Dignitas' season has ended after being eliminated from the 2020 League of Legends Championship Series Summer Playoffs in a 3-0 sweep by TSM. DIG managed to scrape into the post-season as the 8th seed, but with the lower bracket being single elimination and qualification for the 2020 World Championship being tied directly to the Summer Playoffs, DIG has played its last game on Summoner's Rift until 2021.

Dignitas Mid Laner Kim "Fenix" Jae-hoon spoke to Inven Global's Nick Geracie to share his thoughts on the series against TSM, reflect upon his rollercoaster ride of a 2020 season, and look ahead towards his future as a professional player.

Fenix, Dignitas' season is over. What are your thoughts on this season?

First, in regards to this playoff series...*laughs* I feel really **** because I thought we had a really good chance to take down TSM, but we were just not good enough. I don't think TSM played well, we just played really badly. It feels really bad to suddenly end the season. This season I had some roleswaps, and that was kind of bad for me. I sort of lost myself and my playstyle, too, so this year was the hardest year of my career.

You switched to AD Carry for Dignitas Academy in spring, then you became a Mid Laner once again for DIG Academy in summer before being promoted to the LCS roster in place of Henrik "Froggen" Hansen. What new challenges did this season present to you?

I really didn't think I was going to play mid lane in the Summer Split, but it turned out I ended up having to play mid for DIG Academy around the time we got Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett from TSM. Dardoch and I have played together in the past, and we had some success when playing together, so I was back in the mid lane when he joined us as a Jungler.

I thought my play as an AD Carry was fine for DIG Academy until I ran into some problems. I can't say my bot lane was better than my mid lane; ADC is different in terms of working with other people. When I was all of a sudden starting in the mid lane this summer, I had completely forgotten what the role was, but I tried really hard to adapt.

Our LCS team was struggling, so I got a chance to play in the LCS. My first game was really bad, but I felt like I had started getting back on point in the mid lane before our journey ended. 

You mentioned earlier this season that you felt playing as an AD Carry was easier than playing as a Mid Laner. What was the adjustment like in that regard when coming back to mid?

I was very bad at playing the mid lane style in this meta. When I was playing ADC, I knew that if I was in a teamfight, it was the right thing for me to wait until everyone does. That's really good for ADCs because you are often the last carry for your teammates, but Mid Laners sometimes have a different job. Sometimes you need to initiate and make plays, so that's a difference between the two roles.

When I first switched back to mid, I was playing really safe because I was used to playing AD Carry. My main struggle in adjusting is that I had trouble making good plays around mid.

Dignitas definitely looked better once you and Dardoch were promoted to the LCS roster. Did it take time to rebuild your synergy this summer?

We were trying to build our synergy back up, especially because I wasn't playing mid until Dardoch joined our team. *laughs* We were always looking for a good composition around mid and jungle because we needed to rebuild the synergy between the two of us on this team.

Will you stay a Mid Laner going forward in your career?

Yeah, I think I'll stay in mid. I'm not sure if I will play more, but if I do, I will stay in the mid lane.

Players like Golden Guardians' Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun have found success later in their career by swapping from Mid Laner to Support. Would you ever consider this specific roleswap?

If I need to swap again, it's going to be back to AD Carry. I mean...my Support is really bad, even in solo queue, so I don't think I can do my job well in that role. I don't think my playstyle fits Support very well. 

Even though your season ends here, congratulations on returning to the LCS and qualifying for the post-season. Is there anything you want to say to finish this interview?

I can say that it was hard being a fan of Dignitas this season, but we're still really thankful for everyone supporting us. Even though we had a bad season, the fans supported us, so thank you. 

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