Team Dignitas' Shiphtur: "I feel like we can win every game"
The 1st Place Team Dignitas have roared through the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split.
With their 4-1 record and new jungler in NA LCS veteran Dongjin "Helios" Shin, the team showed refreshing synergy today in their victory over Team SoloMid. Mid laner Danny "Shiphtur" Le attributes the win to a few slick plays from his own team, and a few missteps from TSM.
"I think TSM overreached for that first tower dive on me when I got the First Blood," he says, referring to TSM's three-man dive mid. "I'm pretty sure I was safe no matter what, unless I totally misplayed my Flash. I think that ruined a lot of momentum for them."
But the biggest boons for Team Dignitas came from the scaly monster that's given them some trouble in the past. "I don't think they were expecting our Baron at all, because we had Fizz, Kog'Maw, and that's a lot of percent damage on Baron," Shiphtur explains. "So we just burned it without them expecting it."
That play put Shiphtur's Kog'Maw even further ahead, and TSM struggled to find a way to deal with him. "All I had to do was farm and not die, because their comp was made specifically to kill me, really." TSM's team comp was filled with assassins and back line threats with Ekko and Hecarim, but towards the late game, they were never able to take out the poison-spitting void puppy. "If I lived in team fights, then I just kill everyone, and if they don't kill me it's just auto-win for us," he says with a laugh.
An old friend
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The mid laner was in good spirits after the game, mentioning how the successful integration of Team Dignitas' newest Korean member is boding very well for the squad. "The big thing is we got Helios instead of Azingy," he says. "I think Azingy was actually really good…and his work ethic is crazy, he's learning a lot. It's just that the communication wasn't there and it was really hard to build synergy between the Koreans and Azingy."
Helios, who speaks both Korean and English, makes communication throughout the entire roster easier -- which has been fantastic for top laner Yeong-jin "Gamsu" Noh in particular. "Before, we had a lot of trouble with our top lane," Shiphtur says. "Our lane chemistry wasn't there because Gamsu's English isn't that great right now. So with Helios the game feels a lot smoother than it did before."
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He also says Helios brings early-game shot calling and an aggressive play style to Team Dignitas that, for the most part, is working out. "I think he really likes to take control of the game by himself. He wants to take every enemy buff and make these huge plays," Shiphtur grins. "A lot of the times he gets overexcited, and that's kind of his downfall too. He wants to make that #LCSBIGPLAY. Sometimes it throws the game and sometimes it straight up wins the game for us."
Combined with Alan "KiWiKiD" Nguyen, who Shiphtur thinks has a very similar 'go hard' mentality, Team Dignitas is looking more dominant than they have in months. "I think [having better synergy and communication] opens a lot of windows for us," the mid laner says. "I've never heard Gamsu talk as much as he does now, because of Helios. Helios just makes Gamsu talk a lot which is nice for us."
Team Dignitas vs. Gravity
Now at the top of the standings, Team Dignitas faces the 3-2 Gravity tomorrow, and Shiphtur's looking forward to it. "Gravity is really good, they have a lot of pocket picks. I'm not sure what Keane is going to bust out. And now they've picked up Altec. I have a lot of respect for Altec, he's like one of my best friends in the LCS, so I'm pretty excited to play them!"
Excited is good, but what's better for Team Dignitas fans is Shiphtur's spirit going into the match. "I'm just really confident with our roster right now. I feel like we can win every game."
Tune in tomorrow to see Team Dignitas take on Gravity, and if you missed any games from the NA LCS, you can catch up over on the spoiler-free VODs page.
SpiNN is a web content editor at Lolesports. She loves Gnar! Feel free to follow her on Twitter @Leahbjackson.
