Esport – League of Legends – Targamas: “The party is over, we’re back”
“How do you judge this return to the Karmine Corp: as a return to square one or a continuity, after a year and a half in the LEC (the European…
Esport – League of Legends – Targamas: “The party is over, we’re back”
“How do you judge this return to the Karmine Corp: as a return to square one or a continuity, after a year and a half in the LEC (the European elite on League of Legendsa step above the LFL where he plays this summer)?
Raphael “Targamas” Crabbe: A bit of both. It’s always a little disappointing to “go down” in your career. That said, if it’s not an increase compared to last year, I’m in a better situation than this winter. I’d rather be here today than tenth in the LEC. So the trajectory for this year is up, but I can only be disappointed compared to 2022. I thought I had won my place in the LEC and in two months everything is lost, there is this feeling of having to do everything again. But I’m glad it’s with the Karmine. For me it was unthinkable to redo this route elsewhere. Rebuilding my reputation here is important.
It is intact here, after your year 2021 (an LFL title, two European Masters).
It’s true, but when the rumors started to arise, there were a bit of two camps among the fans: those very happy to see me back and those more skeptical. There was this risk of breaking the legacy we left after the season two years ago. It exists but it is not important to me. I have too much confidence in our abilities.
Have you had any other offers?
No, and I didn’t specifically search. If I play in ERL (the system of national leagues), it is necessarily for Karmine. I wanted a known, stable environment, after Excel. Now there has been movement at the support position in LEC and it was a bit disappointing to see these changes without being considered. Like I said, I thought I had done the needful. But a bad patch and everything collapses.
Do you find that a bit unfair?
No, not unfair. I also have my share of responsibility. At Excel, I was not blameless, I know that. That said, it was more my decision not to continue with them. They kinda twisted the narrative around a miscommunication but actually I went to them after the LEC winter split saying I didn’t feel good, not able to play to my full potential. I tried to find solutions but it’s easier to change a single player rather than those who didn’t ask for anything. Then, there were some internal adventures, which are not necessary, but sportingly it is not unfair. I’m more annoyed by what happened after, the narrations. I didn’t really understand why some people didn’t try to come and talk to me. We put you in a box and ciao “.
We come back to this famous “criminal record” (a reputation), which you have already mentioned and which can stick negatively to a player?
(laughter) A little yes, but over the years I tell myself that some are not worth it. What’s the point of playing for a team that doesn’t care about you. You do a bad split but your trajectory is good and no one comes to talk to you? It’s weird. They are probably the ones who will come to see me if we win the LFL and the EMEA Masters. Finally I don’t prefer to think about it, I’m happy to work with people who trust me, who believe in me in good and bad times.
“We are also aware of our duty to perform here. For the fans and for us: I won the LEC last year, it’s unthinkable to come back to the LFL for not being the best. »
Raphael “Targamas” Crabbe
This KCorp looks a lot like the one from 2021 (four players in common with the summer split from two years ago), you actively participated in this by coming but pushing for Cinkrof’s return as well.I was aware of their problems and I think I bring a point of view that can help. The objective remains to win everything and put the LFL back at the top of Europe after the last EMEA Masters (smile)… The party is over, we’re back. We are also aware of our duty to perform here. For the fans and for us: I won the LEC last year, it’s unthinkable to come back to the LFL for not being the best.
Is playing in the LEC still a goal for you?
The end goal remains to compete in the Worlds, the MSI… I had two very different experiences in the LEC during the last year and a half. One at G2 where I did everything in twelve months, the other at Excel where I did nothing. Three weeks of competition and it was over, the two extremes. You have to find the right project, the one in which you can project yourself. I was talking about it with Saken: it’s so important for me to work every day with the idea of being able to go further. Sometimes you’re in a team, you understand that you can’t aim too high and it’s hard to be motivated. I need to feel that there is a way to win. As long as I can see victory, I think I have no trouble giving it my all. But life is not made of straight lines, there are harder times.
All the same, we could say that with this title in the LEC last year and the fact of having played the Worlds, so hard to win as a European, this is no longer your reason to play as much as possible. high level.
It’s true, now what happened after this title at G2, seeing my reputation affected, it’s quite hard to accept. Some say that I was in the right place at the right time, with Caps and Jankos who are used to winning. Personally, I don’t care, people like to rewrite history and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. But I don’t want to be seen as a “roller coaster” player, going up and down. I want to stay on top for years. You can have harder times but keep a reputation intact like Mikyx, Hylissang. I want to get there.
And then Worlds is an unfinished moment for me. One victory, five defeats, we don’t come out of chickens… I lived the experience but there is so much better to do. As a player, you base your confidence on training, even if it’s not as revealing as an official match. Before the Worlds, we played a lot of scrims and it was going well. We had positive scores against everyone except DRX and Top Esports. Your expectations are based on these results so you have hope, you don’t tell yourself that it’s out of reach, on the contrary. There is this thing about me: I know what I am capable of, that there is a way to succeed, so there is no reason to give up or consider this goal as too distant.
One player has changed compared to 2021 on the KCorp side: your partner on the botlane, Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert, a rookie at this level (16 years old). How do you judge it?
We’ve been talking together for quite some time. It’s a great profile, young… An adc who reaches the rank n°1 of the online ranking and remains very high, it means that the potential is there. For now, I’m teaching him a bit about esports, how it works in this environment (smile). I want to help her as much as possible. But actually he handles himself really well, I’m surprised how naturally confident he is. From his first official matches, he umed, played his game.
After that remains a child who leaves home for the first time (laughter). He brings a fresh side to the team, he integrated very quickly when we all already knew each other more or less. In the game, things are going well, we have the same vision of things. He wants to play aggressive and I like that. I have a bit of this reputation as a player who doesn’t know how to evolve in lane and it weighs on me a bit, I know I can be good at it and I want to prove it.
The team as a whole is already running well?
I’ve been telling myself from the start that if it worked in 2021, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work today.The first two matches were clean and that’s what we needed. Here we go again. »
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