Funny friends: H2K's Hjärnan and kaSing
"kaSing."
When H2K's AD carry Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss is asked how he's doing so well in the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split, he simply says the name of his support teammate, Raymond "kaSing" Tsang.
He bobs his head slightly and looks around, as if that question is now completely answered and he's waiting for the next one. It's a small gesture that says big things about the relationship of these two trusted players in H2K's bottom lane. They're humble and happy friends, content with their wins and thankful for their lane partner's strengths.
Bot Lane Bunker
Don't be fooled by their humility -- Hjärnan and kaSing have many strengths. Only three players in the entire LCS have higher KDAs than this reliable bot lane duo right now. They sit side-by-side in the #4 and #5 spot on the stats page, just like they do in-game and on the analyst desk.
They consistently punish their lane opponents with calculated trades, clever rotations, and perfectly timed aggression. They've killed their ADC/support counterparts 65 times in eight games, while only giving up the ghost 21 times themselves. They're the only bot lane in the EU LCS that the legendarily chaotic and bloodthirsty Unicorns of Love couldn't manage to land a single kill onto this Split.
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The stats go on, but the easiest thing is to just believe that there's something special about the happy pairing of Hjärnan and kaSing. They aren't as flashy or as outspoken as Counter Logic Gaming's Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black or Fnatic's Martin "Rekkles" Larsson and Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim. They prefer to let their actions speak for them and, right now, every team planning to go to Worlds is listening.
Laughing Together
When Hjärnan and kaSing do talk though, it's hilarious.
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"My favorite thing about Hjärnan is that he thinks he's funny," kaSing told me.
"My favorite thing about kaSing is that he thinks he's funny!" Hjärnan retorts before they both quickly begin blaming each other for causing "tilts" when they go gambling at the casino together -- their favorite non-LoL activity.
It was wonderful, funny, and kind of charming to see them as real friends sharing a laugh in our recent interview. That authentic, goofy friendship is something I've begun to miss with the increased professionalism of the LCS scene, and I'm so happy to see it in H2K's rising bot lane. It reminds me of the early Cloud9 days, when it blew our minds to see a team that was seemingly composed entirely of best friends do so well.
kaSing thinks their natural camaraderie has brought them a lot of success as well.
"We only had three days to practice before our first LCS game together," he explains. "But eventually we started to adapt to each other because it was fun to play with him, both in-game and outside of it."
Respect First
That's the fun balance of Hjärnan and kaSing. These duo dudes are bonded by respect -- not just jokes.
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"I think we have a really good trust between each other," Hjärnan explains. "Every time we play, we talk a lot after the game about how we could've played it better."
kaSing is quick to lay out reasons why he loves teaming up with Hjärnan. He praises his shotcalling and flexibility before declaring him better than any other ADC he's every played with.
"I just think Hjärnan deserves a bit more praise, compared to the other famous and popular ADCs," kaSing insists.
Once again, like he's worried that we had somehow forgotten, Hjärnan immediately reminds us how great his friend is. "I think kaSing deserves all the hype around him," he adds. "He's a really good player, and deserves all the hype and praise they give him!"
Rift BFFs
While I'm fairly confident that I could've kept them trapped in an infinite loop of complimenting each other, I'd prefer to watch Hjärnan and kaSing rock it on the Rift.
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You can join me in watching Hjärnan and kaSing -- and the rest of H2K -- take on Fnatic in the EU LCS Game of the Week tomorrow, right here on Lolesports!
Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Tahm Kench, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest Next at Daybreak Games. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.
