Sneaky discusses C9 win over OpTic, lag in NA, Korea, and cosplay

Olivia Richman Published 16/06/2019

Cloud 9 is now sitting at 4-1 after giving OpTic Gaming their first loss of the LCS Summer Split.

The goal, Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi said, is to win the split. But how they get there is different in each season. Sneaky spoke with WIN.gg after the victory to discuss the win, their plans for the season, and some of his new cosplay ideas.

How did you feel about the match today?

It was pretty clean I think, overall. We didn’t have too many issues. The hardest part was bot lane.

Why is that?

We were playing into Yuumi and we had Braum, which can’t really deal with that too well. But we were able to survive. We had a really good mid-game. Picking the Ryze, getting really good fights. I think we lost just one fight around mid.

How did you feel about facing OpTic?

We weren’t entirely sure, I think. We didn’t scrim OpTic this whole time, leading up to LCS. Not during first two weeks either. So we had no judgment on how good they were. And they were 4-0 so we weren’t sure. They could be really, really good.

And they are pretty good, but I’m glad we were able to win.

What do you feel you guys could have done differently?

If anything, just knowledge of the bot lane matchup. We haven’t played Braum into Yuumi. We weren’t sure how hard that would be. But we got dragon. Nisqy was doing good mid. We had tons of good fights. So there’s not much to change.

What was the strategy behind killing Baron when you were behind early?

In general, every game, you’ll get into a Baron dance. You want to kill it, but can’t. Enemies are stopping you. The way you want to do it as a winning team is pushing them out of their jungle. Once you do that then it becomes hard for them to take Baron.

But we ended up getting three kills on them. That resulted in us getting the early Baron, which was really nice.

That really seemed to turn the game around.

It’s kind of a game ender right now. When you get it, your waves are invulnerable. You can take all the turrets. You know you’re going to get more of a lead, unless you throw.

And you went for a second Baron soon after.

You always take as many as you can. But we needed it because they had tons of wave clear. We couldn’t just walk up to the turrets. They would kill the whole wave. We needed it to win the game.

Sometimes you end up exploding after the first Baron and they can’t stop you. But OpTic is good at defending against the wave.

After making it to the semifinals in the spring, what is your goal for summer?

The goal is always going to be to win. How we get there is what changes.

What did you guys do to prepare for that goal?

We prepared by going to Korea. That’s somewhat new. We usually go before Worlds, not before splits. Korea is usually a place to practice, just because the ping is really low.

There’s just more players there. And they’re a little bit better. In theory, you can go practice in Chicago [near North American servers], but there just aren’t as many players as there are in Korea. It’s worth it.

I wouldn’t say the scrims were better there. We weren’t even playing the best teams. We played G2 leading up to MSI. That was the best scrim we got. Otherwise, we played challenger teams from Korea that were still scrimming.

Do you feel it helped?

I’ve done it so much, but it still feels good. You get to practice your mechanics on champions a lot.

I’ve had times when I had really high ping in Florida for example, and I literally could not play Lucian. It was literally unplayable. I couldn’t perform mechanics on higher pings. Other champions are similar to that. I could only play Sivir.

Going to Korea, it really helps sole laners a lot. Nisqy and Licorice.

Why will things be different for Cloud 9 this Split?

I think every split is different. We always find out stuff about ourselves. And adapt to each patch. The game is different.

For ourselves, though, there’s not too big of a change this time. I don’t feel much different day-to-day. But last split, we weren’t really looking at VODs as much as we would like to. That’s something we’re going to do this split once they’re up. We want to all look at them together to get on the same page. Look at something a team did well that we can do ourselves. Spend a little more time talking about that kind of thing.

Will you still have time for cosplay?

Cosplaying only takes one day, essentially. I usually do it on our off day, Monday. We’ll go to a studio and take some pictures.

How did you like it when your team joined you for some cosplaying?

It was just makeup, but it was still cool. They got to experience it. Svenskeren was like, “I hate this. I’m never doing it again.”

Why was that?

Probably because it took so much time.

Are you planning any new cosplays right now?

I always have one cosplay per month. Sometimes I get them out a little faster. But it’s about once a month. And I do Patreon, too, so it kinda has to be monthly. My next cosplay will be a League champion. A solo laner. A girl, of course.

Why do you usually go for female characters in your cosplays?

Honestly, their outfits are really cool. It’s not something I’d ever be able to wear in any form in my regular life. Something different.

I’m not saying I never will cosplay a dude, but that’s pretty much just pants and a shirt.

I was looking at Naruto cosplay. It was just a jacket, shirt, pants. It’s not really that interesting. I think that’s the coolest aspect cosplaying a female character.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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