Healthy Competition: Santorin’s journey

Playing passionately since the age of three, Lucas "Santorin" Larsen's soccer days came to a halt after suffering multiple knee injuries at age fifteen. Looking for something to appease his competitive nature, he discovered League of Legends. “I had heard from my friends that League of Legends was super competitive due to the ranked system. I lost my chances of being competitive through soccer, so I felt like I could replace my soccer with League.” Diving headfirst into the game, Santorin shifted his focus from the field to the Rift.

Big Shoes to Fill

Santorin spent years playing on Challenger teams and Team Coast, joining Team SoloMid shortly before IEM San Jose. “I definitely had a lot of pressure going into my first games," he remembers. "Luckily, I've been playing soccer for so long that the pressure was easier to handle.” With no time to spare, Santorin had to adjust to his new team environment and prepare for IEM. “I put in as much time as I could with my team to get ready for the tournament,” Santorin says. Despite his efforts to rapidly synergize with the squad, TSM lost to the EU LCS rookies Unicorns of Love 0-2. “I didn't really feel like I was given a fair chance. It was my first tournament games with TSM, and we did not have too much practice going into it.” Without a strong showing going into the 2015 Season of the NA LCS, Santorin felt anxious. “After IEM San Jose, I felt like the community didn't like me at all and wanted Amazing back.” After several weeks of play, however, Santorin proved himself as someone who could rise to a challenge. “My biggest accomplishment so far is probably going from playing on a Challenger team that barely could beat any teams in [the Challenger Series] to playing on what is arguably the strongest NA LCS team within a year.”

Supporting the Team

And while Santorin is doing well on his team now, after playing soccer for so many years he truly understands how important teamwork actually is. To that end, in order to fit in with TSM, Santorin had to change his playstyle entirely. “With Coast I tried to carry every single game. Now that I am on TSM, I don't feel like I have to carry the games,” he says. Moving to a supportive jungling style has awarded him with the third most assists in the NA LCS, sitting behind his teammate Ham “Lustboy” Sik and Counter Logic Gaming’s Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black. Putting the team before himself, he isn’t afraid to allow his teammates to shine. “Honestly, I prefer playing the aggressive playstyle; but I feel like so far the supportive playstyle fits the team better. I don't mind sacrificing my preferred playstyle to make our team come out stronger.” This strategy has proven to be successful so far, and Santorin feels very confident in his team’s late game performance. “I have a really strong team and I feel like I can always rely on them to carry me, as long as I help them through the earlier stages of the game.”

A Healthy Balance

When he isn’t playing League of Legends, Santorin can be found at the gym. He goes for up to two hours every other day, and tries to balance gaming with a healthy lifestyle. “Since I am spending so much time playing League, I decided to live healthy in terms of diet and fitness," he explains. "I would definitely encourage all gamers to follow this lifestyle because it doesn’t require much time.” He even says that working out has brought him closer to his teammates. “Dyrus and I go to the gym together, so we talk very often.” Thanks to the great team atmosphere, Santorin has thoroughly enjoyed his experience with TSM so far. “This is the first team where I feel like no matter what problems we have, they are fixable. Our friendships are really strong too, where on previous teams I have had a harder time performing well due to internal conflicts on the team.” In addition to team synergy, Santorin applauds TSM’s incredible support staff and is grateful for their work. “With TSM, we have a coach in the house who can help us out and our support staff is helping us a lot with any problems we may have. I feel like I can focus on playing League of Legends.”

Fighting to Stay On Top

Driven by his competitive nature, Santorin is determined to succeed. His fondest memory with Team SoloMid is from only a few weeks ago when they beat Counter Logic Gaming in Week 4, saying, “It felt really good to win against CLG due to the big rivalry. I could really feel how much it meant to the team and the players.” Despite TSM sitting at the top of the rankings, Santorin knows that they will have to work hard to stay there. “I think both Cloud9 and CLG are our biggest threats. They are both really strong and even though we've beaten each of them once, we barely won against CLG. Cloud9 was not at their fullest potential at that point in the season either.” With the IEM Katowice World Championship fast approaching, Santorin believes that TSM may have a shot at the World Championship title. “We obviously haven't played any of the teams besides Cloud9, so we don’t know how strong we are coming into this tournament. GE Tigers looks the strongest so far, but I think we have a decent chance at IEM Katowice.” You can watch Santorin and Team SoloMid in the NA LCS every weekend on Lolesports. To catch their past games, head over to our spoiler-free VODs page.

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