Dignitas Tomo Interview after 3-0 Loss to Golden Guardians
Last week, the LCS Summer Split 2023 playoffs intensified with the Lower Bracket fighting for their chance to make the Summer Split finals but also chart their course to the League of Legends World Championship in South Korea. In the Lower Bracket, Team Dignitas looked to upset the number 2 seed Golden Guardians after Golden Guardians lost shockingly 3 to 1 to NRG. After a shocking Game 5 win, against TSM the week prior, Team Dignitas looked to keep their playoff run alive against Golden Guardians.
On the other side of the lower bracket, Team Liquid looked to keep their playoff dreams alive fighting against the cleanly swept Evil Geniuses; in the prior week, EG lost to Cloud 9 within three games. Meanwhile, Team Liquid had a strong series of matches against 100 Thieves to advance to the Lower Bracket 2nd round. If TL or EG won, they would go on to face the Winner of Golden Guardians Vs Dignitas. No matter what, each of the winning teams in the Lower Brack would have to play two games throughout the weekend in order to make it to the LCS Summer Finals.
DIG vs GG Results
In Game 1, Dignitas decided to ban out Kai’Sa and Leblanc to force an alternate mid-lane matchup. Golden Guardians chose to ban out the Tristana Ziggs combo while first picking Rell; with Rell being picked early, Golden Guardians was able to hide their jungle pick until the end to give them an advantage. With Both teams having pretty good team-fighting compositions, it was not until the Infernal Dragon was about to spawn, that we saw the first massive team fight; despite GG Huhi, being almost killed early, only GG River and DIG Jensen were killed in the skirmish.
With Gori and Licorice being stuck on the enemy’s side of the map, Dig is able to finish off Huhi and kill GG Licorice. With Dragon spawning, GG attempts to distract Dig with Rift Herald but it doesn’t work and Gori is caught out. Early on, it seems like it is DIG’s game to win but GG is able to secure the Baron and use it to push lanes for turrets. While Sieging, it seemed like DIG couldn’t decide what to protect leading to the top inhibitor turret falling and a fight breaking out., With Tomo getting caught, Golden Guardians was able to take down the turrets with Stixxay focusing on objectives and the rest of the team zoning out DIG.
In Game 2, Golden Guardians left up Tristana but chose to ban Kai’sa, Ziggs, and Rakan. On the other side, DIG chose to ban Rell, Azir, and Aphillios which was used by GG in game 1. As Golden Guardians attempts to get some vision in the bot tri bush a fight breaks out between DIG Poome and Rich vs GG Stixxay and Huhi. This fight results in Tomo getting first blood on Huhi and DIG Rich dying to Huhi.
In the first team fight mid, Jensen dies to GG Gori and both teams get close to dying. After a little scuffle between DIG and GG over top scuttle crab, a secondary fight over Rift Herald breaks out and Golden Guardians is able to secure Rift and kill DIG. With Game 2, the inability to finish off kills by DIG resulted in Golden Guardians getting ahead and securing objectives. Golden Guardians was able to secure the win with a 27 to 6 lead.
In Game 3, Dignitas faced series elimination. On the verge of elimination, Dignitas chose to go blue side to get the first pick; because of this, Golden Guardians banned out Tristana and Rakan. With Tristana banned, DIG chose to pick Kai’sa first; they would also pick up Rell Sejuani, and Azir. On the other side, Golden Guardians decided to use Ezreal and Jayce again and take K’sante.
GG Licorice is able to take down Rich underneath the top turret and Gori and River are able to catch and kill Jensen in the mid. A fight down in Bot tri bush results in DIG Pomme and GG Huhi dying. In another bot lane fight, Poome and Huhi’s lives are traded. While trying to secure Ocean Drake, DIG Santorin is able to slay the dragon but a fight breaks out. River is able to kill GG Huhi while Jensen is able to kill River. GG Licorice is able to kidnap Rich and secure the kill on Fiora.
Around Baron, DIG is able to kill GG Gori but Golden Guardians push down mid-lane and kill Poome. With GG pushing, Gori teleports to Baron River to help River catch and kill Santorin and Rich. With three down, Golden Guardians go for Baron and are able to use it to siege the turrets. With a 7k lead, Golden Guardians were looking for a final team fight to win the game. While DIG pushed mid, GG Licorice teleported behind the enemy and started to flank Dignitas and cause a massive team fight. GG Gori is able to get a Quadra Kill by killing Jensen.
After the series, we got to speak with Team Dignitas’ Marksman Tomo.
Dignitas Tomo Interview
How are you feeling after the series, despite it being a loss?
DIG Tom – It hasn’t really fully sunken in yet. Obviously, we are really disappointed. Even though we lost, the way we lost by getting 3-0, we just got rolled over. We are more capable than this but we just couldn’t show it today.
Do you think that partially has to do with the draft picks or more just an off day for someone and it wasn’t meshing well? What is your analysis of the games?
DIG Tom – I think just gameplay-wise, we didn’t play very sharp today.
Do you think if you faced Team Liquid or Evil Geniuses, do you think it would have been a different outcome?
DIG Tom – I think we can beat any team but today we weren’t able to show what we are capable of which was the biggest disappointment. As a team, I think we were better than them but we didn’t show it on stage. In the TSM series, we went to Game 5, so were starting to get on the same page.
What will you do now that it is off-season?
DIG Tom – To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it yet but we will be in New Jersey for the finals. From there, I am not too sure. I will probably do a boot camp in Korea because all of the pros are going to be there. Other than I do not have any plans.
Will you be returning to Dignitas next split?
DIG Tom – Who knows it is a very long off-season. So I think it is too early to say anything. I’m not too certain what my future holds but I will be really glad if I can stay in the LCS and keep playing.
If you want to learn more about Team Dignitas’ Marksman Tomo, you can watch the full interview down below. In the rest of the interview, we discuss how DIG Tomo got into League of Legends, time with the game, his favorite things, inspirations, and much more.
