H2K came into the LCS as rookies during the spring split, exceeded almost every expectation and placing third both in the regular season and in the playoffs.
As the summer split starts tonight, support player kaSing is aiming to outshine all the other bot lanes together with Hjarnan.
– I’m really confident that me and Hjarnan will play better than the other duo lanes at the moment, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Shortly after they qualified for the LCS Spring Split, H2K lost Fabian ”Febiven” Diepstraten to Fnatic and had to replace their perhaps most standout player shortly before the season start.
Then, only weeks into the split, they switched their support player from Erih ”Voidle” Sommermann to former Supahot Crew player Raymond ”kaSing” Tsang. 

”The win streak didn’t really matter”

But the switch proved to be a hugely successful one, as the team came into their own and even went on an eight game winning streak. After the season, kaSing recollects his thoughts coming into the team.
– In the beginning, because the team was 2-4 when I joined I expected to go like 4-4 at max. I wasn’t expecting to go on an eight game win streak. It was weird at that time because I wasn’t sure if it was the other teams playing badly or us playing good.
The streak was eventually ended by Elements, only one game shy of Fnatic’s previous win record.
– It didn’t really matter, I just look to the next game as an important game. It wasn’t like we had to do it because we wanted 9-0. I just had to play my best for the next game, kaSing comments on the lost record.

”We had a huge confidence boost”

The streak led H2K to the playoffs, where they beat SK Gaming and advanced to face Fnatic, the only team that they hadn’t beaten in the regular season. Going into the series, kaSing says he didn’t have much hope of beating Fnatic who at that point had shifted into another gear. But then something happened.
– We just went in with a game plan. When we beat them in the first game we had a huge confidence boost, because first we were a bit shaky on wether we could beat them or not. After the first game we were like: ”We can actually win this”.
But despite a close series, Fnatic closed it out 3-2 and went on to the LCS finals.
– I wasn’t expecting it to be that close. At that point Fnatic had shown they were much stronger than any other European team, and I expected it to be 1-3 or something. And it was kinda weird because we almost threw every game we lost, it was all misplays rather than Fnatic being the stronger team. I feel that with more experience as a team, especially in playoffs, we could’ve won. But we live and learn so it’s all experience I guess.

Since the split ended and the inevitable Silly Season has come to a close, H2K are still intact from last season. Something kaSing thinks can help his squad during the summer.
– In a way yet, because we’ve played together for one split. I wasn’t playing for the first three weeks, but all of that is really good experience for a team so that’s an advantage.

”I place Hjarnan above every other ADC”

The support player also takes time to praise his ADC, Swede Petter ”Hjarnan” Freyschuss.
– In the beginning we had three days of practice and he wasn’t that great. I don’t know it it was because my play style is too aggressive and it was hard to adapt but after we played on stage it was good. And I’ve played with him ever since and it’s gone better than ever. He’s an ADC that can do stuff that I want without me having to tell him. If you haven’t played with someone before and you just play with them for a week, you can’t really expect them to know what to do. But I didn’t have to babysit him and tell him how to play lane. I can focus on what I have to do all over the map, not just in lane. That’s one of the reasons I place Hjarnan above every other AD Carry I’ve played with.
– Just from looking at replays of other teams, those AD:s only farm and wait for the team to carry. And then at mid to late game is when they’re more useful and can do stuff. But ADC:s are just as useful in early game as well and I don’t think European ADC:s understand that very much.

How much have you looked at the new bot lane duos to prepare, and how would you rate yourself against them?
– I would place me and Hjarnan first, Yellowstar and Rekkles second and… I don’t really have a third. I haven’t played against all the teams so I haven’t gotten enough information to decide. But I’m still really confident that me and Hjarnan will play better than the other duo lanes at the moment. In two versus two I think we’re the best. If it’s three, four or five players, maybe it isn’t the case but in the laning phase I think we’re the best.

”I want to get to Worlds at least once”

The fans will look to H2K to repeat the success of the first LCS season in their sophomore run, but kaSing says he doesn’t feel the team has anything to prove after the Spring Split.
– I don’t think it’s pressure, but it’s more that we can actually achieve top three. We want to get top three, but of course it’s not gonna be easy. I think it’s gonna be an interesting split. Personally I want to get to Worlds at least once in my career, that’s where I’ve always wanted to play.

Who will be your top contenders this split?
– Fnatic is definitely first. And I think that Unicorns of Love, even though they showed a lot of pocket picks, will shine a lot. Something about them makes them play as a team and in the current meta it’s all about team fights. If you look at UoL, people usually say: ”Vardags is the worst player, why is he still in the team”, but I think that even though he may not be the best player mechanically he understands his role really well. It’s more teamwork reliant now, you don’t base a team on how they do mechanically. It’s more how they rotate, how they team fight, what objectives they prioritize.
– And the third contender will probably be Origen. They have four Baron players which is really good, and especially Soaz and Amazing are really good so we have to look out for that.

”I’m fairly confident against Origen”

H2K’s split will start against Team Roccat and the aforementioned Origen.
– I’m fairly confident against Origen, but I don’t know about Roccat since they changed their top laner. Steve teleports a lot as a top laner, so It’s kind of a different game for us compared to the usual Roccat. But I’m looking forward to playing them.