Cunning like a fox: Altec

With a new season comes new stars and new stories. Here is one of the players you should look out for in 2015! Team: Winterfox Region: North America Position: AD carry What, exactly, happened with Winterfox last year? “Our struggle came from being unable to cope together and our lack of experience in a team atmosphere,” says Johnny "Altec" Ru. This much seems true, given that the team didn't lack for talent. Yes, there was the notoriously inconsistent Pobelter in mid lane -- at once the best and worst mid laner in the NA LCS. But more often than not, it was Altec who put the team on his shoulders during Winterfox's (then named Evil Geniuses) few wins during the Summer Split. In fact, people feared Altec when he first joined Winterfox. He’d had a spectacular Challenger Series with Cloud9 Tempest, making a run through the playoffs, only to be stopped in the finals by LMQ. Throughout, his play had been impeccable, often carrying his team with huge numbers of kills -- particularly on Corki. But Altec and the rest of Winterfox had undeniable cohesion problems when he joined the squad. As a result, he often decided that he had to single-handedly bring them to victory. More often than not, it didn't work. “The biggest change I want to improve on is knowing when I can be greedy and when not,” he said. “Last season, I would just focus on farming and getting to late game, which was effective in some of the games.” This season, he’s looking to change his mentality. “I want to be able to be more of a team player and win as a team not as an individual,” he says. Until he fixes that problem, Altec doesn’t consider himself to be one of the best ADCs in North America. “I see myself in the middle right now,” he told us when asked to rank himself amongst his peers. That doesn’t mean he’s happy with where he’s at. “My individual play has been lacking lately but with time I think I can be up there. Players like Doublelift, Sneaky, and Turtle are really good, and one of the ways I can improve is to study their play and the reasoning behind it.” If he manages to combine his natural talent with a newfound work ethic, he may just be one of the most effective carries in North America. Until then, he says, “There's always room for improvement as long as you work hard enough.” Check out the full list of players to watch in 2015 right here.