Rogue was the only team from the West that made it to the quarterfinals of Worlds 2022. Rogue had all the Western fans cheering for them against JD Gaming, but the gap between the East and the West proved to be too much to overcome this time.

After their shutout defeat against JDG, Inven Global had a chance to speak with the support player for Rogue, Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus on his 2022 journey, theorycrafting with LS on support Nasus, and his thoughts on the gap.

It was obviously a tough loss for Rogue today. Rather than talking about the series itself, can you share where your head space is emotionally?

Regardless of how the series ended, I felt that the Bo5 was definitely winnable. I’m devastated with how I played, and I think everyone else on the team also feels similarly, where they’d also look at what they could’ve done more. I would not have liked for the year to end in this fashion.

It’s very unlucky that the year ends like this, because this year felt very different. While the feeling of defeat is still very raw at the moment, it’s still been a very good year. I’m grateful for what we were able to accomplish, and I hope we can continue on together next year. 

Your 2022 season comes to an end tonight. How do you reflect on the team’s season, as well as on your personal performance throughout the season? Which aspects are you satisfied with, and what do you wish you’ve done differently?

There were definitely frustrating moments throughout the year because sometimes, things just don’t go your way. However, this year was definitely special because of how we were able to pull through every single time we were met with such obstacles. I don’t think I can simply just divide the good and the bad because of how much of a rollercoaster this year was, so it was different, but I’d say in a good way.

Overall, the year was not bad at all. I got to learn quite a lot about myself, what it’s like to be in an actual team, and what it’s like to be a professional player. Good lessons were learnt. As for Worlds, I’m still not used to what a bittersweet ending like today is like, so for now, I’ll let things be, be a bit sad, and see where the emotional journey takes me.

One thing that really struck out about your gameplay, especially at Worlds this year, is the new Support picks that you showcased, such as Soraka and Nasus. I know that you’ve been communicating with people outside of your team to get a fresh perspective on the game, and it feels that LS has been a big influence on the aforementioned champion picks. How has communicating with people like LS influenced your journey as a player?

I always like to talk to different people to get a fresh perspective on the game to apply the good into my gameplay, so talking with LS has been definitely helpful. LS and I have a lot of talks on how he views the game, and he gives me good ideas on what could be good and bad. After he came back from inactivity, he definitely helped me understand quite a lot more about things like itemization.

Trymbi w/ LS, testing Nasus support

Of course, I don’t agree with every one of his opinions, and that’s completely normal. However, he did help me understand how good some champions can be. LS gave me ideas on how to play Nasus and it eventually became a pocket pick. Unfortunately, the pocket pick Nasus didn’t work during groups this year, so we had a talk after the loss about why it didn’t work. Overall, he definitely did help me improve this year, and I’m grateful that I was able to get in contact with LS.

One key topic of discussion was the ‘gap’ between the East and the West. What’s your take on the gap, and why do you think Rogue was able to pull ahead of other Western teams?

Although our tournament run could’ve been a lot better, I just think that we’re a better team than the other Western teams. Some may argue that our group was much easier than others, but I still think our group was very hard. We had a good understanding of how each other wanted to play, and we managed to create a playstyle that suited all of us much better than the other Western teams. Our game plan worked because we played our own game, and we managed to showcase how good we can be as a unit.

In terms of the gap, I personally don’t think it’s that wide. Even today, I thought this year was the year that we overcome that gap. While we did get 3-0’d in our series against JDG, I felt that the series had its moments where games felt winnable. I’m not saying that the gap isn’t there, but I don’t think it’s that wide as people may think. The Eastern teams are definitely good, but it’s not impossible to beat them. So for now, I have to keep working on myself to be able to beat them. Hopefully next year. 

A final question for you: Now that you’re in the spectator seat, how do you foresee the rest of the knockout stage pan out?

It’s hard to say. I think any team that can get past the quarterfinals have equal chances of winning the tournament. It’ll also depend on the actual performances of the quarterfinalists, so only time will tell.