With the spring split over for LCS, we managed to grab an interview with Gambit Gaming's top laner, Lucas 'Cabochard' Simon-Meslet.

Interview conducted by Gabriel Melo  

Gambit placed 5th/6th in LCS Europe Spring 2015 after losing to Unicorns of Love in the 1st round of the playoffs. In the regular season the team had an unstable campaign, with defeats in the earlier matches, but accumulated a strong series of victories afterwards.  How will you and your teammates analyze and excel your performance after this split?

Well, we did have a pretty good season I believe, outside of the first five matches where we had problems with internet, the coach having not arrived yet, and other issues. We managed to secure 10 victories to 3 defeats after that, so I'm really happy about our run during the regular season, however our quarter final match vs UOL wasn't so good. So I think we need to try even harder the next time we face face a BO5, and then pick up the victory.

 Aiming at the next split, what does Gambit need to improve to fight for the title and the possibility to play in the Season 5 World Championship?

We need to improve at destroying their nexus before they take ours ;).

 As we stated earlier, the beginning of the split for this team wasn’t great. Gambit was defeated in five of six of the first matches.  After that, the team accumulated an impressive streak of victories.  After this period of defeats, what went through your heads and what was the mentality within the team? Did you ever feel like giving up?

Our mentality was obviously not at its best, but we knew that it wasn't entirely our fault either.  We knew that if we kept training we would eventually come back stronger.

Gambit pulled one of the greatest statistical comebacks in the history of European LoL in the Spring LCS,  winning seven matches consecutively. In a short period of three weeks, your team accelerated to fourth place. What did you guys do to improve so fast? Was it simply being able to practice more outside of LCS after technical issues were sorted?

Yes I think it was largely our problems being resolved so we could finaly play properly. Additionally, our motivations were peaked due to starting 0-5, and we felt we had something to prove as a result.

Changes were made in the LoL Championship Series this year. Now, the leagues have their own circuit points and ten participants as opposed to eight. What was the reaction of the players when Riot showed these modications? Do you think that this made LCS more competitive?

Yes, I think the current system is really solid with giving points, an increased number of teams, and having even more competition, since now the 10th place team gets auto-relegated, and you can get points for qualifying for worlds during Spring. The only thing I dislike is having to play only 2 matches per week.

Currently all regions have their own professional league. We can now say that LoL is closer to being a totally global game. With two World Championship titles, the Korean teams are the teams to beat. Do you think that will be a possibility this year? Which region has the best chance to do it?

China, even if SKT is showing up pretty good atm, a lot can still change before Worlds, so we'll see!

Last year, in Dota2, we saw some European and North American teams making a tour through Asia with the objective of preparing for TI4.  A couple of years ago, this happened in LoL, where some western teams played in the OGN. Do you think if the main NA/EU threats do this, the competition between regions be more equal and the Korean reign would come to an end?

Yes, I think it would help a lot since playing versus the best will always make you be stronger than just playing versus pretty good teams, but I'm not sure if EU and NA teams would do much in LPL or OGN, however it would be fun to see. On top of that, some teams could see it as an unnecessary risk, like if you're dominating in your own region why would you risk playing in another region that's more competitive and maybe not even have a chance to prove yourself at Worlds?

Gambit was defeated by UoL in the Quarterfinals. The Unicorns were the big surprise this split, according to the community. Could the unusual gameplay and picks of UoL have confused Gambit in these matches? Do you think that UoL, with their current strategies, can win LCS Spring?** Which team are you personally rooting for now that Gambit is out?

**Note that these questions were delivered before the grand finals of Fnatic vs. UoL.

Yes, if we dont count Fnatic performing so well with a new line-up, UOL is definitively the surprise; I'm not sure it's so much their unusual picks that threw us off or more just us making stupid decisions and them capitalizing well onto it. UoL could take the split, they really have a particular gameplay that's tough to beat and they're showing up really huge in BO5 already.

Gambit is one of the most historically profound teams in League of Legends. The team was formed by former Moscow Five, a squad who first enchanted the fans with the impressive victory at the IEM VI World Championship against Team Dignitas and continued to follow through with impressive performances at future IEMs. Do you feel like you adequately replace Darien (same with Betsy replacing Alex and P1noy being the successor of Genja?) Do you ever feel the pressure of playing for the team with the most pedigree in Europe? 

Actually, no, I dont feel any pressure playing. However, it is a great honor to play in the seat of prior legends.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, do you have any final words or shoutouts to make to close this out?

Thanks for the interview, Gabriel, and all the fans for supporting Gambit and me! ;)

Cabochard would also like to thank all of his sponors. 

Gabriel focuses primarily on Brazilian coverage and interviews. You can follow him for more content like this at @GabrielPumba. 

All images courtesy of Gambit Gaming's Faceobok.