Coming back from an 0-2 in week 5, TSM seems to have found their groove by taking down the 1st place team, Echo Fox.

With all the teams having different leaders on a team, the leader of TSM has been constant for a long time now. That leader is Bjergsen. Bjergsen has not only been consistent is every game TSM has played but he has also been consistent in guiding his team in and out of the game. With new members (Mike, Zven, and Mithy) joining TSM, Bjergsen has worked effortlessly to bring the potential of this TSM to become the best iteration of TSM NA has ever seen.

After the game against Echo Fox, Inven Global interviewed TSM’s mid laner, Bjergsen. Let’s see what Bjergsen has to say about TSM’s groove, Mike, and eating sushi.

¤ How do you feel beating the 1st place team in the NA LCS, Echo Fox?

It feels good, but it is unfortunate that everyone is surprised that we beat them. I feel like we can beat any team on any given day if we play well. I just feel like we have been so inconsistent. I’m glad that today’s game showed everyone that TSM can beat any team. It gives us confidence going into future games and also in scrims as well. It all comes down to nerves or not thinking straight. I can tell the difference between one scrim and another. I knew coming into this week, we would play much better than we did last week.


¤ Do you think TSM has found their own style of fighting and their own macro play?

Definitely not yet. We are still changing the structure of how we scrim, how we review games, and how we conduct meetings. I think we are still trying to figure out how we really want to structure our team and how we work with the coaching staff. Our improvement is not necessarily bound to our scrims this week, but I can feel that we are making progress in our games. I just feel like our scrims are more focused on what we can actually bring on stage.

¤ What do you think is the reason for such an improvement for your team?

I think it is from hitting rock bottom. Going 0-2 and realizing that “Wow we are so bad” (laughs). I don’t think all the NA LCS teams are that strong right now, so it is really disappointing on all of us. We have many players that have gone to international events multiple times. Going 0-2 is just unacceptable. It made everyone reset and made them think what the big changes we need to make are. We had a lot more talks together as a team this week about how we can be more on the same page. This has helped us improve a lot as a team.

¤ Since you have been on TSM for a long time now, which roster from TSM do you think was the best? Where would you rank the TSM roster now?

I think the current roster we have right now is the best roster TSM has ever had. We are simply not playing better than previous rosters because we haven’t had enough time. We haven’t found our groove on how we want to play. In terms of performance, 2016 Summer TSM was probably the strongest. The roster right now is stronger than the previous roster. However, we just haven’t found that synergy yet in order to become the best iteration of TSM.


¤ TSM is well known for having both an incredible amount of fan base and haters. Because you have been on TSM for a while now, how have you balanced this level of support and hate whilst on TSM?

When you are the most popular team for many years, you are going to have a lot of people that love your team and hate your team. When you are successful for as long as TSM has, people are going to love to see us fail and lose. For me personally, it isn’t too hard to deal with since I’ve been on this team for… I don’t even know how long. Maybe 5 years (laughs)? I have dealt with it for a long time now. Maybe it is different for my teammates. I think you just need to take what everyone says with a grain of salt. Some of the things people say have some truth to it. Instead of reading it straight, because it will have some negative or toxic comments, you need to find if there is any merit in the comment at all. You need to ask yourself “Is there anything I can extract from it? Is there anything I can use?”.

Regarding to the positive comments, it is nice for everyone on our team. Our veteran players have already dealt with a lot of negativity on our previous teams like me, Mithy, and Zven. But yeah, I really appreciate fans that stick with us through these tough times. Obviously, TSM is not doing the best right now. All the fans that come out and support us are very appreciated.

¤ Whenever you plays League and makes a good play, you feel really good about yourself. When you make good plays, do you ever reward yourself? May it be buying yourself a nice skin or expensive dinner?

