Jarod "CycloneSpin" Nguyen, the current solo laner for Team Allegiance, gave us some of his time to discuss some of his experiences with SMITE and the current meta after the recent changes made in Patch 4.10.

Image Courtesy of esports.smitegame.com

In Season 2 of SMITE, you were well-known as the hard carry for your team on AFK Gaming. Now, in Season 4, obviously a lot of things, such as the meta, have shifted. On this team, ALG, what do you think your role is in these important team fight scenarios? What's your main focus as the solo laner?

CycloneSpin: My role essentially is like any other conventional solo laners role - disrupting and diving the carries in the back and making their lives as miserable as possible. Drawing as many cooldowns and relics onto me to create space and allow my team to come in and clean up. My main focus as a solo laner is to get as much farm to be as relatively tanky before teamfights begin.

During the spring split (last split), Team Allegiance, along with all the other NA SPL teams in general, found themselves struggling against EU teams. This split, it's obvious that your team performance is a lot better. What do you think was the biggest difference between this split and the last one?

CycloneSpin: I think the biggest difference between this split and last split for us was more of a focus on objective control. Last split most of NA was basically playing for more kills and brawling, rather than focusing on objective control. I also think we refined our play more, and have stopped pretty poor habits such as getting picked off and not really working as a unit.

Previously this split, in the game versus Flash Point eSports, your team decided to get 5 Aegis relics. Do you think that would still be useful after the recent Sunder nerf? Or was it strictly to counter Sunder?

CycloneSpin: In my opinion, Aegis is extremely busted. It allows you to bait ults and gives you a free pass from damage for 2 seconds. Against heavy burst comps, it really hurts their fight potential. This was even more emphasized from the burst meta due to Sunder's prominence. After the nerfs to Sunder, it probably won't be bought like that too often, but it definitely can still be a viable option.

In the current meta, Bellona and Osiris were dominant solo lane characters just a while ago because of Death's Toll and the incredible amount of sustain it provides for these cleave-autoing gods. How much do you think Bellona and Osiris will be impactful after the Death’s Toll nerf in the latest patch? Will it make other characters more viable? If so, how much more viable compared to these two?

CycloneSpin: I think the Death's Toll nerfs impacts Bellona and Osiris in very niche scenarios, like where you're in a 1v2 scenario and you're cleaving the entire wave and the enemies. Otherwise, I still think they still have too much sustain and boxing/out clearing potential in the early game where early pressure is still extremely important. Other warriors are starting to be played a little more, because Osiris and Bellona are generally getting banned out to get the other or banned in the second phase.

So you think they'll still be the top pick solo laners moving forward from the latest patch?

CycloneSpin: Yeah.

Moving to team ALG, like you've said earlier, you're focusing more on objective control. The answer to that for you guys specifically seem to be the goddess, Isis. Why is it that no one else is prioritizing Isis more than you guys with her high early pressure and objective control? Do you think other teams will take it away from you guys because of it or start picking it up for themselves?

CycloneSpin: I think teams aren't really favoring Isis because of how the god works. She's very snowball or you're going to lose the game. Isis from ahead provides a lot of control and insta-kill potential, but from behind she's competing for one of the worst mages in the game so it's kind of like a gamble when picking Isis. I don't think teams will try to ban it or take it away because there's so many priority picks in the meta that it's not really worth trying to steal a mid pick.

Moving back to you being a solo laner, who do you think is the hardest solo laner you've laned against this season and overall?

CycloneSpin: The hardest solo laner I've faced this season is probably Benj1, I think he's been one of the more consistent solo laner in NA aside from Aquarius. His stronger gods right now are the best solo laners (Bellona and Osiris) so the meta really suits him. Benj1's play style also gears towards farming and bullying in solo which always makes it tricky to play against him because he can punish you pretty often for your mistakes.

From all four seasons I've played competitive SMITE, the hardest solo laner I've ever faced was Baskin. Baskin is probably the greatest the solo laner NA would ever have; he had extremely good knowledge of matchups and the mechanical skills to back that up. In season 3, he was very hard to play against because he'd capitalize on every mistake you made and create a massive gold lead because he would strip you of everything if he was able to get pressure.

We all know you’ve been in the competitive SMITE scene for quite some time now, all 4 seasons to be exact. What gives you the drive and motivation to stay and compete for such a long time?

CycloneSpin: I think what drives me to keep playing SMITE is that I like to win. SMITE is the first game I've ever been competitive in and I really do still enjoy playing this game.

So, you've been through all the seasons of SMITE so far. Is there anything you like more about this season compared to the previous ones?

CycloneSpin: This season kind of plays like the other seasons, so there's not really much that I'd like more compared towards the previous one. So my favorite part about this season is being on a team with Met and Neil because they're awesome to play with.

Nothing about how the different time of camp spawning you wanna touch?

CycloneSpin: No, it really makes this game one dimensional.

Now obviously this summer split you want your team to move on to Dreamhack Valencia for the finals. A lot of people have been saying that after watching the dominating performance by ALG, you guys are very likely one of the top 3 teams in NA. However, after the unfortunate 0-2 loss to Noble eSports, many begin to doubt your team's potential. What do you think your team needs to do to prove everyone wrong and make it to Dreamhack Valencia?

CycloneSpin: The games against Noble were very poor and uncharacteristic to the game style we like to run, we like did everything incorrect. If we go back to playing our game we'll show everyone that we are a top 3 team and make it Dreamhack Valencia.

Want to give some quick shoutouts?

CycloneSpin: Shoutouts to ALG for being an awesome org, and my teammates for bouncing back after a pretty bad spring split.

Check out Cyclone's Twitch and Twitter!