100T Goldenglue — “to say lane swaps are back is, I’d say, relatively accurate”

100 Thieves robbed Dignitas blind in a 3-0 Upper Bracket match in the first week of LCS playoffs, and coach Gregory "Goldenglue" Gilmer sat down with us to chat about their resurgence, lane swaps' return, and mentoring young talent.

Under Goldenglue this split, 100 Thieves have had a serious change in form since substituting in a new ADC from NACL organization DSG, and that continued through their last week into Playoffs, with a convincing victory over a shaky Dignitas. LCS Head Coach Goldenglue took the time to chat with esports.gg about everything from his rivalry with Team Liquid's coach Jake "Spawn" Tiberi and mentoring young talent through the ups and downs of pro League of Legends.

Esports.gg: We're coming off your 3-0 series against Dignitas with some pretty stompy games therein. What do you think made this series so one-sided?

Goldenglue: "You know, I think we got the most of our momentum in Game 2. I kind of feel like we played consistently the whole series and a lot of the time, we had the better scaling comps and they had to make something happen. We never gave them that angle to do anything. I feel like the pressure that they felt from all of their drafts and how the games went was that they needed to do something, but we just never gave them that angle. That pressure just builds up and builds up and in Game 3, you can see an explosion."

We've been talking to players and coaches about lane swaps since MSI and we saw several this series. We talked to Spawn recently, and while he was reticent to say lane swaps were back, he said it might just be a Liquid thing, but it's pretty clear they're back in a major way. A consistent sentiment we've seen from a lot of players and coaches is that this lane swap meta is opening Pandora's Box, in a way. Unlike the last time lane swaps were around, it seems like a lot of teams are exploring how to play non-standard League of Legends that breaks from the European 1-1-1-2 style we've had for over a decade. It feels like the MSI meta really globally brought a lot of teams to using these non-typical macro-strategy calls creatively in standard games of League of Legends. Do you feel this lane swap meta is different from the first time, and why are we still seeing it a full split from the nerfs meant to address it?

"That's a good question. I do think that to say lane swaps are back is, I'd say, relatively accurate. I think a lot of it too is that teams are swapping and then other teams are trying to copy the swap. So a lot of games people are practicing it — and because you practice it you want to do it on stage. I think there are counters to swapping, and I think there is a lot of nuance to lane swapping in general. I think it's like a pretty strategically, heavy concept.

"People are used to normal laning. I don't think it's going to be every game — like our last game was regular laning. I just think it's going to be a lot more possibility for it happening, especially in NA. It does happen in other regions. I feel like a lot of teams, in scrims, are swapping. So it's scrim meta and then that goes to stage — people are just practicing it a lot."

In talking to Spawn, something he said about why Team Liquid was so willing to lane swap was that he believed when their opponents move, they'll make mistakes. And when Team Liquid moves, they'll find opportunity. It seems like that approach to lane swapping has been a big part of your guys' newfound success, for example when Dignitas opted to swap back into you in the first swap and lost a ton of gold. Do you feel like practicing lane swapping and letting your players flex their creativity has been a big part of your resurgence?

"I completely agree. One of the biggest advantages of lane swapping is being able to catch enemies' mistakes. There's a lot of opportunities for you to catch someone off guard. I think Team Liquid has been the standard for swapping when it comes to NA, and they've been leading the meta for it. I think, we, 100 Thieves, as a team, have made a lot of progress on our swapping. I think it's going to be a really interesting match to see how we do in a match against Team Liquid because they are one of the best, if not the best, team at setting the strategy for swapping in North America."

Tomo has fit this roster like a glove, and you guys have really had a serious improvement in form since his addition. What are Tomo's attributes, aspects, or qualities as a player that have allowed him to click with 100 Thieves so well?

"I think Tomo has a lot of good qualities overall. He's very often the first person in the office, and he's very down to try to do things as a team. Whether it's eat together, walk together, he's very team-oriented, I feel. The last thing I'd say that's very important is he's a very assertive person. He says his opinions and he says them loud. We were kind of missing that in our game, in our communication. That's one of the reasons I think we look more cohesive as a team — we have that assertive energy in our games."

We had an interview a few weeks ago with Sniper that I'm sure you've seen, in which he talks about how the several difficult series in the middle of the split and the losses there were taking a toll on his mental health. You played for a very long time, and have had your share of bad weeks and bad series. As somebody who's been through it, what can you try to relay to Sniper? How do you try to mentor him through what can be some really tough moments in an incredibly stressful career?

"Yeah, that's a good question. Being a pro League of Legends player is very stressful. You turn your passion into your work and you're judged for it by thousands of people online. When you're doing bad, everything seems awful.

"This is Sniper's first year in the LCS. I, obviously, have had a long career and I've had a lot of downs, a lot of lows in my career. The one thing that I try to mentor to Sniper is that there are bad times. All you can do is focus on what you can control and try to make things better. It's not easy, especially when you're losing all your games. It's kind of your main purpose in life. We try to build him up outside of the game and let him know things can change very quickly. I think people, as humans, aren't good at seeing how fast things can change. I think when you're in a rut, all you can see is a downward spiral."

Absolutely, you're only able to see where you're at.

"Exactly. There's no way if you asked Sniper a few weeks ago that he'd think we'd be doing this well."

Yeah, it didn't seem like he'd call that he's something like 5/0/7 on Jax in Playoffs if you asked in the middle of the losing spree.

"Yeah, yeah. I think Sniper's just growing a lot as a person. It's his first year dealing with this really high-intensity environment. I think he's doing really well, and he's just feeling the emotions. When you're losing, when you're winning, and you can't figure out what's going on — you're going to be stressed. You're going to be struggling. The only way to go through it to go through. The obstacle is the way.

Makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I was very impressed by how eloquently Sniper was processing some very difficult-to-grapple emotions. He seems like a great kid with a good head on his shoulders.

"Yeah, 100%. "

We're reaching the end of our time, so let's look forward to the Team Liquid series. Got any words for Spawn or the Team Liquid roster? What are your thoughts on the upcoming series?

"Yeah, man! I'm pumped. Spawn and I have been going back and forth for like, three years. In Academy, now in LCS. We played them in Playoffs last split, they took us out, I think 3-1. I think we're a much better team now than we were then. I also think they're a much better team then we were then. Team Liquid's the benchmark to beat. If we beat them, we qualify for Worlds, which is f**king crazy. I honestly think if we played how we did today, we can beat Team Liquid. Honestly, I'm excited. We're pretty hot right now."

Goldenglue and 100 Thieves will face Team Liquid in the Upper Bracket second round this weekend. The winner of the series gets their ticket to Worlds 2024. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more updates.