For the video version of this article, check out the link here Cloud9 saw victory over 100 Thieves during the 2024 LCS Summer Split Week 4. While their play was still shaky at times during the best-of-three, it was still good enough to close out the series 2-0. In particular Blaber played Nidalee both games and showed that he can still carry on the champion in a region where the pick is bemoaned whenever seen on-screen. We got the chance to speak with Blaber about the meta of ADCs going into the mid lane, Nidalee, carry junglers, being a veteran for C9, and Reapered’s focus on strengths of players rather than weaknesses. How are the ADCs in mid lane influencing what you do as a jungler? Because obviously it’s very prevalent and it has direct impact on you. I like that the AD champs are in meta right now because I like to play the farming jungle style. I’m happy that I’m able to play these farming junglers. They’re really strong in the meta right now too, so it’s a nice compliment to the AD mids. Right now it might be moreso that the AP junglers are strong compared to the AD mids after Tristana, eve after the nerfs she’s still pretty broken. Now people are just trying to find AD champs to play mid with the AP junglers. That’s why we’re seeing Zeri and Lucian mid, not just Tristana and Corki. You just got the win over 100 Thieves and you were playing Nidalee. Why Nidalee? It’s weird because everyone has this stigma against Nidalee in NA, even in Europe as well. So why Nidalee as a pick right now? I think Nidalee is quite strong right now, just in general. I think she has a lot of strengths as a champion. And she also clears really fast with the new AP jungle item. So I really enjoy playing her. I also had to give redemption for my 0-7 Nidalee game in week 1. So that's why I had to pick her. But I think Nidalee is just a strong champ right now. How do you feel about the whole kind of carry style meta that's going on for junglers? Like with Zyra constantly being banned or Vi and then of course you have Brand and now you're bringing back Nidalee. How do you feel as a jungler right now in this meta for carry champions? I think it's pretty balanced for who can carry right now. I think that maybe besides top lane, like there's a lot of carries, even in top lane you see Zeus playing Zeri top sometimes, but there's a lot of carry potential in all three of the carry roles right now. I think there's a lot of versatility in how you want to play. I think a lot of teams can also drop like Sejuani, Maokai, which I also think are really strong in the meta right now. So you honestly can play different styles. So changing up a bit, it seems like you're one of the big veteran guys now on Cloud9. A lot of things have changed over the past couple of years. And this is actually one of the first times as well that you've been the veteran as far as the mid jungle duo. So how has it been like being more of a veteran voice for Cloud9? It's been good for sure. I mean, I wouldn't say I'm the shot caller or anything. Like I think we all have really big voices on our team and we all just give good points and it's more like a cohesive unit. We all chime in when we think what we have to say is useful. And I think it's just gonna happen more and more that I'm gonna be the veteran, because I'm getting older. You know, I'm not 18 anymore (laughs), so I think it's gonna happen more and more often. So why is Cloud9 more coordinated now this split rather than last split? Like what do you think are the big changes as far as the team dynamic? I think like last split we had strong early games, but we were kind of lost in the midgame and we didn't really play well together. We were kind of telling each other what to do a lot. We weren't playing our own games and I think this split we've been focused a lot more on ourselves and also just in general, I think our map movements and overall play, and individual play is also improving. So now it feels much better for us to transition our early game leads into wins because we're playing out the mid to late game a lot better in my opinion. And I think just for me especially, I think I've been playing a lot better this split than last split. I think last split I was making a lot of mistakes. Ones where I was not really knowing where I should be, and also just dying too much in the late game. So I think I've definitely improved on that, but still more improvements to go and I think in general we're just playing better. So I also want to get your thoughts on Reapered as your returning coach now. Of course, he worked with them in the past for all those years. And there was one interesting thing that I thought when hearing from Licorice, he did an interview with Thorin talking about his history and whatnot and being coached under Reapered. He said something along the lines that Reapered likes to enhance a player's strengths rather than focusing on fixing their weaknesses. How do you feel about that statement? I mean, that's very true for Reapered. I think Reapered has a very distinct way of how he wants the game to be played, and not specifically for a person. He really hammers down what's right and what's wrong. I think he's also someone who adapts really well because you know, the game changes over the last 14 years. You can't play the game the same way. And he's just really smart in general. He's very good at adapting to what you need to do. And also as a coach, for me, when I started with Reaper, he knew that I was really aggressive. He knew I wanted to fight all the time and I wasn't good at playing the slow, Sejuani style when I first started. And he wanted me to lean into that [aggressive] style, play that style more, not just like, “hey, you need to learn this style”. He's like, “no, you should just play this style”. This is what you're good at. And then by getting really good at this style, it'll also help you with other styles because once you're a good player, you're just a good player, right? You can play anything. And I think he's just really smart about the game, and it's helped us a lot. _______________ Izento has been a writer for the LoL scene since Season 7, and has been playing LoL since Season 1. Follow him on Youtube for more League content. Photo courtesy of Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games For more LoL content, check out our LoL section