We’re now three weeks into the spring split and the hype around Dignitas’ potential is through the roof! Just before our Week 3 matches, I had the opportunity to sit with Dignitas QMTMPAY’s Support, Vincent "Biofrost" Wang to discuss what the start of the season has been like for him and the team. We also covered some exciting developments like Champion’s Queue and his thoughts on the state of the Meta.

So, DIG has made themselves a Dark Horse team in early rankings but before we look at the now, let’s talk about the Lock-In tournament and how you guys got there. What were those early weeks like as the team was coming together?

Biofrost: Going into the Lock-In Tournament, we definitely had an underdog’s mentality. No one really expected much out of us, so we decided to take things as a learning opportunity since we had issues with River being here and had to play with eXyu for a week or so. So, we didn’t have too much practice with [River] going into the Tournament. But, overall, we were pretty happy with how we performed. We played aggressively and talked about some potential issues that were plaguing us at the start of the split and were able to correct them. So, it’s been a pretty good start so far.

Coming out of the tournament, River was constantly talked about as the strong-point for this rosters, but then folks started remembering you’re one of the most successful LCS-level Supports in the history of NA.. When you consider your time off and coming into DIG what has it been like for you to remind everyone that, “Hey, I’m still here?”

Biofrost: I’m glad to be back, right? I didn’t play competitively for a year, so I expected a bit of a transition period. But luckily this meta has been really good for me and I’ve been able to recall a lot of previous experience I’ve had playing these matchups. So, the transition has been relatively smooth and I haven’t had too many problems here overall.

I think whenever a player has a season that’s not as good as their usual standard, people usually just begin to write them off as washed-up or that they’re on the decline. But generally, I think careers have ups and downs. So, I think it’s important for everyone to realize that it’s not, ‘the moment you play a little worse that’s it’ you know?

The Meta is in a really unique spot in comparison to season past, we have Supports running Top Lane with Smite while also occasionally opting for Mid Lane in some other regions. What has it been like to prepare for teams that utilize Supports in these ways, and do you think the nerfs directed towards it are going to be enough to remove the strategy entirely?

Biofrost: It typically makes it more complicated against teams that do play the Support-Top strategy, specifically Cloud 9, EG, and Flyquest. But a lot of teams are trying it in scrims anyway, to see if it’s a good strat for them. I think it’s something that might stay even with the nerfs coming, but I don’t think it’s something that’s all-encompassing and just makes it so you can’t win if you aren’t playing the strategy. Every strategy has its flaws and we’ve been able to familiarize ourselves with what we can do against it.

In the same vein, DIG hasn’t seemed to pick up these strategies in comparison to other teams, is there a particular reason for that?

Biofrost: There’s a couple of reasons for that. One it being that we’ve picked it up later and with the nerfs coming we’re at a bit of a pickle where it might be pretty strong for this week, but next week the nerfs show that it’s not very good so then we’re losing practice time on the things that we want. So, it just makes more sense to be playing our own style.

Can you give us a glimpse into the general philosophy of the team, especially since no one has really established a pattern of play at this point?

Biofrost: I’m a firm believer that every team should have a specific style they should play. And that they should try to stick to that with naturally a little variance in the style of comps you play, but at the end of the day, you should have a firm identity. If you don’t, you run around headless and it’s a lot harder to create fundamentals when yours are constantly shifting.

You know there always has to be the question, “Where do you guys think you’ll end up in terms of rankings before the Split is over?”

Biofrost: With the Spring Split being so short, we’re about a month and a half away from the Split concluding and then it’s playoffs. And since it’s Top 6, there’s no double elim - the split can end instantly. A month and one week from now, we could just be in the off-season if we get knocked out in the first round. So, it makes things that we want to improve on even more important. You don’t want to spike really hard during the early parts of the season and then fall off, ya know?

But, I’m pretty sure we’ll make the playoffs. I’m not sure of how far or actual standings, because I never made those thoughts even with my previous teams. I try just to take it one-step at a time but I’m optimistic about our play.

Shifting towards some personal thoughts, what was it like for you to come back after your year away and beat TSM quite handedly during week one?

Biofrost: The match against TSM didn’t mean a whole lot to me. It was just another match. Mainly because everyone on TSM is just different now. The only person that is still on the team is Spica and everyone else kinda just ‘disappeared’. But, it would’ve meant a lot more to me if my old teammates were there, but it just doesn’t feel the same. And even if my teammates were there, it would more so be like a competitive rivalry than like, ‘I hate these guys!’

Champion's Queue has been out for about a week and half now, what has your experience been like on the server and do you think this is a positive step forward for NA League development?

Biofrost: Champion’s Queue has been great because of the low ping environment and the use of comms. And it’s all pretty high ELO since there’s mainly pro players on the server. I do think it’s a bit congested right now with players that are possibly too low-ranked for the environment and I think it should be more exclusive to have the best of the best so that there are always super competitive games.

Right now it’s open to too many people and the pool should be a bit more limited in my view. But, that’s a good problem to have right? Cause if we don’t have that many people, then we’re not going to have that many games going on in the Queue. They’ll optimize in the next few weeks of course, and I think the moves they made recently are a good step forward.

How does the Champion’s Queue experience compare to Solo-Queue for those that haven’t been able to tune into any Pros or Streamers grinding on the server? Does the Meta mirror closer to Pro games?

Biofrost: It’s funny because you don’t wanna reveal too much in Champ’s Queue because you’re gonna be in comms with these guys and matches against them. So, if you’re like let’s ban “this-this-this, so I can play this,” then that’s just too revealing. So, you almost want to talk a little less about what you’re banning and drafting. A little form of mind-games almost.

It’s an interesting dynamic because people really want to win, so the picks you would play in competitive are the picks you would want to play in Champion’s Queue as well. But if you do the same, then you’re revealing a lot for stage. I think, for sure, the system works a lot better during the off-season since you can play and reveal whatever you want without having to worry about LCS matches that weekend.

Last but not least, what has the vibe been like around the DIG office with all the recent happenings and what has it been like for you to transition into this organization overall?

Biofrost: I would say relaxed but composed. We’re here to improve, of course. And every team has that. For us, it’s about working with a set of ideals that hopefully set us up for the best possible result. And we’re trying to constantly nit-pick at it and see if there’s anything we can change or improve our ability to improve. Because the season isn’t very long, right? If we wait until the end or half-way, we could be losing out on progress.

Writer's note: After four weeks of matches (and a full round robin), Dignitas QNTMPAY is 4-5, going 0-2 in Week 3 and ending Week 4's 1-2 "Super Week" with a win over 100 Thieves.

Thanks to Biofrost for taking the time to sit with me, and good luck to the team as they head into their upcoming matches. If you’d like to learn more about and follow Biofrost, you can follow him on these social media outlets:

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