Team Dignitas' Shiphtur: "I feel like we can win every game"

Riot·Jun 14, 2015·0 votes·14,699 views

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.

14 Comments

GolferXNinjaJun 14, 20155 votes

Dude Zirene and TSM fans hella salty after the loss. However Dig should have lost but Dig deserves credit for staying in it and trading drags for barons. If Dig can get better from the stellar performance in the prospective of this team was about to get relegated (thx to kiwi they didn't) they can be a serious contender they just have to get better and prove they can play with the big dogs like TSM C9 who they have beat and the likes of CLG and TL.

skyfall619Jun 14, 20154 votes

helios looked useless this game. dig made it this far not by laners doing well but by azingy carrying there ass. so they kick the guy responsible for there success. shiphtur reason for his confidence pissed me off in the interview with riv he said well helios is korean.

BEERS FOR FEARSJun 14, 20156 votes

Azingy carried Dignitas for one game against a struggling C9. He has not been able to perform on other champions besides Zac whereas Helios at least has a champion pool. I think Helios is a clear upgrade in about every single way, especially because he actually shotcalls. Corejj and especially Gamsu can hold their own. To say that Azingy has done more overall than Gamsu who is arguably their strongest player at the moment is rather ambitious.

And of course Shiphtur is going to come off as confident. They just beat TSM. Would you prefer every team just went "Nah, we're garbage. I have absolutely no faith"? I think things can only be better with a stronger mechanical jungler for Dignitas.

skyfall619Jun 14, 20153 votes

thier first 3 win was without a doubt due to azingy not anyone else. his confidence wasnt my point it was how he felt confident now that he has another korean on the team. helios looked like crap in todays game

YascobJun 14, 20156 votes

The reason that Azingy did so well and carried the games is because the other teams did not respect his Zac. Yes Azingy is good on Zac but if that is banned out what happens? Sure he is a good player but his champion pool is too limited at this point in time and so far his main carry is Zac, so if you ban Zac and limit his champion pool I doubt he can show that same level of skill at the given moment in this meta. Also if you look at the standings of the teams that Dignitas beat you will see that they are at the bottom of the standings at the moment exception of TSM which is the game in which Helios played.

So why was Azingy replaced after the way he was winning? Helios was a better fit for the team that communicates better in Korean as well as he adds some early game shot calling to the team which reinforces the overall team performance. So yes, athough Azingy is a good jungler I would say that Helios is a better fit for the team and the roster change was primarily based on that fact. In response to how you saw the performance of Helios in the first game; do you expect that a player who just joined a team to be in perfect sync with a team and play to his best? I really doubt it. Even regular members of a team have off days so basing a judgment after one game is a bit hasty and you should wait and watch for a while if it actually was a bad choice.

In regards to Azingy I hope to see him again in the LCS and I hope he knows that many people enjoyed watching him play. In regards to Dignitas, I hope that Dignitas continues to show that they belong in the LCS and will be watching their progress as they show what they can do this split.

Worst On TeamJun 14, 20154 votes

I like Azingy but he was going to get banned out. He's not a shotcaller, he has communication problems, he's a pro-scene newbie and his champion pool is very small.

He's also a hardworker and a good player.

Dignitas has remained my favorite team for the last three years. I take the good and the bad while wearing my Dig hoodie. Even if it's 40 min of no-teamwork (first few agonizing weeks of this spring split) or an amazing game against TSM like today.

Helios is a great jungler. He's an upgrade over Azingy, definitely. Dignitas' laners can match any other lanes in LCS. The CS discrepancies generally come from being out-rotated. It goes from 150-148 to 180-152 in just a few minutes.

I also give Rico some credit here. He's working them hard, he's focusing them on the meta strategy.

Dignitas gets 4th+ or I'll eat my hat.