escene.de: Hello Carl, even though you’re the youngest player in Team ALTERNATE you’re the team captain and you already have a huge responsibility. How stressful is the task in hard phases, or do you like the high expectations on your shoulders?
Carl ‚Forellenlord‘ Lückmann: Hi, first of all we don’t have a team captain. During the game every opinion gets considered, nobody has the last word. But you could say that Kottenx and I have the most organizational stuff to do. So I don’t have more stress than the others. I’m also not the youngest, the youngest is our teammate Leofromkorea.
»The question is, how useful is it to kick a team which didn’t come to one match that could’ve been postponed easily«
You were in Team ALTERNATE before, but then left and created Team Eloblade. Now you’re back at Team ALTERNATE. What’s the reason for you coming back to ALTERNATE?
The good support, the humanity from ALTERNATE and the trust I have in the clan, which unusual in eSport.
You and your team had to leave the ESL Pro Series just a few days ago. Were organizational problems the reason or is the EPS more or less unimportant for you?
The EPS got a huge status for the Clan, not for us as a team, but we took the EPS 100% seriously. Of course it was our fault that we got kicked, because we only had four players on one of the matchdays. But if we look at our other penalitypoints, they all came from Premium/Trusted. We didn’t have the time to do this stuff, because we just joined ALTERNATE a few weeks ago. A bit more cooperation from the organizers would’ve been nice. The rules were made for more professionalism in eSport, but the question is, how useful is it to kick a team which didn’t come to one match that could’ve been postponed easily. It wasn’t our intention that one player in our team was missing.
Team Acer’s team captain „Schabs“ expressed in the comments to the official announcement of your exclusion that it wouldn’t be worthwhile for internationally ambitious teams playing in the EPS. The reasons being scheduling conflicts and unpaid prize money. Can you confirm this criticism?
Short: Yes. As I said we took the burden for our sponsor and played very well. We thought that we would win this season. But the expenditure isn’t worth it, no other tournament has such a complicated set of rules, not even the EMS or IEM which is both held by the ESL.
Did you ever think about withdrawing from the EPS in the past?
Because our leave was not voluntary, no.
With seven won matches you were the clear leaders of the Pro Series. Do you regret the lost chance at being the German champion again?
No.
A big international success hasn’t been forthcoming so far. What is missing in your team, that need to be on top of the podium one day?
I played bad in the past weeks, we lost a lot of games because of me, which wasn’t the case in the beginning. But looking forward to IPL5 and DreamHack, there will be a huge improvement, that’s something I know. Until now we didn’t have the chance to prove ourselves at offline-events, but we will do that in the upcoming month.
In September you were the first person ever to reach the 3000 Elo-mark. How important is that to you in comparison to a title with your team?
It means a lot to me, but that’s a result I can’t share. When the team is successful, I’m a hundred times happier. Because of that I play a teamgame and not a sologame like StarCraft 2 for example. I don’t have the motivation for those games in the long run. Soloqueue is the daily and needed training for tourneys. I can’t wait for the Elo-Reset, so I can play LoL like everyone else and don’t have to wait 20-40 minutes just for a 20 minute game.
With the highest Elo in League of Legends, there are certainly some offers from teams that play internationally at the top, have there been offers from teams that would have offered you the opportunity to participate in the Season 2 Finals or The Champions?
For me it was clear to stay with my old team until the Regional Qualifiers. Then I looked around for a new team and have surprisingly landed a direct hit right on the first try. I can’t imagine a better team.
How much time do you spend playing League of Legends?
I play 2-3 hours a day, other things take up to an hour. At the moment I have a lot to do, but I’m happy with it. However, I have set myself the goal to play much in the next three weeks just to bring me up to my peak performance for the upcoming tournaments.
Did you ever play Dota2? If yes, is there anything that you would wish for in League of Legends? Are there any general wishes for changes in LoL?
I play Dota2 if I have a lot of time (eg vacation), because it’s very time consuming, I don’t play at the moment. What I would like to see in LoL? An Abyssal Scepter Buff. I have no idea why Riot has nerfed this item. You can only buy it on 1-2 Heroes. Otherwise, I’m satisfied. Riot is doing a very good job.
To conclude: There are a lot of League of Legends players with the wish of being a pro gamer, or getting into high Elo ranks. Can you give any advice to your fans, how can they work on themselves?
Watch streams and take over play styles. Other than that, play a lot and specialize on 2-3 Heroes and the most important thing, always look at your own mistakes. Nobody that has a 1200 Elo can tell me that he only loses because of his noob team. These are all excuses and not looking at your own mistakes. There is no point in blaming the team, you don’t get better because of that, not even a bit. So always look on your own mistakes.
Thanks for the interview Carl. The last words are yours!
I thank escene for the interview. My thanks also goes to ALTERNATE for the superb support, to my fans and to my team. ELOBLADEEEEEEE!
This is a translation from the original interview in german
Special thanks to Lozarian for help with the translation into english!
This is a translation from the original interview in german
Special thanks to Lozarian for help with the translation into english!
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