Rogue Larssen on heading to MSI: “I mean it’s a kind of cringe answer, kinda cliche answer, but we’re just taking it week by week.”

Rogue are the number one team in LEC and are locked in for the top-four spot in the LEC Spring 2020 Playoffs. A big part of the reason for that has been the solid play of mid laner Larssen. The Swedish mid has been a part of the roster for three years now, having survived rebuilds and complete changes to how Rogue plays its games.

After trips to Worlds in 2020, and 2021, Rogue is on the fast track to another international appearance. We spoke to Larssen after the team’s 1-1 week, which closed with a victory over Excel Esports. He chatted about taking things game by game, his playstyle, and Rogue’s hopes for the rest of the season.

First of all, thanks for talking to me today, and congrats on the win. I know you've probably had a lot of interviews and stuff going on.

Larssen: Oh no worries. After Saturdays I chill, I’m on time off right now.

That’s good to hear! Rogue came into this week having already secured a spot in the Spring Playoffs, and locked a top four today. How does that change how you play? Do you take more risks? Do you experiment?

Larssen: No, it doesn't change much. We still take it game by game and it's like we kinda knew we were already in the top four and like playoffs and stuff. For right now at least I kinda knew. Obviously, factually, you can’t know it. But I mean very like, kinda obvious that we would be top four at least, and our mind is getting spot one berth so we can choose our opponent for playoffs. So like the top four lock-in and playoffs doesn't matter, we’re obviously going for the top spot.

With that in mind then, heading into the playoffs, which teams do you think are going to be the most dangerous and which ones are you trying to pick? If possible?

Larssen: Very hard to say, very hard to say. But I think there are various dangerous teams. I think everyone expects Fnatic, G2, Vitality, and Misfits, but it’s very hard for me to say who will be more dangerous for the playoffs?

I think Fnatic might be the strongest team. Seems like that right now at least. So they might be the scariest team. Otherwise very difficult to say between Vitality, Misfits, G2. Misfits will likely be a bit worse in the playoffs, just because. Hard to say. But I think Fnatic is still the strongest.

Yesterday you did play Fnatic and that was only your team's third loss. Last time you had a loss was in Week Five, which seemed like an off week for you guys. Were you worried with the loss to Fnatic that this might be the start of another bad week? Or were you confident it was just a blip?

Larssen: I mean, you never know what would happen right? It's like best-of-one. Could be a bad, 0-2 week, like who knows? And it happened in the best-of-one, but I mean, I was very confident we would win. Even if you go 0-2 it's like no panic. 

It's like go into the game and play as you always do. And I can't decide if it's a win or loss, I can play as I play the best I can. And if we win or lose, I can't be attached to the rest of the threat [of losing]. It’s not something I can worry about, because I can’t be perfect.

When you have lost, those losses came later in the season. Is that teams catching up with your style and adapting? Or is it something else do you think?

Larssen: I think other teams improved a lot more than what we did. We were a bit complacent… I mean we’re not like slacking or anything, but we’re not looking at what we can improve as hard as we can, because obviously, we’re like 9-0, and you really get a bit more comfortable..

So after the 0-2 week we started looking a bit more at like the small things that we can improve. There’s not like any huge changes, but definitely things we can improve on. So definitely we started to focus in on those a bit more.

Today you played Viktor, which really bullied the Corki in lane. Do you prefer those lane bullies or would you prefer a more roaming kind of style of mid?

Larssen: Definitely I prefer the lane bullies. But I also happen to play a lot of Ryze, who can roam around a lot. Really whatever is strong and can get an advantage somehow. So long as… It’s not so fun to sit under tower because you don’t have any options to get ahead. I really like to always get ahead in gold.

Really I like something that is kind of strong early, but also good at CSing, which is very much like Viktor. Viktor is like a very good scaler, but is also strong in lane so a good combination of both.

Last year you played a more supportive role in the team. A lot of the resources were given off to your Jungler or AD Carry. Now you’re sitting at four Players of the Game, I didn’t catch the voting so that might be five by now… Was that a difficult adjustment?  Or are you more comfortable in that hard carry, high-responsibility role?

Larssen: I prefer it. It’s way more nice to be more responsible and have more resources, right? I mean I just wanted to win, for last year. I realised I wouldn’t get much resources. So I just needed to be relevant every game and always stay strong. I didn’t take too many risks because I obviously didn’t get much resources. In the game we were playing a lot for bot, or however, or forming around the jungler.

So obviously this [year] is way more nice to play. I can improve like, way more as a player now. And I mean it’s a lot more nice this year, in terms of team culture-wise and gameplay-wise.

That’s really good to hear! Finally, It’s been a great season so far for Rogue. What are your expectations for the rest of the season? Do you think you’re going to be at MSI? Are you looking towards Worlds?

Larssen: I don’t think anyone is looking forward towards MSI. I mean it’s a kind of cringe answer, kinda cliche answer, but we’re just taking it week by week. That’s like the cliche answer right? But like it’s also very true.

It’s a very boring answer but lets take it week by week right now. We’re focused on getting the spot one rank, and after that the playoff focus, right. So okay, lets take it week by week. And there’s also quite a big break between regular season and playoffs. So we have a small break were I can go home to Sweden and reset my mental a bit. So that’ll be super nice. And then after that, it’s just working towards plays.

Brilliant. Thanks so much for your time and good luck with the rest of the season!

Larssen: Thank you, thank you.

Larssen and the rest of Rogue will be back in action on March 4th, for the eight and final week of the LEC. They’ll face off against SK Gaming on Friday, Team BDS on Saturday, and finally, G2 Esports on Sunday. You can catch those matches live on the official LEC Twitch or YouTube channels.