The 2021 Mid-Season Showdown is upon us, and Dignitas finished the split 11-7 to achieve 5th place. With that performance, Dignitas fans have a lot to cheer for heading into the knock-out phase of playoffs and into the remainder of the 2021 LCS season. On Thursday March 18th, I spoke with Max "Soligo" Soong, the mid laner for Dignitas, to find out more about their recent success and preparation heading into playoffs.

Last weekend you guys were 0-2, on the verge of going 0-3, but managed to pull off an incredible comeback victory. What was your team's mentality like that kept you guys level-headed in that game and eventually get the win?

Soligo: Basically, they were playing a composition with Twisted Fate and Shen, and so, a lot of the advantages in their team composition came from being able to make plays across the map and use numbers advantage to instantly gank people. But, I think overall, in 5v5 our composition had advantages. Like the Mordekaiser into Shen was obviously a pretty good pick for the 1v1. With Syndra into Twisted Fate, Syndra should be more useful in teamfights. Even though we were pretty significantly behind for most of the game, we were all pretty confident that much like our TSM game earlier in the season, if we just got one good teamfight then we would be okay.

It was surprising to many people when Shen, Hecarim, and Kai'sa/Tristana were left open in that draft. Could you explain whether that just shows what your team thinks of these champions in terms of priority? Or was it some sort of draft trap that you had planned going into the game?

Soligo: Umm, I remember that we were definitely expecting them to go for this kind of combination with Hecarim, Tristana, and Rell, but we didn't see it as an unbeatable composition. Although the Twisted Fate and Shen that they picked in 4th and 5th pick was a bit of a surprise, I think for the most part we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We may have forgotten about a couple of champions during the draft phase, so this wasn't our ideal draft for sure, but it wasn't unplayable either.

Finishing the split 11-7, you have tied the best win rate record for Dignitas in an LCS split. How does that make you feel being a part of that record?

Soligo: Yeah, it feels great. Especially compared to people's expectations of us going into this split. I think we have already proved a lot of people wrong, and we still have a long way to go.

Looking back at your team's success so far this year, is there anything in particular you could point towards for being the most impactful?

Soligo: Yeah, I think the single most important thing is the influence that Dardoch, Aphromoo, and our coaching staff has had over the improvement of me, Neo, and FakeGod. I think they all have a really competitive drive, and at the same time all of them are really experienced. I think they fostered a really good environment where the rookies were able to learn at a reasonably fast pace and get on the same page with what they wanted to do and winning the game as a unit.

Earlier this year you mentioned your goal this year was to show that you can compete with top mid laners in the LCS. First, do you feel like you have reached that goal? And if so, what do you believe has made the biggest difference for your growth as an individual?

Soligo: I think I have somewhat reached the goal. I think I have shown pretty decent performances, if not good ones against a lot of the top mid laners. But these are regular season games, so I think the true test will come in playoffs when I have to play against them in a best of five and be able to adapt to what picks they are showing and also being able to play consistently throughout multiple games.

I think the biggest change for me was just my ability to be confident in myself. And also I think Dardoch and Aphromoo gave me a lot of confidence in how much they were teaching me, and how much I actually learned about the game through what they were calling, and I think having all of that confidence it was a lot easier to play against the top mid laners.

In your career so far, FakeGod has been your teammate the longest. Could you describe your relationship and how that may have contributed to your success as a team?

Soligo: Me and FakeGod have been playing since Scouting Grounds together and so in that sense it's really easy to trust each other with the plays we are going for in game whether it's mid-to-top or top-to-mid. And as well as out of game it's easy for us to kind of see what the other person is thinking and at the same time criticize and give feedback. So I think that is the main advantage we had going into the season.

In a recent interview, Dardoch mentioned that Aphromoo and himself are like a good cop/bad cop situation in terms of leadership. Do you find that balance of criticism and compliments has been the perfect storm for developing as a team?

Soligo: Umm, definitely in a sense I would say. Aphromoo does tend to be a bit more reserved with the feedback he is giving, or at least a lot more empathetic, whereas Dardoch tends to be more… just honest, haha. I think that for the most part, all three of the rookies we have here can take the criticism well and learn from it, but having that balance is overall good for the team.

Continuing on the note of Dardoch, through the 18 games so far, he has played 11 unique champions, and including Lock In, its 14 unique champions in 22 games. In terms of mid-jungle synergy and understanding 2v2 matchups, it can't be easy for you. How are you guys successful as a duo with so much variability?

Soligo: I think one of the strengths we have in this regard, is that Josh is definitely the captain of the team in a sense, and so he does a lot of the talking in terms of the 2v2 and timings on when we want to fight, he's always on top of what he wants to do. Conversely, my role in this process is usually being the question asker and making sure that I understand why Dardoch is doing certain things and making sure that I am a position where I can follow up. The questions can really be about anything too be honest, but usually the most important question I am asking during the games is "What do you want to do, Dardoch?", in terms of the current game-state and how he wants to play it, and then adapting my play to his plan accordingly.

Your next game isn't until the 28th. How will the extra week help you in preparation for your playoff match?

Soligo: I think having the extra week will give us a lot of time to brush-up on a lot of the small mistakes we are making. Especially against the top teams, I don't think there is a big gap between us and the teams above us in the standings at all, and it's just a matter of fixing very small errors that we are making. I think as well as being able to test out different picks, it will give us an edge in that sense because we will also be able to see what the teams are picking on Saturday and Sunday when they play. So I think we will have a pretty good edge in terms of draft going into the lower bracket games.

With playoffs starting this weekend, you will have to wait to see who you will be playing against on the 28th. Will you be watching the games as a team? And who do you think will win for both the C9 and 100T game and the TSM and TL game?

Soligo: Yeah, we will be. I think for C9/100 Thieves, I will have to give it to C9, it's pretty one-sided I think. And, I think for TSM/TL, it should be a really interesting and close matchup. I think that series could go either way too be honest, but I'll give it to TSM, 3-2.

Since playoffs is a best-of-five format, what strengths do you think that will play towards?

Soligo: Well, first of all, this team is very unproven in this kind of format (especially the players) and in the LCS tournament. A lot of us were only playing playoffs in Academy, and I think even for Neo this might be his first playoffs ever. I think one of the main advantages we will have in the best-of-five format is that we will be able to adapt to how the other team is playing and picking and we will have a lot of picks prepared in response to what they are doing, so I am very confident in that part. I think no matter what we will have a good mindset going into these games, even if we are inexperienced, and honestly, even if it is a best-of series, I think one way to look at it is just a whole bunch of best-of-ones in a row and I think we will be okay.

We'd like to thank Soligo for spending the time to provide us with this insight and wish him and the rest of the team the best of luck for their first matchup against 100 Thieves on March 28th. Don't forget to follow Soligo on Twitter.