so i havnt gotten a penta in like 3 months but when some godamn european guy plays oriana with NASHORS TOOTH and fucKING RUNEGLAIVE they just waltz around and poof, penta.
No Interest? No Problem - Interview with Fnatic's Reignover & Huni
An Amateur top solo laner and a jungler hailing from the family of 'R' - no one really paid attention when two Korean players headed off to join a European powerhouse of a team. So many doubted that these two players, who had not even been able to partake in LoL Champs, would be a successful addition to Fnatic's roster. After all, Fnatic with its empty roster was seen as a chalice full of poison; no one expected anything good after all the star players had left.
Fnatic may have been the only ones to fully trust the two rookie players. But despite the low expectations, these two players stepped up to the plate and gifted the team a LCS EU Spring Split Championship. They also declared, with overwhelming confidence, that they would show the world that "Europe is better than NA." The fans of all of Europe rallied at this battle cry and at MSI, they stayed true to their word by defeating NA's #1 ranked TSM.
A beacon for Fnatic and Europe - "Huni" Huh Seung-hoon and "Reignover" Kim Eui-jin. We wanted to know more about how they had changed skepticism to fanaticism, as well as future ambitions and hopes.
Q. Please introduce yourself to your personal fans as well as Fnatic fans.
Huni: Hello, I am "Huni" Huh Seung-hoon. I previously was active in the Korean League scene as "Ddunghuni". I am now the top laner for team Fnatic.
Reignover: I am "Reignover" Kim Eui-jin, and I am the jungler for Fnatic. I was previously active in Incredible Miracle (IM).
Q. You both joined famed European team Fnatic; how did you get the opportunity?
Huni: When Fnatic came to Korea last year to prepare for the World Championships they got a lot of help from broadcasting jockey Cho Ee-ruk. Stemming from that relationship, when Fnatic was rebuilding the team he was able to recommend me and I got a place on the team.
Reignover: I was testing to join SKT T1 at that time. The results of the test weren't great, however, and I was considering what to do next. Thankfully, Huni was able to recommend me. I took an English interview and the result was positive. Because I felt that they trusted in my abilities, I committed to joining Fnatic.
Q. It's likely not easy to get accustomed to living in a foreign land, are there any problems you encountered?
Reignover: I had previous experience living abroad so I didn't find it too difficult. The only drawback was that my English was very rusty, and so in the beginning it was a bit difficult for me to express myself (laughs).
Huni: I had never lived out of the country and couldn't speak English so I went expecting things to be difficult. When I was at the airport at customs I almost got sent back because I didn't understand anything (laughs). I was barely able to enter thanks to the help of Reignover. He has helped me tremendously with adjusting to life outside Korea.
Q. (to Huni) You said that you didn't know how to speak English well, but recently your English interview has become a hot topic. How did your skills improve so quickly?
Huni: I didn't put any extra effort in. I did receive English tutoring twice a week but don't think it was that instrumental; I just kept trying to speak in English and mimicking how others were speaking. I think listening to others speak helped more than anything.
Reignover: Huni has a good personality for learning languages. If you are fearful of speaking incorrectly your skills don't really improve. Huni, though, didn't care if he was wrong or not. He would just try to speak anyway, and because he didn't have that fear of being wrong he was able to improve very quickly.
Q. When Korean people usually go abroad they have a tendency to hang out amongst themselves. However, it seems that everyone in Fnatic gets along well and hangs around each other equally. How was this possible?
Huni: Everyone has a great personality and the house environment is superb. Everyone is also close in age so it was easier to get along. Since we are all so close we tend to forget about order, but we get help from YellOwStaR when that happens. He's the oldest out of all of us and also the team captain so he is very dependable and shows a lot of great, trustworthy qualities. I really think he is cool.
Q. You shotcall in English, were there any problems in doing so?
Huni: There were definitely some problems in the beginning. Whenever the jungler would gank top the mid and bottom lanes would have to understand that top was being ganked and move accordingly. However, when we were first starting to play together this part wasn't very clear and though we were able to get a successful gank top one of the other lanes would lose a kill or two in the process.
