Interview With Rogue Trymbi: “We’re a Good Team and I Want to Showcase It in the Next BO5”

The League of Legends Worlds 2022 Group Stage came to a close on 16th October and eight teams have punched their tickets to the Knockout Stage of the tournament. League of Legends European Championship’s (LEC) Summer 2022 champion Rogue, stands as the Western region’s only beacon of hope at Worlds this year after all other North American and European teams exited the event with heartbreaking defeats. After a strong showing in Week 1 of the group stage, Rogue managed to clinch its knockout stage spot and now clings to the hope of winning against JD Gaming (JDG) in the quarterfinal.

After the Group C games on 15th October, I had the opportunity to catch up with Rogue’s support player and enchanter specialist Adrian "Trymbi" Trybus. Trymbi touched on the underwhelming performance Rogue had on Week 2 of Worlds 2022 Group Stage, the support it has received in North America, and some of the challenges it faces moving forward.

Rogue went through multiple trials and tribulations in the second round-robin where fans immediately seemed to jump ship once the team started losing games. Trymbi also reflected on how these comments affect the pros and how little good it does to improve the team or the region.

Rogue’s rollercoaster journey at Worlds 2022 Groups

While Rogue went undefeated in the first round robin of the groups, the team evidently struggled in Week 2 as it took on Top Esports (TES) and DRX. Despite winning its first match against GAM Esports on 15th October, Rogue could not carry forth the momentum heading into the following games. What looked like an easy first seed in Group C became complicated and Rogue had to play a tie-breaker against DRX for that spot, which it eventually lost. Reflecting on this, Trymbi said he was happy that the team qualified for the quarterfinal stage but was critical of Rogue’s performance. “It was not something you’d like to end up doing when you actually qualify for the quarterfinals. Yeah, I am trying to be happy about the quarterfinal but it’s not the nicest thing to happen. Today was pretty rough overall,” he said.

LEC’s first seed and West’s last hope

Going into Worlds 2022, Rogue made it out of Europe as the first seed after defeating G2 Esports in the LEC Summer Finals in a dominant fashion. While MAD Lions got eliminated at the Play-in stage, other European counterparts Fnatic and G2 Esports soon exited at the group stage, leaving Rogue as the last-standing European team. Additionally, with the elimination of Evil Geniuses (EG), 100 Thieves (100T), and Cloud9, Rogue is now the only Western team that can challenge the Korean and Chinese teams. 

Talking about Rogue’s 2022 season, Trymbi said that Rogue had a good year. “I think overall we did really fine. We are showing that we can play against any team, or atleast go toe-to-toe. You can’t say that the year was bad. We managed to go second in Spring and first in Summer. We’ve now managed to make it to the quarterfinals,” said Trymbi.

Rogue’s next plan of action at Worlds 2022

It became very evident that Rogue was going to brush off the second round-robin and emerge as a stronger team moving forward. Trymbi talked about expectations Rogue has set for itself in the coming days of the tournament and what it hopes to change and improve in the meantime. “I think overall we just need to make sure that everyone is on the same page with how we want to play and what we want to play. Today was a bit chaotic I would say and wasn’t really the way we wanted it to go,” he commented.

Trymbi added that he does not want to place the blame on anything but stated that there were many factors that led to the underwhelming results that the team had in Group C. “I will put this day in the past and I will try to take as much information as I can  going forward.”

Drafting, champion priorities, and meta at Worlds 2022

Trymbi gave his opinion on the strong Maokai pick at Worlds this year, stating that he is a fine pick, who is also significantly tanky. “For us, Maokai is strong, right? We’ve showcased that Odoamne can easily play the champion. It’s also a fine flex - triple flex, maybe even flexed into mid possibly. Overall, Maokai is quite buffed and the damage output is obnoxious.”

