Medic - "The LEC in 2020 will be bigger than ever"

Thanks for chatting with me, Medic! First off, I have to talk about League of Legends World Championship finals. As an LEC fan; an EU fan, what are your thoughts on G2's loss now that the dust has settled?

Obviously seeing G2 lose in the way they did was disappointing, we all expected them to challenge for the title more convincingly. It's important we remember just how far that team came in a short time though!

Perkz role swapped at the start of the year, they added Caps and Mikyx, and still won an international championship and made it all the way to the finals of Worlds, beating 3 time champions SKT on the way.

I think on the day, they were just outmatched, FPX's roaming mid style really shut Caps down, and it seemed like G2 just couldn't find an answer for it.

I'm happy that G2 still experimented the way they always have, and just hope they keep that same spirit coming in to 2020. We haven't seen the peak of G2 yet.

This was your second time casting at Worlds. How was it casting Group Stage and was there anything you felt you really did well with? Anything you'd like to improve on?

Casting Worlds is always an honor, it's the biggest League event of the year, and to get the opportunity to be part of it will never stop being awesome. In Play-In Stage I was pretty comfortable, we were in the Berlin Studio and I'm very used to working in that space.

When we went to the Verti Music Hall for groups, I was incredibly nervous. It was only the second time I've ever cast in an arena, and to cast Worlds for European fans was an experience I'll never forget.

I think I still have a lot to work on, developing hype, telling player stories and having more fun with my co-casters are next steps for me, but overall I'm pretty happy with how well I did!

This offseason has been particularly interesting, which some teams making drastic changes to their rosters. Who has been the most surprising for you, from any region? How do you think that roster change will affect that team, for better or worse?

Focusing predominantly on the LEC, I think one of the most exciting changes is the 'bot lane musical chairs' that's going on. Upset to Origen, Hans Sama to Rogue, FORG1VEN coming back?! After seeing Upset struggle to have a huge impact on Schalke, and Hans Sama have a disappointing year in 2019, I'm hoping that this shuffle will allow all our bot laners to hit their full potential.

Looking at the rosters for 2020, I think there are four top level teams. G2 stands above them all, then Fnatic, Origen, Rogue all look like they can challenge from spring.

As a caster, there is not much going on after Worlds, except for All Stars. What do you do with that spare time? Are you brainstorming for 2020 at all or do you use the time to simply relax?

From this offseason onwards, I'm moving to being a freelancer, which means a lot of this offseason has been spent planning out that. The broadcast team just rounded out a week of prep and planning for the 2020 season, but a lot of the rest of my winter will be spent streaming, and working out how I move in 2020. I'm also getting LASIK, I can't wait to be free of my glasses!

With the ramp up to the new year, people are already coming up with goals they want to accomplish. What are some of your goals for 2020, both professionally and/or personally?

Professionally, I want to keep doing what I did in 2019. It was a stand out year for me in terms of casting growth, and although I'm nowhere near my end goal, I think if I keep improving similarly 2020 could be great.

Personally, I've wanted to get back into really good shape for a while, so I'll probably be spending a lot more time in the gym and wishing I could eat more food!

What about goals for the LEC production itself in 2020? Do you have any ideas for 2020 or things you'd want to see put out there?

We have tons of ideas for the LEC next year, which I'm not going to spoil here! Most of them are initially created by casters, but everyone on the team contributes.

Suffice to say that the LEC in 2020 will be bigger than ever!