Reignover: There were also problems with teamfighting. Huni and I would go in, believing that we could win the fight but the other team members would show signs of backing off. When teammates split and move separately, even one second is a lot of time that could turn fights against our favor. Our english skills have definitely improved and the team trusts our movements, so these problems aren't much of an issue anymore.
Q. From your experience, what is the EU LCS scene like?
Huni: To be honest, I didn't really rank Europe very high up on the ladder. At first I was able to get off easy solo kills in lane. However, our opponents started to match our "feed top" strategy and give up the lane, focusing on the other lanes instead. We switched our strategy to match theirs and saw a great improvement in our performances.
Reignover: Since Huni was very quick to understand our changed team strategy our gameplay was able to improve. He started playing as if there was a jungler to assist him in lane. When he saw the opposing top laner trying to fight him he understood that a top gank might be imminent. He responded instead by getting dragon or ganking bot.
Q. Top lane fights are described as physical fights, whereas junglers play mind games. How are the skills of other European junglers?
Reignover: When I first got to Europe I thought that European junglers weren't any good. But after some time has passed and now I am a European jungler (laughs) I'm not sure if I got worse or they got better.
Q. Why do all the players who go abroad say that they assimilate to their current environments?
Huni: When I first got to Europe I got solo kills so easily, but now I'm getting killed instead (laugh).
Q. Fnatic is a famed gaming powerhouse of Europe. Did you feel any pressure?
Huni: Fnatic is a respected representative of Europe. They won the season 1 World Championships and even those who don't really know about foreign teams are familiar with Fnatic's name. We did feel a bit of pressure. When people heard the news that we had joined Fnatic there were comments about how we were not good enough to play in LoL Champs (now LCK). After hearing these comments I made it a mission to show everyone that we were capable of good play.
Reignover: I was happy that I was able to play for Fnatic. However, before I joined my own skills weren't very good so I didn't have any confidence. The days preceding the matches were full of pressure. I had a lot of anxiety. I have found my confidence now, and I have come to believe that I can win anyone I play against.
Q. Did you think you would put up such a good showing at MSI?
Reignover: Before we arrived in the States I kept thinking, "Can we really do well?" and thoughts similar to this. But when we started to scrim with other teams that had qualified for MSI our results were very good. So, I gained a lot of confidence.
Huni: When the matches started, though, all of the teams started playing a lot better.
Reignover: Huni in particular wasn't feeling all that confident before MSI started. When we started to play he really stepped up and played very well. I really think Fnatic showed superiority in the top lane in our games.
Huni: I really think that I was able to find a breach. I don't think I dominated any of the other top laners, actually. When I played against SKT T1's MaRin, I thought that he was a really good player.
Q. There are people saying that the skill levels in League have leveled off globally. What do you think about these comments?
Reignover: Rather than leveling off the current meta of the game is about objective control and fights surrounding them. Instead of macro level control of the game it is becoming more about team fights and who can fight better. Korea was really good at controlling games more than any region but now that the game is less about the control of the game, Korean teams are showing weaknesses that weren't visible before.
Q. Since the meta is all about picking fights and team fighting in general, do you think the Chinese league will get an automatic win?
Huni: No, I don't think so; it is true that teams who fight well have an upper hand. The teamfights revolving around objectives in the meta are unavoidable. But when objectives suddenly are given over to the other team and the other team plays a game where they are able to use that to gain a huge advantage, that is when control of the game becomes much more important.
Q. Febiven has shown some outstanding plays at MSI. He was also able to get a solo kill off of Faker. What was the reaction of the team then?
Huni: Febiven was always a player who played very well. He's particularly good at assassinating. When he got the solo kill on Faker we were all really surprised and ecstatic. At the time, though, he didn't seem to be too bothered by it. The next day? I woke up at night hearing sounds coming from the computer and he was rewatching the VOD of himself getting the solo kill. He kept replaying it tens of times and I asked him why...he just kept smiling like an idiot. I've never seen him have that kind of happy smile before.
Reignover: Febiven also was really scared to play against Faker. So, he kept telling us not to mention Faker's name. He was under that much pressure and dread of having to face him. After that match, he proclaimed that there wasn't one midlaner in Europe who could play like Faker, and that he felt that he could be Europe's best. He definitely gained a lot of confidence.
