Having announced our new League of Legends roster, Robert "Roscoe" Wery sat down and rang up our players to have a little chat. In his interview with Lennart "SmittyJ" Warkus, he discussed his travels, his arrival on the Team Dignitas roster, and how he views the future of the top lane meta. SmittyJ is an top laner of EU origin who spent time on the G2 roster, alongside manager Joe "InnerFlame" Elouassi, qualifying for the EU LCS before moving to the NA LCS roster for Team Dignitas.

How did you come to be on Team Dignitas? How did that happen?

SmittyJ: Basically, after I qualified for LCS with G2, I didn't really want to be on G2 anymore since I didn't really like the other guys that much. And then, basically, Joe and Ram came around and offered G2 to buy me out, and yeah, that's how it happened.

So Brokenshard came to look for you specifically?

SmittyJ: Yeah, he was just looking for an import toplaner because NA talent regarding toplane doesn't seem to be that great.

Ooh, shots fired!

SmittyJ: Nah, I'm just saying what the guys are saying, you know. I couldn't really play on high ELO yet since I can't transfer my account, so I can't judge right now. But I'm gonna be able to judge later this week if they are actually.

It'll be good to talk to you again and see what you think about it. If you could, how would you think you'd stack up? Do you think you could place yourself up there at the top?

SmittyJ: Yeah, easily. If I play at my max, I can be the best.

Good to hear! You are confident in yourself, but you are a bit of a small name when it comes to competitive League of Legends. You were in the EU Challenger series in the past; what can you bring to the team to make Team Dignitas one of the best teams?

SmittyJ: What can I bring to the team? I can shotcall pretty good, also I'm just good, so... that's what I can bring!

And if, say, someone else brings more shotcalling, and they take that role, if you think you've got some of that experience there, how would you be able to supplement?

SmittyJ: Shotcalling is always based on everyone talking, and there are some people who can gather information and other people give information. Everybody needs to talk, everybody needs to basically say something. I can make the decisions for the team if they need it.

Let's talk a little bit about the top meta, because we've had the Juggernauts top around worlds, and of course we've got the new Graves top. Where do you think it's going to start heading towards in the sixth season?

SmittyJ: Uh, that's a good question. I don't know right now. In Solo Queue, people don't even take Teleport anymore. And I played some Jax, some Hecarim, I actually played some Corki and some other ADCs top, like Vayne: always seems to work pretty good in Solo Queue. Corki for example is really strong, and they just work on every lane, like, Lucian works on every lane too. I'm not sure how Solo Queue translates into the competitive, with taking Teleport or not, and how the team plays, but we're going to figure it out.

Yeah it's interesting, we could just see double AD Carries in games, and of course on the flip side of that, we'd see a lot more demand for Armor items... could be interesting.

SmittyJ: Haha, yeah, for sure.

But, going back to your travels, you just got to America. Have you ever actually been here before?

SmittyJ: Yes, I played last year's relegations versus Gambit: we lost, but I was here before.

What are things you've heard, what are things you're looking forward to experiencing while in the States?

SmittyJ: The States... uh, I personally don't really care where I live, I'm just here to play the game and become a really good team.

I keep talking, in all these interviews, about the new players, I'll bring it up again since it's pretty relevant: Talking to Joe - InnerFlame - he talked about how you need that hunger to be on the team, and you need to have drive to want to be the best, and everytime I've talked with any of you guys: I ask a few questions about different things, and it's "nah, I'm here to play". That's good to hear.

SmittyJ: That's how it should be.

I'm looking forward to seeing you play, come together in some scrims, how that goes. Wrapping up the interview, do you have any shoutouts? Any last words you want to leave to fans or sponsors?

SmittyJ: Yeah, of course: thanks to all the sponsors, thanks to all the fans, and we hope we are going to get... Top 1 in LCS next split!

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