One of the major talking points about the Group C matches in the second round-robin was the champions that teams locked in for the bottom lane. We witnessed pocket picks like Heimerdinger, Syndra, and Nasus in the support role. On the question of whether the Heimerdinger pick surprised Rogue, Trymbi said, “Not really. I was talking about how Heimerdinger was popping on randomly and I could already see some Heimerdinger one-tricks pick him on support. The picks were not standard but they were something we predicted but we weren’t that sure either.”

Notably, Trymbi had been hovering over Nasus for quite some time now and fans were surprised to see him actually lock in Nasus. In the matchup against DRX, Rogue picked Kalista attack-damage carry (ADC) and DRX answered by locking in Ashe ADC and Heimerdinger support. In response, Trymbi picked Nasus support as the last, counter pick, after DRX banned his infamous Rakan and Soraka.

Trymbi gave us a rundown of this draft and said he was not so confident locking it in. He also noted that the team was caught in a position where it was difficult to pick a champion that would add value to the composition. “It was for sure not the ideal Nasus game. Given the position I was in, I thought, ‘Yeah, I think I need to try to play this champ and try to make it work.’My point of view might be wrong given that my champion did not really do anything. I can easily take the blame for it because I was the one who picked it since no one else would suggest Nasus.”

He reiterated, “I have to admit it was for sure not the best pick there,” and added that he will learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen in the upcoming games.

Trymbi’s take on GAM Esports

The match between GAM Esports and Top Esports was arguably one of the best games of Worlds 2022 so far and Rogue’s victory against DRX in its second match would have helped the Vietnamese team stay afloat in Group C. However, after Rogue lost to DRX, GAM was eliminated from the tournament. “GAM played really well and I’m actually pretty sad that their chances went off after we lost to DRX. They tried stuff they knew they were good at and made it work. I completely respect that and GAM should not be overlooked,” he said.

Playing alongside Comp 

The bot lane of Rogue has shown tremendous promise and dominance throughout the year and the bot-laners have good synergy between them. Markos "Comp" Stamkopoulo joined Rogue as its ADC at the end of 2021. Talking about the experience of playing alongside Comp, Trymbi said, “Comp has been phenomenal. Even though today there were slip-ups from both of us, I don’t think you can take away anything he did till now. He’s trying his hardest to make everything work and he’s stepping up massively.”

Fans rallying behind Rogue at Worlds 2022

Soon after Fnatic and G2 Esports got eliminated from Worlds 2022, there were a lot of positive comments directed at Rogue where fans called the team their last hope. Trymbi spoke about the support the team received in New York at the Hulu Theatre. He said, “There were a lot of people today at the venue and I could tell there were so many people supporting us. I am really really grateful for that. I felt like there were so many people wanting us to win. I’m sad that we let people down today and I just hope that you’ll still support us.”

However, Trymbi noticed the contrast in the support on social media after Rogue lost games against TES and DRX. He added that he could sense the doubt from the fans, not just towards Rogue, but towards Europe in general.

Trymbi also recalled his tweet after Rogue lost its game against DRX where he picked Nasus.

He said, “It was not really fully what I wanted to describe because it was in between games and I did not want to spend any time on social media. But I really wanted to tweet that just so that I can get it rid of my mind and focus on the games. People tried to say that it [Nasus] was the reason we lost but I feel like it is completely different.”

Trymbi hoped that fans would continue supporting Rogue and have some faith in the team. “When I see so much negativity, it’s really dramatic and you can feel it as a player, obviously. You might say you don’t care but that’s not true. If people start s** flaming the region, you feel it regardless. Follow the team you like the most and don’t be too cynical about stuff.”

Trymbi oozed confidence and reiterated that Rogue will go toe-to-toe against its opponents in the quarterfinals. He said, “If we’re going down, we’re going down toe-to-toe. But I really don’t think we’re going down. I think we’re a good team and I want to showcase it in the next best-of-five.”

Rogue will go up against China’s JD Gaming (JDG) in the quarterfinal match on 20th October in a best-of-five series. A victory against JDG will propel Rogue into the semi-finals, one step closer to the Summoner’s Cup this year.