Champions limits. They move in a way that's unpredictable, but they don't just put themselves in poor positions.

For example, you know, you might play against that Draven player who just wants to fight you no matter what. Some games are 20-0, and other games are 0-20 because they're going to fight you regardless of the game situation.

Something I noticed with Tomo and some other good players is that he's very understanding of the general game dynamic and lane dynamic. When he moves in a way that's unpredictable, he also doesn't do it by putting himself in a position that's going to be unfavorable relative to what's going on in mid, what's going on in the jungle, and what's happening on the map. And he's not someone that's going to give up Flash easily, which is something that's really important for ADCs.

When I played against imports or international players boot-camping in NA during the 2022 Worlds, there were ADCs that just made life difficult for you. That's something I noticed while playing against Tomo, and I think I've noticed that in playing with him as well.

He's relatively talkative for an ADC, which is something that holds a lot of ADCs back and having that sort of dialogue is very important, especially for bot lane pairing. I've definitely played with people in the past who speak less, or need a bit more direction, and playing with Tomo is refreshing.

Continuing on Tomo, on the LCS broadcast, Licorice mentioned that his hot take is that you and Tomo as a bot lane duo is underrated and will surprise some people. What are your thoughts on this take?

Isles: I know that the LCS opportunity has eluded me for some time, but I know that it's something that I’ll grasp with both hands. I’ve known for a long time that I deserve it, and I know that we’ll surprise people. Even if we don’t at first, it might take some time, but I know that our level is easily going to surpass what anyone would have believed that we were able to do.

We will grind harder than other people, we'll learn faster, try harder, and ultimately get better soon. It's not a surprise for me at all.

Rich, of course, is regarded as one of the best Heroes of the Storm players of all time. Do you think his knowledge and expertise from that game has influenced his playstyle in any way that you think separates him from other pros who might have only ever played League of Legends at such a high caliber?

Isles: Truthfully, I'm not really familiar with Heroes of the Storm, so it's sort of hard for me to make a judgment. But I will say that from someone who's previously played in the LPL and the LCK, it's very clear to me that Rich is like a veteran; his understanding of the game is deep. That sort of knowledge really comes in handy, when you're reviewing games, you need someone to shotcall, or someone who can understand these concepts without having to be taught them, and it's something that I picked up immediately from playing with him in only a few games.

I can see from your time back on Cloud9 Academy in 2021, there was some overlap with eXyu being on the Cloud9 Challengers team. Did you have many encounters/scrims with him back then and what are your initial thoughts on being teammates with him now?

Isles: One of the most important things in measuring a player’s skill is their ability to improve. One of the things that makes me excited and continues to make me excited about eXyu is that I can already see that in him. He has a fantastic ability to improve.

Back on Cloud 9, which was what, maybe three years ago, I didn't think much of him at all, and there were other players that I have also not thought of much in the past that have gone on to become great players, like jojopyun. I thought jojo was a pretty average player and over time he's developed into one of the best mids in North America. eXyu, I think, has that sort of same characteristic, that positive trajectory that he's been able to display over time. We haven't been playing together for that long, but I already can see that he's understanding the criticism that he receives. And he's already becoming much more vocal in games, and I think just generally everything is going at a rate that's just generally very positive.

In the new PROS LCS podcast hosted by Jatt, eXyu mentioned that he really likes that the draft is done before the warm up so that you can actually warm up on the Champion you know that you are going to play and because you get more time to discuss level 1s. Do you agree with this thought process? What are your thoughts on this change to the logistics of the league?

Isles: I'm not exactly sure how it is from a broadcast standpoint, but I think the larger implication of this change is that it allows games to carry more quickly from one to another. The turnover is much shorter, which I think is the main purpose of this drafting change. But from a gameplay perspective, I personally don't like to dwell too much on the nuances of things like “Who should go here? Who should ward here?” Stuff like this in competitive can be really interesting, but it can also be really boring. When it sort of becomes down that route, for example if you remember last year during that whole Sion level 1 invading fiasco, where people would pick Sion on the red side with Jinx ADC. And she would push bot, and then Sion would just dive bot lane and TP top side. And it would ruin the enemy bot lane, and jungle. At the same time when stuff like this starts to happen, I just like more planning, and people start to come up with, like, wild ideas on level 1. I think it hurts the viewership experience overall, and I think it hurts the game's general integrity overall if it's going to get to that level but that sort of dynamic is something that personally, I would like to avoid.

