Counter Logic Gaming wasn’t able to get back up again in week 8. They again lost both games and fell short of the playoffs. In the long losing streak, Zikz parted ways with the team.

Darshan was still proud of his team for staying positive even though they were going through a lot of difficult times during this season. He appreciated his teammates for doing their best even though there were so many changes over the season.

The CLG top laner also shared his thoughts on his responsibilities as the president of the Players Association. Knowing about the struggles a player may go through himself, he was passionate to help other players that are having trouble.

We sat down with Darshan after their loss against TSM to have a short chat.

※ Note: The interview was held when CLG still had a slim chance for the playoffs.

CLG is down to a long losing streak. What do you think is the main problem?

I think that some of the biggest issues were figuring out the drafts that work for us, and Typically our mid-game play has always been lacking. Those were the two biggest areas that loses us games.

Zikz left, and Goldman is now in his place.

Tony was my coach for longer than anyone who has been my coach; for almost four years now. It was definitely hard to hear. It’s a really sad fact, but I’m trying not to focus on that too much; I need to focus the best I can to win the remaining games since we still have a chance to go to the playoffs, even though it’s a small one.

How’s the team atmosphere right now?

After losing the games, after losing a lot, everyone’s going to be pretty sad, and not happy with the results. But I want to say that I think our practice has been getting better despite our results. Even though it has been again a very rough season, I appreciate my teammates for really doing their best to make it count. I’m proud of how everyone on the team is still holding up.

So how’s the practice going? During the scrims, do you win a lot or has it been pretty much the same?

Practice has been going better in terms of our play and results. We’ve been winning more scrims, and we’ve been winning scrims with a positive win rate against top teams in the NA LCS, so we were pretty confident going up against TSM.

It sucks that we weren’t able to show the results of our practice, but I’m still hopeful that we can still win our remain three games.

There are quite frequent patches in League of Legends. How do you deal with the patches like the recent one, 8.15?

So every patch, some has a smaller or bigger impact. With a game like League of Legends constantly changing with the patches, you just have to be on top of analyzing everything and trying new things. If you want to be the best, you have to constantly be able to adapt.

I think it’s like five different patches in one LCS split; if you’re not able to adapt, then you’re not a good player because the game is changing so much. I feel like being good at reading the patches and analyzing what’s good or bad; figuring it out is a part of being a pro player.

Do you think the new patch will be positive for your team?

We’ve been having better results in scrims for this patch so, I think it’s a positive thing. And we’ve been seeing more carry tops.

You’re the president for the NA LCS Players Association. What does the Players Association do, and what do you mainly do as the president?

The job of the players association is essentially to help improve like the livelihood, like the general being of every single player, and to assist them when they need help. There’s a guy named Hal who runs the players association. He was a lawyer and he had worked in players unions before, so he kind of understands a lot about contracts and how things should work. He’s interfacing a lot with Riot and the players to help them.

My role when I was voted on was to kind of also be another voice and ear for the players. Someone is looking out for how I can help, and how I can make everyone’s general livelihood better. How I feel so far, I think I haven’t added much impact yet. We haven’t had that many meetings; we have a big meeting coming up next week, so hopefully in that meeting, and once the constitution is formed, then we’re officially an association. Then I’ll be able to impact more.

For now, it’s fair to say that I haven’t done much. I don’t really take offense to anyone who says that, because I know that I’m going to have more impact once I actually have the ability to do that but the constitution hasn’t been set yet.

It sounds like that’s going to be a lot more responsibilities for you if that happens. How are you planning to maintain the balance of being a player and also speaking out for the players?

I think if you’re really passionate about something, you can find time, or find a way to make it work. I don’t think being the president of the Players Association is too much of an extra effort.

I’m really passionate about helping players have better lives because I know myself how important it is to have a healthy body, a healthy wrist or back, and mind. Kind of taking care of yourself not only in terms of the game but your body and mind as well. With the passion of taking care of myself that way, I thought that I could help people here. That’s why I decided to go for the role, and I’ll be able to make it work even though I need to be a pro player at the same time.

Since the Players Association is funded by Riot, it cannot become a union. Are there any plans to make it into an official union?

I think that’s something we can look into in the future to become an official union and not be funded by Riot. But I think right now, what’s important is to get immediate value out of the Players Association while we can, and prove that it is something that’s useful and worth putting more resources into. Until we do that, I don’t think that’s a question we should approach right now.

So any last comments to the fans?

I want to say thank you to the CLG fans that are still supporting us after having multiple disappointing splits, and I want to let you know even after all the losing and the bad things that have happened, I’m still not giving up, we’re still not giving up, even the chances are very low and that we’ve been losing a lot. I hope you stick with us through it.