From the rock bottom of LEC, Astralis rose to challenge for a playoff spot in the Summer split. With the new additions to their roster at the beginning of the split, it looks like Astralis’ uncontested dominance of the ‘Worst team in LEC’ title is starting to wear off. BLIX.GG spoke with Oliver “Dajor” Ryppa about their Week 6 win against Rogue, the Bard pick, and what to expect from Astralis in the upcoming weeks.
Aykut “Kots” Sapaz, BLIX.GG: Hello Dajor, thank you so much for your time, and congratulations on your win against Rogue; how was the match, in your opinion?
Oliver “Dajor” Ryppa: First of all, hello and thank you. The match felt pretty easy from the beginning; we were happy with the draft as well. There were no complications in the game; I think it was a pretty clean game from us.
BLIX: Speaking about the draft, I wanted to ask about Bard because it was a very interesting choice, in my opinion. This is the first time JeongHoon has played it in a very, very long time. How did that come to fruition, and how was that decided?
Oliver “Dajor” Ryppa: I mean, we have been playing it… in some comps, let’s say. It was a question between two champs in the draft, and we just all agreed that Bard was the better pick here. We just made him more comfortable and said, “Yeah, Bard is really good here against their champs.” and that’s how it came.
BLIX: Was the other champion Pyke?
Dajor: No, the other champ was not Pyke.
BLIX: Ah, I wouldn’t have guessed that because it was open, anyway; you guys won yourselves a step ahead on the playoffs race, and you are now at the front door of it. We’re in the last few weeks; what do you think about your chances of making playoffs this split?
Dajor: The standings are pretty close right now, right? I didn’t really look at the games yesterday, I was a little bit too down for that, so I don’t know who won and what are the standings right now. But I think, right now, everyone is close to each other, and if we get a momentum going, if we play like how we played today, there is a good chance to reach playoffs, I’d say.
BLIX: Should we expect any interesting picks coming out of your sleeves in the last few weeks? No names or specifics; this is recording, so.
Dajor: No, there is nothing that I hide, I would say. I’m pretty open, you can check my SoloQ and see what I play, but I play a lot of champions. I don’t think there is anything special because right now, there’s not really a special pick you can even pick that would- because everything is kinda viable, I’d say it’s hard to have a pick that’s special.
BLIX: So you think there are no surprises because everything is playable now?
Dajor: Yeah, exactly.
BLIX: Well, Astralis fans are very hopeful at their homes right now. Do you have a message to send to them?
Dajor: It has been a long run, I would say, from Spring. I always said that “Guys, Summer will be the split where it starts.” so even if we don’t make playoffs this year, I think in the long run, we will make it. Just keep supporting us and cheer for us, and for sure, we will make it one day.
“Summer will be the split where it starts,” We like the sound of that. That’s got us hyped too. You can catch Astralis in their next match against Fnatic August 12.
Feature Image: @dajor25
