With their 3-week win streak, MAD Lions are the most consistent team in the LEC, especially considering the close race to the top where nearly everyone can finish first or not make playoffs as we head into the last two weeks. We spoke with Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser about their win against XL, traveling with the LEC and taking on international teams.
Aykut: Welcome Kaiser, thank you so much for your time. After the playoffs, the LEC will send four teams to the international stage. Do you think you are ready to compete at Worlds right now?
Kaiser: I mean I think it depends on the meta for us, for sure, because right now the meta is really fast and I really like how we are playing right now. I would say there is a lot that can change in the next couple of months or even weeks, right? Every patch can kind of mess up your tempo and can mess up how you think about the game, how you should play around the game but I think, if the meta kind of stays in this kind of a stage, I think we have a really good chance, even against top LCK and LPL teams, even though I think they are stronger than the LEC right now. Because they just- I mean, we got a lot of inspiration from LPL, like we basically copied some of the drafts and we kind of play the same way in game as well, so I would say they are like kind of the OG right when we are just like a bit of a copy, right. I think we definitely understand some things better than they do, so I think we will still have a good chance against some but I think they are still favored.
Aykut: Yeah, I was gonna mention that, MAD Lions have, you know, a few unique tricks up their sleeves as well. Are we going to see anything interesting out of you or the team in the upcoming weeks or maybe even in playoffs? With no specifics, since this is an interview.
Kaiser: I think it really depends on like how much we are pressured into showing new picks, because right now is just working phase we are just playing, drafting almost the same comps every week, we are just drafting meta, we are just drafting what we are comfortable with and yeah I don’t see a reason why we would change that right now. I think the new patches might bring out new picks, right? I still need to play a bit more soloQ to see what’s strong, right? Because like every new patch can bring so much new stuff into the game so we’ll just see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I don’t think, in the regular split, we’ll be doing like too much more experimenting but I think in playoffs, when best of fives are on the table, you have to be adaptable and I think at that part we will branch out with more picks.
Aykut: Yeah, I mean I am excited for that, to see that interesting stuff out of you guys and maybe nothing at all, if the meta still continues this way, we’ll see. You guys are on your way to Malmö, I assume you already bought tickets there, are you excited about going out with the LEC, being on the road?
Kaiser: Oh for sure. Ever since I joined the LEC, I think it was just struck with COVID-19 right? So I never really got to play playoffs in a really big arena or something like that, right? So it’s really exciting, for sure, that we are gonna travel inside Europe as the LEC, right? Because we only played in studios and even at Worlds, they were not really that big of a stage, not really the biggest arenas because we just couldn’t because of Coronavirus, right? So yeah, like it’s for sure gonna be new experience for us and I really like looking forward to it, as well.
Aykut: Alright. Since you guys have gotten the MAD fans very hopeful about the team’s future, do you have any messages to send to them?
Kaiser: I mean just a big thank you to everyone who like stuck around with us after Spring cause I think I know that it can be disappointing that your team is losing a lot, right? And I think in Spring with we didn’t show what we were capable of, right? But I think right now we are just playing super well and half of it comes from the fans, right? Like sending us good messages, keeping our mental up and you know just being really nice and yeah, that’s why I want to thank them for helping us to get back up.
Aykut: Alright, thank you so much, good luck and hopefully we will see you in the future at Worlds at the highest stages.
Kaiser: Thank you.
