Interview: Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos on The Chiefs League of Legends Esports Club

For two months, eight of the best League of Legends teams in Oceania battled it out in the very first Oceanic Pro League which was introduced by Riot Games early this year. The Chiefs Esports Club came out of the regular season on top of the ladder with a record of 13 wins-1 loss, then proceeded to continue their domination in the semi-finals knocking out Team Immunity 3-0.

Going into the grand final The Chiefs went up against the Dire Wolves in a best of 5 series and didn’t let up, winning the Oceanic Pro League Split 1 final in three straight wins. This victory by The Chiefs has earned them a spot to represent Oceania in the International Wildcard Invitation being held in Turkey this week. They will be fighting up against other regional winners from Japan, Brazil, Latin America, Russia, and Turkey in hopes of securing a place for the Mid-Season Invitational in the USA later this year.

We had the chance to speak to the team captain of The Chiefs Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos about their win at the 2015 OPL Split 1 final, and representing Oceania at the International Wildcard Invitational.

Luke Lawrie, Stevivor: Going into the final your team only dropped the 1 game, and speaking to the 2 teams before the match players in The Chiefs definitely seemed more confident and relaxed compared to the Dire Wolves players. What were the teams feelings going into that final?

Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos: I wouldn’t say we were relaxed per say, it was more that we were confident in our ability to read our opposition. We were heading into this final having already gone 2-0 against the Dire Wolves throughout the regular split. We also took into consideration that for the majority of their players they had never played at a LAN before with such high stakes. From looking at all of that we realised that we had the upper hand, which made it in a lot of ways a lot easier to perform up to standard.

Stevivor: Obviously before the final you guys didn’t want to give away any strategies. But did the team have anything new they wanted to put into play for the final, or was it just keep playing as you have been?

Swiffer: Well we had this whole strategy surrounding our top laner where we picked smite for the top lane. Then we would have had them run around and counter the jungle, and do all this crazy stuff – basically let him off his leash and do whatever he wanted for the entire game. Except I think Dire Wolves were very good at scouting out what we were going to do. So they kind of banned out the champion that Swip3rR was going to unleash terror with. That’s what we had planned for but we couldn’t really inact it. Apart from that our strategy going into the games going into the Dire Wolves was pretty much the same as it was going into the regular split, in that they really enjoy prolonging the laning phase, and over extending for farm – stuff like that. We just picked composition, and just continuously punished them for over extending in the lanes.

Stevivor: So talking about those strategies and how you mentioned everything doesn’t always go to plan. What do you do in those situations where you realise things just aren’t working and you have to think of something else, is it drafting up new things on the fly or pushing through with what you currently have?

Swiffer: We had prepared various compositions already and depending on what they had banned it was always easier to fall back on something else that we were just as comfortable with doing. We had practiced probably 5-6 compositions leading up to this final, and you couldn’t ban out all of them because it’s just feasibly impossible. In that respect because they have a very binary type of play style so it’s very easy to setup a lot of compositions to deal with said playstyle. So yeah in that respect its relatively easy to play against the Dire Wolves. I don’t mean that to come off as arrogant or anything like that, what I’m trying to say is that they aren’t very good at adapting on the fly. So once you expose that weakness it can be easy to exploit them.

Stevivor: Yeah I guess that’s the thing right, every team has their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s your job to stand clear of those strengths and then punish their weakness.

Swiffer: Yeah definitely that’s exactly right.

Stevivor: Was there a stage at all during that final match where you knew you had it in the bag, or was it not until the nexus dropped that you were convinced you had won?

Swiffer: During that 3rd and final game I thought we had lost it because we had lost the momentum of the game about half way through it. I was saying, “I don’t think we are going to be able to draw this particular game back.” But we had 2 more games to make up the series so I wasn’t overly worried but I was slightly concerned because we are a very momentum based team. If we dropped a game I was scared that we were going to get reversed and beat. But it didn’t end up happening and we ended up winning. To be honest after we won I just felt relieved because – obviously I was excited, joyous, elated, and all these other words and feelings but mainly just profound relief. We had been in situations in finals before where we were the favourites to win, and then we ended up just losing, and so to finally be able to win was just overwhelming.

Stevivor: You’re about to leave overseas to Turkey for the International Wildcard Invitational, what type of preparation is the team going through for the Tournament? Are you familiar with the teams you’re going up against?

Swiffer: So we have a few analysts working on the different regions, and once they have sourced enough information they will bring it to us and we’ll be able to draft team compositions and strategies along with the analysts in order to best prepare ourselves for those teams. But apart from that all I really know about the teams is their names. I personally haven’t watched any of the finals from any of the regions so I don’t really know the calibre of the teams we are playing up against yet.

Stevivor: [Laughs] So there isn’t anyone you’re really worried about at the moment, its more you’re worried about all of them.

Swiffer: Well a few of the regions are getting incredibly hyped up. It’s like, “Japan is really good, Brazil is really good, Turkey is really good.” But apart from those 3 regions I think all the other ones going into it are expected to place lower than us, or as low as us. So apart from those 3 teams and what I’ve heard there’s not more that I know about the other teams.

Stevivor: There’s only one spot available to move onto the next stage at the Mid-Season Invitational. How do you feel about that, is there a lot of pressure on you to come first and that’s it, or are you quite happy getting to compete at the level where you are at the moment?

Swiffer: No I definitely want to win and go to MSI (Mid Season Invitational). The drive is still there to perform. I guess by not being favourites going into this it relieves this burden. Speaking from past experiences, going into the winter final last year, being the favourite, and then losing was just probably one of the worst feelings I’ve ever experienced in my life. Because we were casually expected to win it, and then it hurt so much more when we lost. Going into this I would assume the same kind of pressure would be on these top international teams to win. I don’t think a lot of people have placed much faith in our region, and that might make it a bit easier for us to play well.

Stevivor: The OPL Split 1 was the first of its kind in Oceania for League of Legends and split 2 is starting soon, how’s that experience been like and how do you see that changing the level of competition in this region now?

Swiffer: Even though its in its infancy the OPL is by far the best competitive experience I’ve ever had, just because its structured and allows us to play on a weekly basis means that we talk it a lot more seriously, and other teams also take it more seriously. It increases the growth of our region not just from a spectator perspective but also if you regularly against other teams and you’re constantly trying to beat each other it allows your own game to evolve. In the end makes us better internationally. It’s the best thing that could have happened for our region.

Stevivor: Just to wrap things up, you’re obviously taking your mouse and keyboard across with you to Turkey but is there anything else you’ll be packing for luck, or any food to sneak on over there to eat?

Swiffer: Our top laner and our jungler have this tradition going on now. Our top lane player has to have a can of V before he plays. So he’s smuggling over [Laughs], I don’t know how much V, but whatever they need to do to give them the edge. So they are getting extremely crafty in that respect. For me though I don’t have anything too specific, I don’t have like a lucky pair of underwear or anything like that. I’m just a normal person.

Stevivor: You’re bringing along your skill.

Swiffer: [Laughs] Yeah exactly, I’m bringing my skill.

We wish The Chiefs the best of luck at the International Wildcard Invitational. The games will be streamed live so you can follow their progress at www.twitch.tv/riotgames2