After a win against Clutch Gaming in the third week of the NA LCS, Cloud9’s Jungler Svenskeren sat and talked with Esports Heaven about the weekend, the priority difference in Cloud9 over TSM, the stale jungle meta, and facing off against Xmithie again.

Editor's Note: This interview was transcribed from video due to quality.

Albert: Hi Guys, this is Albert with Esports Heaven, sitting and talking with Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen from Cloud9, previously on TSM and SK Gaming. He just came out from a somewhat close win against Clutch Gaming after having a 10-15k gold lead. Dennis, How does it feel to play a game like that?

Svenskeren: I wouldn’t really say it was a close game because they couldn’t really leave their base. The moment they would leave their base we would basically win the game. It’s just really frustrating to play because they had so much waveclear and so much zone control that whenever we would go and try to siege their base, we had to make such good use of our barons in order to just get all the inhibitors. We always had to deal with Gangplank’s barrels and Gangplank’s ultimate, Varus’s zone control and ultimate, so when they have champions like that the game is going to get dragged out.

Albert: Agreed, you had to have a couple of great engages to win. You actually had a couple of really cool and slick engages where you would slide past all of their crowd control and stun their key members. How do you think that through to get the perfect yet flashy play on champions that usually aren’t so, such as Sejuani?

Svenskeren: I really never felt much danger in this game because we were so far ahead, and I think no one on our team felt any real danger because we were that far ahead. That is why Smoothie was able to flank and get some great engages out during the game. That is why I was able to slide past Taric whenever he tried to catch me out. I know they wouldn’t be able to kill me so I could play with a lot of confidence.

Albert: Speaking of seeing a lot of Sejuani beforehand, the meta is being formulated and becoming somewhat stale. You see endless amounts of Jarvan IV, Sejuani, Zac, and a sprinkle of Kha’Zix but not too much of it. What champions do you wish were meta that you could pull out right now?

Svenskeren: I guess the meta is getting kind of boring because of all the tanks. I think it would be more fun if Nidalee and Lee Sin were more viable, you know, where you have more outplay potential. I’m not sure if it is actually the meta or if it is just like NA teams that like to drag out the games and play for late. In Korea, you see a lot more of the Kha’Zix and Rengar being played. So I do wonder if it is just the NA teams not playing it, because they obviously are viable, otherwise Korean teams wouldn’t be playing it. But I guess NA teams just want to play the safe option where if you fall behind early you can still play to out-scale if they have like an assassin jungler.

Albert: Looking at the weekend ahead, you are playing against a bit of the old Immortals and TSM roster in Team Liquid, where you face off against Xmithie, the last time you played against him was in Boston, and your previous teammate Doublelift, whom earlier, had some kind words about you and your current performance. How do you think that game is going to go, where two of the current top teams face off against each other?

Svenskeren: Going up against Team Liquid is going to be super exciting because they are really good. We scrim them a lot as well, because we haven’t played them yet. They have strong players in every single role so it is going to be so exciting. Xmithie is pretty good, we played in Boston and it was super close. In terms of jungle, he kind of outperformed me, so I can kind of like get revenge this time.

Albert: Hopefully you can go and claim that belt back from him. If you beat Xmithie this weekend, do you think you are the number one Jungler right now?

Svenskeren: I don’t really know who is the number one jungler. It really depends on the team, I think my team plays super well with playing aggressive and the team looks super good. As a result, me in the jungle, I look good as well. It just comes down to a lot of team play.

Albert: Speaking about that, on Cloud9, you are playing a lot more cohesively, a lot more synergy there, you are saying that the team playing together a lot better makes you look a lot better. Jensen said yesterday in an interview with DBLTap that TSM kind of held you back, and now you can play with Cloud9 differently. Today I spoke to Doublelift about it, and he said it was not as much about TSM holding you back but rather a shift in priorities; before, you did not have much priority. It was more that everyone told you in the jungle what to do instead of you having priority in the jungle. You previously stated that you liked the different environment in Cloud9, it is a lot more chill, a lot more relaxed. What in-game for you really changed the way you play, “can I move in, can I invade,” how does that work for you?

Svenskeren: I think in TSM it was more lane focused, so I was always second priority like not the first priority. In Cloud9 it is a lot more, I can choose to play more forward or say whatever play I want to go for. So jungling is kind of first priority in Cloud9 whereas in TSM it was like 2nd priority where I would just listen to the lanes and look to help the lanes whenever it was asked, so gank a lane whenever anyone ever asked for it. On C9 it is more about what I want to do.

Albert: You’re saying that C9 is fantastic, especially when It comes to jungle priority. You’ve been on a myriad of top teams: you’ve led SK to the top, TSM to the top, now you are with C9, at the top. Hopefully, you will keep that performance going well. Do you think that you are able to keep that top level, keep the performance into the end of the season where you get retribution and get that trophy on a new team? Is it in that reach for you?

Svenskeren: I think obviously we can make the finals and probably win it if you look at all the teams right now, but it is going to be super hard because TSM should be super strong, TL will be super strong, and maybe 100Thieves look pretty good, so obviously I will be confident and say we are going to win but it is definitely going to be hard getting there.

Albert: Hopefully you’ll be able to be in Miami, which was just announced. Last thing, if you have anything to tell to your fans, the C9 fans, any viewers out there.

Svenskeren: Thank you for cheering for me and following me and I hope you guys are going to be cheering for me and Cloud9 for the rest of the split.

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Image courtesy of LoLesports Flickr.