Innox: A new Enemy in the mid lane

The last time we saw Tyson "Innox" Kapler on the NA LCS stage, he was in the top lane playing for Evil Geniuses. Since then, he's been working his way through the Challenger Scene as the mid laner for Enemy eSports (NME), a team he helped carry into the NA LCS during the 2015 Summer Promotion Tournament. Now, it's time for him to lead his rookie squad from a newly promoted team to one of the top teams in North America

Starting from the bottom

According to Innox, he knew exactly how good NME could be early in the team's career. "Going through the Challenger scene, it was really exciting," he says. "We almost never lost a scrim." After his struggles while on Evil Geniuses, finding so much success on NME was quite a change of pace. "It was a new feeling. We were so confident going in. So when we went into our matches, we had that confidence that I never really had on EG." As they continued to climb through the Challenger ranks, LCS teams began to take notice, and offered NME chances to scrim. Innox says that their success in scrimming more practiced teams added to their confidence. "When we were in the Challenger scene, we did scrim some of the LCS teams. We scrimmed a few top teams... We were able to take games, and the majority of the LCS teams we played, we could win." It worked. After a successful regular Challenger season, they stormed through the NA Challenger Series Spring Playoffs, dropping Final Five 2-0 and Team Dragon Knights 3-1, earning their spot in the NA LCS.

Changing lanes

"Playing mid lane in general really helped me feel more comfortable with myself," says Innox of his new position. In fact, he's been looking to take up the mid lane position for quite some time. "I played top lane for two years," he says. "Before that, I played AD carry and always wanted to switch to mid. But I'd always end up filling in roles for teams. I never got the chance to play mid. Which is why, when EG and I went our separate ways, I saw this and knew it was my chance. I needed to switch to mid now." "When I play, I always want to be that guy that, if you don't watch me, I'll just come in and destroy your team," says Innox. "You can't really do that as a top laner, as much as you can mid." "Mid lane, you're going to have incredible, game-changing ultimates like with Orianna or you can get a sick Lulu ult that knocks everyone up or saves your AD carry." While you'd think that such an aggressive player would prefer the assassin style of play, Innox says he likes to cause havoc in just about any way he can. "To be honest, I love playing the poke champions, as well. In a lot of my games, you'll see me getting a poke champion to the point where I can three-shot someone with poke. I'll kind of play that poke champion as an assassin." Whether it's by way of assassins or long-range burst, Innox wants to create some shock and awe on the Rift. He says, "I love those random all-ins, where the other person is like, 'Wait, why are they doing that? Oh crap, I'm dead. Where did that come from?' That's probably one of my favorite things."

Aiming for Playoffs

NME has a long road ahead of them, and Innox knows the best way to keep focused is to set goals. "Right now, as a team, you could say we would be content and set a goal to go 7th or above [to avoid relegation]. That would be our goal," he says. "Does that mean that's what we want? Kind of, but what we want more than anything is to make it into Playoffs or be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd." For now, they've just got to make sure to prepare for the weeks ahead. With a 1-1 record coming out of Week 1 of the NA LCS Summer Split, they're looking to improve their record this week against Team Liquid and Team Dragon Knights. Make sure to keep your eye on Lolesports for more NA LCS action.

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