GG Solo: “No matter the adversity or setback, I continue to look for new ways to improve as a player because this is the game I love.”

After a 1-2 week, we had the opportunity to sit down with GG Solo to talk about his year of self-reflection, going to Worlds with Flyquest and his new role with the Golden Guardians.

With just three wins to their name in Spring Split, the Golden Guardians are looking to play catch up in the standings. A team containing multiple young players, GG Solo stands as one of two veterans on the team looking to lead this team’s development.

For Solo the challenge of being thrust into a new environment is one that is not new for the veteran LCS toplaner and this past year was spent in reflection to become a better League of Legends player.

The Coronavirus Pandemic left the LCS and esports as a whole in a very weird place. For nearly an entire year, players were not in an LCS studio. Instead, they spent the year in the comforts of their home playing matches in the LCS.

“A lot of 2020 was a wild trip," said Solo reflecting on a very chaotic year. “It has been tough in some ways but I think that overall, it has been a really big growing year.”

Following the 2019 LoL season with Echo Fox, Solo was unable to find a team to call home. As a result, he spent the first parts of 2020 waiting for a team. It wasn’t until Flyquest approached the veteran top laner midway through the 2020 Spring Split, offering him a role on the team.

“The whole experience on Flyquest was awesome," said Solo. “I learned so much about in-game discipline because of the nature of our team and how we played games.”

Originally without a team in 2020, Solo used that as motivation to push himself to new heights with Flyquest, enjoying a breakout season with back-to-back LCS finals appearances.

As a result, Flyquest represented North America as the second seed at the 2020 World Championships. This experience is one that helped Solo gain a new perspective on League of Legends.

“Seeing how the top teams play their game and how they approach the game, I realized that you will not win games by getting really small individual advantages," shared Solo. “You win games by playing for the team and for the team plan.”

Unfortunately, even after a Worlds appearance, Solo was unable to find a team. That is, until the Golden Guardians came looking for a new top laner prior to the 2021 LCS Summer Split.

The Golden Guardians saw an opportunity with the offseason to look into developing team synergy. As a result, the Golden Guardians spent the majority of the offseason scrimming.

Opposed to his previous roles on other teams, Solo is now one of the leaders on the Golden Guardians. In addition to focusing on his lane, he has new duties as a veteran showing the Golden Guardians rookies how to become a solid LCS player.

“It is a new experience jumping into a team with new players.” Solo shares before continuing his statement. “But, I think that it is a lot of fun because you get to see how much growth you can make with this team.”

3 of the 5 players on the Golden Guardians are experiencing their first year as LCS pros. The jump into playing your first games onstage is a process that is very scary for new players to the LCS. However, as a veteran of the LCS, Solo believes that the LCS is not as scary as it seems. This is the biggest point Solo is looking to ingratiate into the younger GG players.

“For young players, the most important thing is trying to teach them how simple winning League of Legends can be.” GG Solo shares during the interview.  “Winning League of Legends is just draft, objective setup and positioning. It is not all that complicated," concluded Solo.

The Golden Guardians are in a tough position to climb up the standings and into a playoff seed, but this experience is nothing new to Solo.

Solo’s story of tumbling down only to come back stronger is one that resonates with many people. It is a relatable story of failing and asking yourself, where do I go from here. 

That grit to stand on the precipice of LCS so many times to finally getting that opportunity in 2018 with Clutch Gaming and eventually making it to the World Championship stage is commendable. 

Now, GG Solo finds himself in a similar position of climbing back to the top. Instead of jumping into a team of veterans, he finds himself in new territory as a teacher.

However, even with this in mind, Solo is not opposed to any of the challenges that may come his way in 2021 and closed out the interview with this final statement.

“No matter the adversity or setback, I continue to look for new ways to improve as a player because this is the game I love.”

The Golden Guardians will look forward to Week 2 of the 2021 LCS Summer Split. Here, their opponents will be CLG, 100 Thieves and Flyquest as the team looks to improve upon their 4-17 record.

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