The last few years have been interesting for Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik. After some up-and-down times with TSM and some decent playoff runs with Schalke, he now finds himself on G2 Esports. Paired with legends like Rasmus "caPs" Winther and Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski, Broken Blade is very optimistic about his chances of finding tournament success this year.

It looks promising: G2 are one of the best teams in the LEC, and Broken Blade has been perhaps the best performing top laner in the region. Inven Global spoke with Broken Blade, to discuss his thoughts on continually working with Dylan, G2’s team dynamic, and Bjergsen’s return. 

In your past few teams, you’ve been one of the leaders. Playing with caPs and Jankos, has your role changed at all?

I don't even think I was necessarily a leader... I was a leader in Schalke just because of the experience I've built up from the previous teams. And I think in TSM, I've learned how it is being led, if that makes sense, by players like Bjergsen, for example. Zven had some moments, Doublelift as well. Also in Schalke, I was kind of the leader of the team. And all of those experiences obviously made me understand things better — how to work with my teammates better, how to make them feel good, how to just work around good or bad things, which always happens in the team. 

I would say caPs and Jankos are really different when it comes to leading. If I would call someone a leader on our team, it would be Jankos, just because of how he approaches things, how he handles things. He likes to take the lead in discussions. He likes to engage activities or invite a lot of people to go outside, which is also a good attribute that a leader has. To bring the team together. And obviously, he's not the only one doing it. And obviously, it's also not always him that is deciding stuff. But he definitely does it more than others. 

And I think it's also just the personality. The personality that Jankos has is just all leader. And caPs is more of... he's really random when it comes to those things. But he's also just very professional when it comes to the game and outside of the game. He's usually just the goofy little caPs that everybody knows, right?

Has that made it easier for you in a sense? That you can focus a bit more on your own play?

If you want to put it in a different way — if I talk less in a game, or if I take less and less responsibilities — I don't think so. I think it's more so that other people take a lot of responsibilities as well. Not only our mid and jungle, our bot lane as well. It's not just me, Jankos, and caPs, obviously. And in this team, I feel like I'm not really doing something significantly different than on my other teams. It's more so that I think the other players are taking more responsibility than, for example, my previous team.

How has your in-game role changed with G2? Do you approach the top lane any different?

I think what is really, really nice, is because caPs and Jankos are so experienced — and they did have a pretty good top laner before as well, which was Wunder — it's easy to tell them how I want to be played around, if I want to be played around. And it's not like I need to do a lot of explaining when it comes to in-game. I play the way I play and they'll just be there, and I don't have to micromanage somebody. That is some sense of relaxation, I guess. 

They usually know what to do, even without me saying much. I'll just say, "Okay, guys, I will need you guys on X-wave." And they will be there without me saying, "Okay, you need to come now. You need to do this. You need to push this wave." They will just know. That is something just based on their experience because they're also really, really experienced. They've been in multiple tournaments where I've not even been to. They've been in Worlds Finals, and obviously, it feels great to have teammates like that. And I'll be able to share those memories with them as well at some point.

Many have ranked you as the best top laner in Europe. What have you thought of your competition?

Honestly, I think the top laners are pretty good this split. I feel like there are a lot of very good top laners, but I also feel like the bottom top laners are not as challenging. I think Alphari is really good. I think Wunder is good. I think even Finn is pretty good. But there are also some of them — I don't wanna mention names, obviously — but I think the level could be better. But I'm pretty satisfied with how we're playing as the role in the top line. I would like to see more people picking champions like me. Maybe a little more action, you know? But I guess not every top laner likes those picks. 

Do you think that's the reason — just preference? Why are you one of the only ones to go outside of the box?

I think people are just scared. And maybe their mechanics are just too bad. I feel that almost every champion can work in top lane. You just need to make it work. And how do you make it work? By obviously putting in a lot of effort, then putting it in, for example, a Renekton, which is meta and a lot of the metas we're very used to playing. But if you want to play something like Akshan or Irelia top lane, you obviously need to be very good at those champs to make the most of them. 

I feel like most top laners — or any player even — always want to go to the default. And I think that could actually bring a lot of players to a new level, maybe even the whole league. Because we could see more picks, we could see just more spicy drafts. I'm sure not only the players would like it, but also the fans, because seeing something different is always something nice. 

Has Dylan’s coaching style changed or developed at all since switching to G2?

No, not really. What I really like about Dylan is I think he will make a very good player look even better with a good draft. He really brings out the best in good players, you know? For example, I think we went fourth place with Schalke, and in that split, honestly, I don't think we even deserved to be fourth, even though it was a nice feeling. Everybody obviously gave their all. 

But I think it was due to Dylan knowing exactly what people can play, what our highest chances are of winning. He's very strict with that. He also has this authority as a coach, which is really important. Dylan has all that and I really like working with him. He also lets you play a lot of stuff. It makes me even happier.

Looking to playoffs: what are your impressions of how G2 can perform there? What strengths playstyle-wise do G2 have over other teams?

I think we're gonna be very good in playoffs. I think we're gonna be really good in best-of-5s just based on our scrims. Our scrims have been going really good — we're winning most of the games. I don't know if we're gonna change our playstyle or not. It's really hard to just change your playstyle in a week. But we definitely have stuff cooked up for all the teams. We'll com in very prepared. 

You’ve worked with a lot of young players — what has working with Targamas and Flakked been like?

When they first came in, they were definitely really shy. Neither of them have the most outgoing personality. They don't talk much unless they are talked to, in the beginning at least. And it was obviously lucky, because everybody else on the team — even our coaching staff — is more outgoing.

Now, they're pretty comfortable, because it's been almost eight weeks and we've been scrimming even before that for like a month. So I think everybody's really comfortable. I'm really glad I'm playing with them. I think they're a nice bot lane to have. 

You mentioned learning from Bjergsen during your time on TSM. He just returned to the LCS and has been good, some say the best mid laner in the region. Did you expect him to come back this strong?

Knowing Bjergsen as a player and as a human, I was really confident that he's just going to be good, just because I know how hardworking he is. I'm very happy to see a good friend play well. And hopefully, I'll be able to meet him at World or MSI. It would be really nice at least. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

TSM is now the worst-ranked team in the LCS. Is this a surprise to you? What are your impressions of that?

I don't really know if it's a surprise for me, because I didn't know how the imports are going to play. I do feel very bad for Spica being in this position. I hope they're gonna bounce back, and he's gonna bounce back from that. I don't know how exactly it's going in their team, but I've been watching some games and it's not looking too, too pretty. So, yeah, hopefully, my boy Spica is gonna take some dubs home.

There's been a lot of criticisms towards TSM the organization. What have been your thoughts as a former TSM player?

It's always like a tough topic to talk about these kinds of things. My time on TSM was, I would say, fairly good. I really enjoyed the time. I also feel that the staff was pretty good to me. I didn't really have much impact, I wasn't really involved in all the drama that's been talked about recently, I guess. There have obviously been some heated moments from time to time but I feel like that always happens in competition, where if things are not going so well, you will have some hard talks. I don't really want to go deep into this topic.

All photos by: Riot Games