We caught up with the Dignitas support after the Cloud9 game to talk about his return to LCS, the new team environment and his personal goals for Summer.
After their tenth-place finish in Spring, Dignitas came into the 2023 LCS Summer looking for redemption. One of the two moves they made in the offseason was importing Lee “Rich” Jae-won from LPL, and the other was promoting David “Diamond” Bérubé from their Challengers squad.
Originally a product of Cloud9 Academy, found a lot of success in the North American tier-two ecosystem. Unfortunately, his first stint in the LCS wasn’t as successful, missing the playoffs in both splits he played with FlyQuest back in 2021. Since then, Diamond has been back in the Academy, and NACL, waiting for another chance to prove himself. He got his shot this Summer on Dignitas, not to mention he got the opportunity to play alongside his long-time bot lane partner, Frank “Tomo” Lam.
Our interview with Diamond was done after their second game of the Summer Split, a defeat against Cloud9 following their loss to Evil Geniuses on the opening day.
We put up a fight, but the game wasn’t ours. 😔
GG @C9LoL! pic.twitter.com/4i8cwn0A0j
— Dignitas LoL (@DignitasLoL) June 15, 2023
Diamond returned to the LCS after spending the last year and a half in the Academy
It has been a while since you last played in the LCS. It is good to see you return to the stage. How is it been so far?
“0-2 so far, so not the best. But it’s still fun to finally get to play on a stage. Academy doesn’t play on a stage… So, it’s fun.”
Like you said, not the hottest start. How does the team feel about the past two games?
“I think the first game we kind of had the classic. We play really aggressive in the scrims but when we go on stage we don’t do anything. I think that made the first game really hard. Today we actually played a bit better, but it was against C9. We made some mistakes around our early opener like we pushed bot with no vision, then we got dove when our jungler left. So it was kind of hard. But I’m more happy about today than yesterday. I guess we got that going, slowly improving.”
On the topic, I wanted to ask about the scrims. The league got delayed due to the walkout, were the scrims affected by it? Were you scrimming during the walkout?
“The scrims were the same, we played them. But I think some teams took a longer break. Especially those that went to MSI, they took like a couple of days’ break during the walkout. But for the other teams it was the same, we just played more.”
The stale bot lane meta isn’t the best fit for the Dignitas duo
A little bit about your teammates. Of course, you are one of the new additions to the team, you’re not a stranger to everyone, you played a lot with Tomo in the past. You were one of the better bot lanes in the Academy, how do you think you stack up in the LCS?
“I think we are a middle-of-the-pack bot lane in the LCS. We play really well in some matchups 2v2. We didn’t get to show that yet because we’ve been playing some cringe lanes so far, the meta is… I mean… Just Lulu and Yuumi, stuff like that. I actually got to play Thresh today, but we didn’t get to lane very much. So, I think me and Tomo will do well. What we show so far is not our level. Once meta changes to something more skillful, I think it will be good for us.”
Do you think the meta will change with 13.12, with Yuumi nerfs? Is Yuumi finally dead?
“I think Yuumi is going to be a lot worse. I don’t know if she is going to be dead, I hope she is. Zeri is definitely not what she was. Maybe another build pops out, but I hope not because that champion is very annoying. But I hope this meta changes and I get to play Thresh, Rakan and more of that stuff than Yuumi, Lulu and Milio every game.”
Back to the team, another big signing for Dignitas was Rich. There aren’t that many teams in the LCS with just one Korean on the roster without another player to maybe help with the transition. How is he adapting to the environment, is he comfortable communicating in English?
“His English is fine, I guess it’s playable. He is doing English lessons every day and he is getting a lot better. For me, it’s easy to understand him because my first language is not English. So I can see the mistakes he makes, I can relate to him. Sometimes he has some in-depth things he wants to explain, so we have a Korean manager who helps with translating harder stuff, but otherwise, he is fine.”
Playing to be remembered
A little bit about you during the Summer Split, what are your goals for the split, not for Dignitas but personal goals?
“My last LCS season was really bad, so I really want to make this one more memorable. At the end of the day, some people don’t realize but all the pro players you see on the LCS, whether they are good or not, it’s their dreams to be here. Because it’s not easy to be here. It’s our dream to be here, and we want it to be memorable for the rest of our lives. So for me, I just want to do as well as I can. Be respected. And if I have to end my career on that, I’ll still be happy. If I can keep going and keep getting better, I’ll also be happy. Obviously, there is more than just being here. You have to be really good and keep improving. But I’m still happy to be here.”
Unlike that FlyQuest roster, you have a lot more experienced players around you now. What kind of difference does that make for you?
“It’s good and it’s bad. It’s hard to get through experienced players sometimes. They have different mindsets and strong ideas. For me, it’s easier to work with rookies because I can help them and they respect me more. With veterans, it’s sometimes hard to get respected. My team obviously respects me, but you still need to earn it and it sometimes takes longer. I want to be a bigger voice in the team to see if I can, and get better so they can trust me more. That’s where I am trying to get to. It’s not even necessarily my teammates, it is more me being up to par so they can trust me to win the game always.”
Before we end, who is your championship favorite?
“C9 just beat us, so I’ll say C9. if this was yesterday I would say Immortals. Joking aside, Cloud9 will probably win Summer.”
Dignitas started the opening week of the LCS Summer Split with two losses. Their next chance to get a victory will be tomorrow when Diamond and Dignitas go up against Evil Geniuses, who had a hot debut on Day 1.
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