Medic and Vedius discuss their relationship and LEC teams

GINX Esports TV's Amanda Stevens spoke with League of Legends European Championship casters Aaron 'Medic' Chamberlain and Andrew "Vedius" Day to discuss their duoship and the talent in European League of Legends.

You guys are known as Medius, you guys are joined at the hip so it seems. Was there some sort of synergy?

Vedius: No! I tried to get him fired! I don’t know if I can tell this story, so I won’t give the full context. But the first time we met I wasn’t very happy with Medic, so I gave very stern feedback which was “I do not want this guy to come back”. I actually didn’t want to work with Medic at all. But that was the kick up the butt he needed to be better. Now we’re great.

Medic: Are you saying you created me as a caster basically?

V: No, I turned you into what you are. I gave birth to Medivedi. I make it the thing that it is today.

M: You can continue to believe that for as long as you want Vedi. The first time we ever cast together, I was not anywhere near as prepared as I should have been. Which is the nicest way of putting it without indicting myself. It took us two months of vaguely working together before we really clicked?

V: I would say it took us a whole year, cause this year has gone pretty well.

M: Really, really clicked, I agree. But I think we both knew we were on the same wave length last year.

V: So the feedback I gave him last year was that he keeps making too many grandiose statements and leading me into directions I don’t want to go in. Then coming into this year, out of nowhere he goes "I think I make too many grandiose statements and I want to give you more freedom in cast". And I went, “That’s interesting, Medic!”

M: What Vedius doesn’t say, is he is a stubborn, stubborn man. And I hoped that we could mould together and grow together. And what I realised coming into this year was I have to change, because Vedius is never going to change.

So all the skits, all the songs, the Spongebob Squarepants. Is that something the whole broadcast team as a whole comes up with, or do you guys show up to work one day and go “so we have an idea” and everyone just groans?

V: Someone was like “You and Vedi are just like Spongebob and Patrick!” and then he goes “That is so right! We are so like Spongebob and Patrick.” And I was like “No we’re not! You have never seen this show before, we are absolutely nothing like Spongebob and Patrick.”

M: That was the best part though. The entire time I was convinced that we’re Spongebob, Patrick, let’s do the song, let’s do the intro.

V: That was our intro, we were sitting down, and I looked at him, and said “You know what intro we could do…” And he was like “What?” “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea, MediVedi.” And then we spent the entire lunch figuring out lyrics for that.

M: If you can tell the me not being prepared story, I get to tell this! So I come to Vedi and say ‘Hey I’ve got this idea’, and Vedi is already saying no in his head, he's saying it’s not funny. And I’m like ‘Okay how would you change it, what are your suggestions Vedi?’ He’ll come up with an idea, and I tell him that it’s good, and I’ll slowly manipulate him into doing what I wanted to do all along. But he has to think it’s his idea. So halfway through writing the lyrics, I was like here’s our first four lines. And he was like “Well there’s something wrong with that line” And I was just like “Yes there is Vedius, let’s work out what it is together.”

V: I was saying “You have too many words, you’re doing something wrong!” And he’s like “Look count it. “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea” which is 11 syllables and when he did his it was 10 syllables, and I was like “I knew it! I’ve been trying to telling you this the entire time!” And he’s like “You haven’t told me this once! You haven’t used the word Syllable once!”

M: That’s the idea, it’s a convoluted process for complicated people.

Domestically, you’ve already riffed on them, what do you think has happened to Misfits? Like in all honesty, you look at that roster, everybody up and down, everywhere from Twitter to the analysts, everyone thought that was going to be a great team.

V: They’re 3-3 right now, they’re fine. My biggest issue with them at the beginning of the year, you have a lot of people with a lot of strong opinions of how to play the game, when you put all five of them together, they can’t all agree. So you have a lot of conflicting egos. I think that was part of the reason the criticism went to the coaching staff behind, because they couldn’t help the team find alignment. Then you bring Moose in, and he brings down the iron hammer, and threatens to start benching people, and creates a ten man roster.

