DIG coach Mabrey: “When you have a lot of veterans… it’s harder to get on the same page”

"What Season? Dig Season!" has finally come to an end, with Dignitas eliminated from Playoffs with a 2-3 loss to 100 Thieves. Coach Joshua Alan "Mabrey" Mabrey breaks it down for us.

Dignitas have been the over-experienced underdogs this season, with a roster that would blow the mind of a 2017 League of Legends Esports fan, but that story came to an end this weekend with a harsh 2-3 loss to 100 Thieves. Unfortunately for Dignitas, despite a promising lead, a single hero play from 100 Thieves' jungler put the final nail in the coffin of DIG SZN.

Esports.gg We're coming off of a 2-3 loss to 100 Thieves, which will end Dignitas' season. How are you feeling about the series?

Mabrey: "I mean, obviously, it sucks to lose. I think it was a really close series, but our season ends with us losing here. The Game 5 was definitely in a situation where we should have been able to win pretty handily, but the Baron situation kind of went really wrong, in the wrong direction, and it's unfortunate that we lost."

I just spoke with Quid a few minutes ago, and a big focus on 100 Thieves' draft preparation and adaptation seemed to be around your prioritization of Smolder in the mid lane. What makes Smolder such a strong pick right now?

Mabrey: "I think Smolder is really strong because it plays really well into a lot of the meta champs, especially in other roles. Overall, he's just a pretty strong champion as well. It's basically in a situation where you can blindpick it mid because there aren't really any bad matchups. If you're ever down tempo, you can ult the wave and stay in the game. And, obviously, eventually you become a very strong champion once you get your stacks. His one-item and two-item spikes are also not too bad either. There's never a point in the game where he's that weak."

I'd like to touch on something Zven mentioned in the post-game interview. He said that the roster was too slow to compromise and unwilling to adapt how they view and play the game this split. A lot of the broadcast and community narrative has been that the veterans on this roster is one of its biggest strengths, but did that veteran experience come back to bite you this season because players were slow to adapt or compromise how they play?

Mabrey: "Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think he definitely hit the nail on the head with that. I even was saying this after we lost backstage. I really think that all the players on the roster are really great. We just ran into a situation where our roster is very new going into Summer. We've only been playing together for maybe two and a half months. When you have a lot of veterans and people with experience, it's harder to get on the same page of how to win games because they've all seen success on different teams in different ways. We definitely just came into a situation where we're making improvements, but at the end of the day, it was just a little too slow, and today's a result of that."

There's a lot of community discussion around who to send as the third seed to Worlds, C9 or 100 Thieves, especially after C9's poor showing. Which do you think is the best third seed representative?

Mabrey: "I think it's Cloud9, and it's not even close, to be honest. I think 100 Thieves win a lot of games by overgrouping and looking for fights, punishing enemy mistakes. I don't think their overall macro or laning is strong enough to hold up against international competition."

Looking to next year, we have the three-day international Fearless Draft tournament coming up and I've been picking players' and coaches' minds on what they think of the tournament and Fearless Draft as a format. What are your thoughts?

Mabrey: "Off the top of my head, I don't really remember the format for next year, but [it's] a shorter tournament I don't really have an opinion on. The Fearless Draft stuff — it definitely hurts some teams more than others. Maybe it'll affect how you are deciding to prep and stuff like that, but if it's better for viewership, I'm all for it. I do think the meta in competitive with a lot of the teams drafting the same champions over and over can get boring for the viewer. If Fearless Draft gets more people excited, gets more people watching, then it's definitely a good addition. We need a lot more excitement around League, and it seems like a good way to bring some."

That's a common sentiment I've seen from coaches. Anything to boost viewership and engagement is paramount.

Mabrey: "I don't think it's that great from a strategy standpoint because there are so many variables, but if it helps viewership, then I think it's great."

I've been picking peoples' minds about the persistence of lane swaps this split. They dominated MSI, got nerfed, and are still showing up months and months later. In talking to teams, it feels like this time, teams are holding onto these non-standard ways of playing League of Legends for longer than previous metas. How do you feel about the prolonged lane swap meta?

Mabrey: "I don't know if it's really affected... like, there's lane swaps, but there isn't anything past that. Not to say that there isn't other possibilities of warping the game. Maybe the addition of lane swaps has brought the idea that the game is able to be innovated more than it is. I think the idea of lane swaps can affect how you think about the draft and the early game. I noticed Riot has been trying to nerf lane swaps by making the turrets more durable, but I think the values you get from lane swaps are a lot deeper than that. There are things to consider about whether your top laner can get dove easier or harder than the other top laner. You can also use it to avoid really volatile matchups in top and bottom lane. It definitely affects the draft and how you should play the early game, and the teams that better understand it profit more."

Any words to sign off with for Dignitas fans as they look to next year?

Mabrey: "Thank you guys for watching! I value all the fans watching us through our season, I'm sorry we couldn't have seen more success. At the same time, I hope our team was fun and exciting to watch, and I'm sorry it ended this way."

Mabrey and Dignitas are eliminated from Playoffs and will not attend Worlds. Fans will see them next in 2025, should the organization survive the region merger upcoming for LCS, LLA, and CBLOL.