The third week of the Summer Split is upon us. Some teams are still figuring out the meta, while others are utilizing obscure strategies such as using mages/bruisers in the bot lane and the funnel strategy. For Clutch Gaming, they are currently 2-2 at the time of this writing, coming off wins against Cloud9 in Week 1 and TSM in Week 2. In those wins, Apollo played a significant part. Against TSM, he played Vladimir and against C9, he carried with Xayah. After their win against TSM, Apollo stopped backstage to discuss the match among other topics.
How was the offseason? Did you do anything out of the ordinary?
Apollo: It was fun and relaxing. The Rockets flew us out to Houston. We were able to hang out with the team and looked at how they operated. They treated us well and took us out to dinner. We went to see the playoff games and it was super fun. It was a great way to bond, then the end of May, we started to practice again for the Summer Split.
We are ready to #RunAsOne and cheer on the @HoustonRockets to victory! pic.twitter.com/fTtGzcSPP0
— Clutch Gaming (@ClutchGaming) May 15, 2018
What do you think about the Anivia pick for TSM?
Apollo: We actually saw it coming because Anivia is like a big counter to Swain — maybe not in lane phase. but later in the game. Febiven played against it pretty well. Their overall team comp didn’t feel very cohesive and strange. Whereas, ours was straightforward — we played early and mid game well. From there, we were able to snowball and win the game, but not without shaky situations.
There was a point in the game where you guys attempted Baron and Grig ulted in and smite it. Can you explain what happened?
Apollo: I think we could’ve played it better. At the end of it, we should’ve started the Baron sooner because those seconds matter. When Nocturne uses ult, it ends up being a 50/50 unless we calculate it first. But, we didn’t and it was a good play by TSM.
There was a point in the game where you guys and TSM went for Elder, TSM was starting to come back in the game, and you guys went in 4-5. Did you think it was a do or die situation at this point in the game?
Apollo: It was weird because in the game, I remember Solo dying. However, it didn’t feel like that they could win these fights because of how ahead we were. Even though it was a 4v5, it didn’t feel like it and I feel like we outplayed them. They couldn’t do anything so when LirA captured the Elder Dragon, Nocturne was a useless champion at that point because he had no ult so we ran them down at that point.
So far, every team today [in Week 2 Day 1] has picked traditional ADCs. Do you think these ADC picks will stay consistent moving forward?
Apollo: I like the fact that you can play other champions in the bot lane. I think there are situations that you can [play traditional ADCs], but in general, it is much more comfortable when I’m playing as ADC than playing other champions like Vlad. Also, I think people overreacted with these ADC changes. Like when people played against these weird bot champions, you just need to play against those matchups as an ADC to understand them than avoiding it, and going mage vs mage matchup.
Are there any champions you would like to experiment in the bot lane?
Apollo: I’ve already experimented with a lot so… you’ll see.
Lastly, Ovilee mentioned that you guys are the only team to constantly defeat TSM. Why do you think you guys keep beating TSM and what can you guys do to carry this win to future matches?
Apollo: I think it’s good that we keep beating TSM. It’s just kinda funny at this point. This week, we didn’t do well in scrims at all, then we go against TSM and this happens. I guess we’re better than TSM and it feels really good.
