After a fight for a chance at Worlds in playoffs, the Dignitas team heads into the LTA North off-season with new goals and challenges. Following a continuation of our previous interview with Frank ‘Tomo’ Lam, we discussed his entry into the League pro scene two weeks before the fated playoffs match against Disguised.

Tomo in the 2023 LCS Spring Dignitas Roster (Image Credit: LTA North Flickr)

How did you get into League of Legends, and subsequently pro play?

Tomo: I got into League because I started in Season 1, like late Season 1, because the main game that I was playing, went down because of a routine maintenance, like a weekly maintenance, and then I didn't have a game to play. My friends suggested League because it was free to play. We tried it out, and from there we kept playing it.

From pro play, back in the day, there was a thing called Scouting Grounds, if you placed high enough on a ladder, and you collected points, and you had top four points in your role, you would be invited to LA to compete in Scouting Grounds, and I think that gave me motivation to climb and see like if I can actually make this a reality, because I think every gamer wants to like, be a pro, you know? Especially as a kid. I just chased my dreams, and it ended up working.

I remember in Scouting Grounds, they had like teams named after the drakes, and I think one season they did player drafting from the tier one teams.

Tomo: Yeah, it just gave me exposure, and you got to experience what it was like day to day to be a professional gamer, kinda.

Though curious, what game were you playing that was on maintenance, for the deep Tomo lore seekers.

Tomo: There was an old shooter game, called Combat Arms. It's like a Nexon FPS game. I only played free to play games back then, because no money, you know? I was just a little kid.

Yeah makes sense, Nexon had a hand in a lot of people's childhoods actually now that I think about it, MapleStory in particular was a big one.

Tomo: Yeah, I also played MapleStory back then, but it was mostly Combat Arms.

So we have many memorable ADCs in the long line of LCS and LTA history. Some for their big defining play at crucial games like Danny with Tristana, others for their dominance like Doublelift/Sneaky, and some for their unique style of play like WildTurtle. Even more funny ones like Stixxay and Warwick, or KEITHMCBRIEF the Le Toucan spammer. Is there anything you'd want fans to remember you by?

Tomo: Honestly, I don't think I've had a super memorable moment, maybe like last year, when 100T was struggling, they were almost not able to make playoffs, then I subbed in, and we were able to make a run to worlds. That was like the peak of my career, kind of, I hope people can remember me from that. I do want to leave more of a legacy than just qualifying for worlds, I do want to win something eventually.

The dream, yeah. You also have that Xayah pentakill.

Tomo: Oh yeah, Pentakills are cool and all, but like it was just like a regular season game, it wasn't like a playoff game or anything. It didn't actually attribute to anything, so I don't think it counts. It wasn't a hyped up series or anything, so...

Oh yeah, that's fair. But really, that's the dream, leaving your mark on the game somehow, hopefully in a good way. But of course, even some really good players like Xmithie will get remembered for whiffing Sejuani ults or something. People for some reason remember those bad ones because they become memes in the community.

Tomo: Yeah hopefully I don't get remembered for something like that, or maybe it's good, maybe I should be.

Well, ideal world, you win worlds or a title. Anyway, let's say you've had the opportunity to become a pro, or a content creator in another game. What game do you think you'd want to play or likely play?

Tomo: “Uhm, I don't really enjoy other games the way I do with League, maybe like when the Riot MMO comes out, I think I'll think about doing something with that game. But I'm not really like a huge MMO guy, but I think once the MMO comes out, I think it's going to be a pretty big game that people are going to be hyped up about. Maybe I'm just waiting for that and seeing.”

Yeah I can imagine, that's going to be a really hype thing. I know a lot of former pro players who retired and went into Lost Ark. Danny in particular, a lot of older Korean pros like Lustboy and Cpt. Jack.

Tomo: Yeah, I tried Lost Ark but I don't think it was for me. Just having the right IP on something just gives it that extra like, oomph, you know? Just makes it extra special to be part of it.

I think like when Legends of Runeterra or TFT came out everyone tried it at the time since Riot Games finally put the s in Games. Anyways, we're good with our questions, thanks for your time today. Is there anything you want to say for your fans before we go?”

(We asked this around two weeks prior to the playoffs game against Disguised)

Tomo: Anything to my fans? Me and my team are working really hard to improve. Honestly, the regular season wasn't what we wanted to show, I think we have a lot more potential than what we brought out. We have two weeks right now to get better, and we'll use this time wisely.”

We thank Tomo for sharing his time for this interview. Check out his socials here:

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