I don’t know if that was their mentality, I’m giving you the tl;dr of how I see it, but I think that this will encourage the players more to get on the same page, and I think coach Moose will better help the team, but it will depend on how much growth they can make. I think the new patch will help them a lot cause I think a lot flex picks getting nerfed as well, and bot lane with ranged supports becoming a thing, I think Misfits are in a better position. But right now they’re three and three, I’m not going to toss them to the wayside just yet. We’ll see how they get on, but they’ll probably be middle of the pack, bottom of the pack. We have really strong teams right now in Europe, so they’ll probably struggle.

So then, I guess, if both of you are not on the Misfits hype train, what’s a team that you were hyped about that isn’t living up to your expectations?

V: Vitality. I rated them highly coming into this split because I thought the meta would really suit them, because it was all about strong solo lanes, with Cabochard with an early game jungler that likes to be aggressive, they should be able to utilise flex picks, and they gloat about how deep their champ pools are, and then they’re just not on the same page at all. Apparently they’re still struggling with the same issues as last split which Jiizuke talked about in an interview. And so, I think there’s a lot of work to be done, but I was really disappointed with Vitality.

M: I agree with that. I think after the RNG bootcamp, I was hoping for a lot more from them, a lot more explosive stuff but they just… Jiizuke especially has been really weak. He was sick at the end of last split, I wonder if some of that is still hanging around. I would like for them to be better, because I like them as a team, but just disappointment.

Do you think that Splyce has a chance to sub out a team at Rift Rivals as the world representative? For the region? Do you think that they can slot anyone out or is it too tough a climb?

V: I think it’s very comparable to Splyce and Origen, based on the current standings, yes. If you were to ask the pros, probably not, because Splyce is perceived individually to not be able to match up against some of the top teams. I personally have a lot of criticism towards Norskeren and his individual play that overall hurts Splyce, and Humanoid hasn’t had the best split either. He’s had some good games, but overall his impact has been minimal. I feel like that team is Xerxe, Kobbe and Vizicsacsi having highlight moments every now and then, but because the entire team doesn’t feel like every single team member can carry, it’s difficult for them to break into the top three. Even now they are stronger, and I think over the course of the split, it’ll just get harder and harder for them. Unless the other members start levelling out, which we know is possible, we’ve seen it happen, we saw Nemesis get better coming into this split.

M: I think that’s my main concern though. I have a lot more trust in Origen, Fnatic, or G2 to fix issues in the middle of the split than Splyce. Splyce tend to be a slow burning team that get 5-10% better by the end of the split, whereas I trust Origen background staff and their team to get 20-25% better by the end of the split.

V: To be blunt, when you look at Fnatic, Origen and G2 right now, when you talk about who is the best in that position, many people will argue that these three teams have three of the best people in each of the positions. Xerxe is the only one who people might argue that is better then Kold. Xerxe is a smart and very good player, but he’s also inconsistent, if he doesn’t feel confident enough, then sometimes his play is lacking. But it’s not like Cold is the most dominant jungler that we have in Europe either. I think that there’s a debate there is my point. From an individual talent perspective I think it’s just a lot harder for Splyce. It’s a bit harsh, because it’s not like they have bad players, but it’s just that Fnatic, Origen and G2 are stacked in terms of talent. So I need to see a lot more from Norskeren and Humanoid before I can fully believe that they can push their way into the top three.

M: I think that’s the thing as well. I see Origin, G2, and Fnatic, and I see two to three players who can carry a game. On Splyce, Xerxe will carry you through early game, but he won’t carry you through mid game, and then you’re looking at Kobbe. I don’t see Humanoid, Vizicsacsi, or Norskeren as guys that will win you this game solo.

Is there a team you think we’re all sleeping on as fans in LEC?

M: I think SK. Sleeping is a difficult thing, because SK made playoffs last split but they’re weird. Like, my dark horse pick for Spring was Origen because everyone wanted them to do well. Picking my Dark Horse for summer, I think SK. They’re a weird team, they’ll probably make the top five.

V: I personally don’t think we’re sleeping on anyone, I think everyone is pretty accurate where they are. In my opinion I think Rogue is the biggest question mark. Because I don’t actually know where they fall.

M: I think the only team that might surprise us properly is Misfits, because they could become top four if they play it properly.

V: Maybe, I actually have more faith in Schalke to be better than Misfits right now.

M: I agree with that right now, but that’s why Misfits would be the surprise.

Make sure to keep up with all of your LEC news, features and interviews right here on GINX Esports TV!