Q. What do you think you gained from playing at MSI?
Huni: Confidence, prestige. There was a loud majority of people saying how Europe wasn't a great region. I think through this tournament we showed how skillful Europe really is. I'm particularly proud that we showed Europe's strengths to the NA region. TSM is top-class of NA, but Fnatic is top-class of Europe. Of course when the best of NA and best of EU meet, EU is going to win (laughs).
Reignover: Huni is really good at interacting with his fans. After the EULCS Spring split he said that he would show that Europe is better than NA, and he gained a lot of popularity from it. I do think that we were more pressured because of that statement, though.
Huni: I'm sure the other opposing teams felt a bit pressured too~ (laughs).
Q. Rekkles is returning to Fnatic. What are your thoughts?
Huni: Rekkles returning is definitely good news (laughs). I think that we have a chance at winning EDG with Rekkles back on Fnatic.
Reignover: Steelback was a player that used to play with teams revolving around his plays. However, when he entered Fnatic he had to repress his personal style of playing and adjusted to our playstyle. He is definitely capable of great plays in the future and I'm sad that we won't be continuing with him.
Q. For your opening EULCS game you are playing Unicorns of Love. How will you prepare for your match against them?
Huni: Unicorns of Love is definitely a team that is hard to prepare against. Their jungler Kikis is really exceptional. They are a team that loves teamfights and teamfights well. If we were to play them 5 times I think we would lose. They are certainly capable placing anywhere from 1st through 20th on the ladder.
Reignover: I don't want to play against them but they keep sticking around and picking fights. We can't avoid fighting this charming team, and we lose even the fights we don't think we will lose (laughs).
Q. Now that you've returned to Europe, is your goal to win?
Huni: Of course. Our goal is to win and our rivals are definitely Unicorns of Love and ROCCAT. Since we have a reading on UoL's style I think we'll be okay. ROCCAT's superb scrim results put me on alert.
Reignover: There are also a lot of players we need to watch out for. Especially 'Dexter', 'Nukeduck'...there are a lot of very good players.
Q. Your European debut was a success, as well as MSI. What do you think you have earned by playing in another region?
Huni: The first thing that comes to mind is honor, reputation? I was a hired mercenary and an amateur. Even though I brought nothing to the table I showed them what I was capable of. I am most proud of that.
Reignover: The glory I've gotten from doing so well is like a debt to me. I've finally proven myself and now need to prove myself even more in the future...What I've gotten by debuting in Europe is the realization of my dreams, confidence, and the prospect of possibilities? Now my dream and goal of winning the LoL Championships doesn't seem that far away anymore. Each game that I play feels so important, so precious.
Q. Chaser asked you if you had any intentions of changing your in game ID. What do you think of that?
Reignover: I actually really did try to change my ID (laughs). But when I tried to change it, the roster changes had already been submitted. Thankfully I saw a great season in Europe and I think all of the other 'R' family junglers have done well, too. I hope that in the future more junglers join the 'R' family.
Huni: It seems the 'R' Family has an incubation period (laughs). Actually, it's a great family and capable of even more greatness.
Q. Any final comments that you want to make?
Huni: Thank you so much for looking upon me so favorably. I want to make it to this year's World Championships and show that I am the best top laner in the world. I will try very hard to make it so. Please cheer for me!
Reignover: I want to thank the people who have helped and cheered for me until I reached a point of success in Europe. I want to go to the World Championships and have a good showing, and will try very hard. I also want to thank Cho Ee-ruk for introducing me to Fnatic.
**Some context on 'R' Family - a running joke amongst the Korean League community about three junglers - Rader, RealFoxy, and Reignover - that were considered exceptionally bad while in pro play. So Reignover is from this infamous 'R' family of junglers who has escaped the doom of his family name!
Original Korean Inven article here: http://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=133362&site=lol
According to an article I read on fragbite, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson might be returning to his original team FNatic. After struggling with his new team Elements in the recent League of Legends EU Spring Split, there has been evidence showing Erik “Tabzz” van Helvert returning to the AD carry position that Rekkles has been playing. Also the AD carry on FNatic will be leaving the team after the Mid Season Invitational tournament. I’m looking forward to seeing this next Summer Split.