Obviously, warming up on the Champion you're going to play helps. But I think the bigger issue is the idea of no best of 3s either. APA tweeted something about, you know, he plays League for 14 hours every day and then he goes to play one LCS game each day on the weekend. And it kind of does make you think that, even if you're warming up to play the game on the Champion, you might sit in the studio for an hour and a half before you play your game. You know, you might be anxious or nervous and you know, you might misplay one game on stage and then, that's the result. That's it, right? It's sort of a punishing format. I guess maybe that's sort of what the LCS wants to promote. Having underdogs beat better teams like in some sports where variance is more present. I don't know much about baseball, but my understanding is that the chance of the worse team winning is very high compared to another sport like basketball, where the favorite is much more likely to win.

On the topic of random chance in sport, and overall predictability, there are a lot of LCS power rankings floating around social media. A lot of them seem to group the same four teams in the top half, and the same four teams in the bottom half. Could you give me an idea of what you think the power rankings look like, or at least what you think people are getting right or wrong about theirs?

Isles: It's hard to know who's going to win and who's not. The modern era has definitely evolved into where one player can no longer just hard carry like they could in previous seasons. If one player is playing really well, and four players are playing really bad, you're gonna lose regardless. So, play coordination and team communication are much more important than previously. If one team implodes behind the scenes it's going to show in their games even if it’s an all-star lineup. FlyQuest from last year is the greatest example. They had five players that were all thought to be great, but they did quite well in the Spring but they went like zero-eight or something, you know?

You can't know what's going on behind the scenes and some of the intangibles about esports. The ability for a lower ranked team to beat higher teams is a dynamic that's important and I think that power rankings in League of Legends are just never going to be accurate.

Speaking a bit more specifically about some of the rankings, I think the assessment that Cloud9 is probably the front runner is probably fair and likely safe. I know that’s based on their performance in the past, and the fact they’re retaining players that are already proven and known to work well together. It’s unsurprising for people to think that this is one of the strongest, if not the strongest team. But, other than Cloud9, I personally don’t really think any other teams stand out highly compared to the rest. There are definitely players individually that can perform fantastically, but teams coming together, like I said, is extremely important. These are things that often make or break a team, and I’m sure that the standings will not closely reflect the general consensus split between the top four and bottom four teams.

Dignitas has seen several changes to the roster. Have you established any goals for yourself, and your team that you can share?

Isles: I don't know about established goals, but I think that I always aim to win. I think in the short and long term, that's obviously what I aim to do. Having a goal, I think, is not really that important to me, it's just more about improving in general. Building synergy with your teammates, being cohesive, building camaraderie. This stuff is much more pressing to me than reaching some ultimate goal. Positive habits inside and outside of the game, and reaching a level of competency in the game with your teammates. I think that, if you have these goals, even though they might be a bit more intangible, these are the things that are going to speak much more because of the results over time.

With the new LCS Commissioner there have also been a few changes to the LCS unique to this year. The most significant in my eyes is that you’re now playing every regular season match on the live patch. What has this change caused you to have to do differently, and how do you think this change will affect the rest of the league?

Isles: I’m not exactly sure how it’s going to develop, because this week has sort of been the exception, where all the leagues are playing on the same patch. I’m sure it’s going to be a big difference. I’m already going to be practicing Champions that are going to get buffed and I’m going to already be trying to find out what’s good and what’s not and get myself ahead of the meta in a way that we didn’t have to before when we could look to other leagues for drafting tips, information and strategies, and just have a lot more data available to us across the entire world. Now the onus is more on the LCS players to sort of come up with the ideas on new strategies and power rankings of Champions.

I think, theoretically, there will be more diversity in picks, but it's hard to sort of place priority on stuff like this. The meta is so fresh and I would say fairly underdeveloped. Particularly on 14.1 people will find out about things even after the LCS has stopped playing on it. We will be playing on 14.2 when the LEC, LPL, and LCK will still be on 14.1 and we will be finding out stuff about that patch that we didn’t even know. I think that actually just brings an interesting dynamic to the LCS. People are going to be finding out things at a much quicker rate about new patches. So, we're going to have less time to come up with strategies that are standardized, which should in theory lead to more draft diversity. Especially from team to team, I’m sure there will be some significant priority differences.

We’d like to thank Isles for taking the time to sit down with us right after the first weekend of the LCS to discuss the changes to the Dignitas roster, and the LCS as a whole!

If you’d like to hear and see more of Isles, check him out on his socials:

Twitch

X