I think the biggest thing I do to reward myself is to do something relaxing for myself. Sometimes, I would sit outside and read a book. Let my mind reset. Sushi is also a big one (laughs). Me and Hauntzer would usually order really nice sushi or go out as a team and get nice food together. When you do have good wins, I think it is a perfect opportunity to build solid synergy with the team. Using those wins to build friendship and teamwork helps when your team is losing, since that friendship is already been built. I think it is difficult to build a close bond with your team when you do lose. As soon as you are racking up those wins, I believe it is important to really get to know your teammates. So when you reach hard times, you know how to give feedback and talk to each other. It is just easier to go through rough times when you know your team has your back. This way you can know that it is a team failure, not just people blaming each other.


¤ Usually when an average player makes a flashy play, everyone, including the player, gets super hype. However in pro play, a pro player can make a flashy play but their face doesn’t change at all. Do you think this is due to the team and the player being expected to do flashy plays every once in a while?

I believe the big part is that we have all played thousands of games. When you make a flashy play, you probably have made a similar play in soloq or scrims. I think even though someone’s face might not change, they are still extremely happy on the inside (laughs). On TSM, I guess we try to hype each other up (laughs). Try to make each other feel good. When I made a good play against Echo Fox, Zven was like “NA Faker! NA Faker!”. I think the main reason why pro players don’t go crazy is because they have all seen it so many times. They also know that even if you made a good play, you might have not won the game off that play. Everyone is focusing on what to do next. You need to focus on getting towers or getting dragon, etc. Pro players just tend to always think of what to do next instead of thinking “Oh wow, I’m so good” (laughs).

¤ If you had to pick one play that you would rank as your best play, what would it be?

Oughh. My best play? I don’t know… I guess back when I played in Season 3, I had a Zed game against Triple A. It was a French game. I got a quadra kill. It was one of my first stage games, and it was the first game that I have ever won in LCS. I got to play my favorite champion. I’m not sure if it was my best play of all time, but it was one play that was really special to me. It was one of those moments when everything slowed down, and I know exactly what I needed to do. I managed to kill everyone.


¤ Since you have been with this roster for some time now, which player on the team has a rather weird personality when living with them?

I would probably say Mike. He is the youngest on our team and brings a breath of fresh air. The whole experience is very new to him whenever we do sponsors or photoshoots. Mike is always the one asking questions. He is like “Is it fine if I have my hands like this or?”. I think it is good for us, since he brings me back to the time when I was a new player. It is nice to have a rookie on your team instead of an old veteran that is boring like me.


¤ Would you say Mike is a bit silly? Because when we interviewed Hauntzer, he told us that he would repeat the exact same thing you have said right after.

Oh, I remember that (laughs). I don’t think Mike has a lot of silly moments. I think Mithy has a lot of silly moments. Mithy, a lot of the times, would mix up the champions if he is looking at one champion but thinking of another. Mithy would say “Oh enemy Gnar is coming!” when we have Gnar on our team. It is just a lot of fun. We would be serious going over our games and Mithy would just spaghetti. It makes for some good moments.

¤ Did Mike ever fanboy you when you guys first met? Did Mike ever go “Holy crap I’m eating with Bjergsen”?

I don’t think I felt anything like that. But, Mike did have a straight back and tried to not say anything weird when we first met. He tried to act very normal. However as time went on, Mike opened up more. For the whole time, I just tried to make him feel comfortable. Whenever I would criticize his play, I would say “It is really fine if you don’t agree with me. We can discuss over it. I’m not going to bite or be mean.” (laughs). I just felt like he was acting a little bit more mature than he actually is. I think the way you build friendships is to be how you really are.


¤ In the beginning of the season Coach Ssong said that if this TSM roster reaches its potential, it will be the best TSM NA has ever seen. Do you agree with this?

Yeah, of course. Obviously if I didn’t believe in this roster, I wouldn’t have helped build this roster. We could have kept our previous roster if we really wanted to so. I believe this roster can be better and will be better eventually. Of course, our previous roster is going to look better and people are going to compare this roster to the previous one. However, the previous roster had been playing together for over 2 years. Obviously, a roster that had been playing together for over 2 years will look better than a roster that has been only together for a month or two. Overall, I believe in our coaching staff. I believe in my teammates. Soon, I think you guys will see a strong TSM.