Neil “Pr0lly” Hammad joined coL.LoL last week and surprised the gaming community with the depth of his midlane champion pool. Through aggressive yet tactically sound play, Hammad helped carry compLexity to victories over CLG and Vulcan. With the team having their best LCS week yet, Hammad’s addition looks to be a positive change.
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Congratulations on your first LCS appearance and win. What was your confidence level like going into your first match against veteran team CLG?
It’s just a bad habit going into a match without expecting to win; so going into CLG I knew we’d win and was ready to impress with some ziggs play :D.
You seemed really relaxed and focused during last weeks matches. What was your state of mind as you first entered the LCS studio, and how did you remain so calm?
I’ve attended three or four LANS already for League of Legends and played in front of crowds. At the LCS studio there is no live audience, so it was more like playing with my team but around some crazy lights and effects :P.
How was your initial experience meeting the team and how do you feel your first week went?
I’ve known this team for a while and felt very comfortable living with them. I feel like the first week went well, although I’m definitely not satistifed with losing. I know my team agrees with me and this mentality should help us in the future.
You were the first person in the LCS to pick Ziggs as a Mid Laner. Was this a strategic decision or was this more of an opportunity to stand out from the conventional picks?
I’ve seen people say it was a selfish pick, but they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about. Ziggs fit into our comp really well, suited the lane I was in, and dealt really well vs their comp. Honestly never thought picking ziggs would get this much attention since I frequently picked it in the amateur scene.
Playing Ziggs in the Middle Lane, what was your primary focus? Was staying alive and farming more important, or did you really want Link to get behind as much as possible?
Playing any midlane staying ahead is just the easiest goal to attain without risk so that’s just a normal midlane strategy. With the Ziggs vs Lux match up, even without chalice, I outdamage her with similar range so my focus was to pick a fight with lux as much as possible. The goal with this was to keep Link from farming so their team would lack damage in fights.
In your second match last week, you decided to play AD Jarvan in the middle lane. Is this something that you feel is more viable than people give credit to, or did you just feel that your team could use a stronger bruiser?
I’ve had a great amount of success with J4 (Jarvan) mid and believe it’s much more of a force than Ziggs if you want to talk about niche picks. The pick was to shut down mid and be able to roam, two things which I succeeded in with the pick.
Despite gaining an early advantage last week against MRN, compLexity ended up faultering down the stretch and lost the match. Was this a team composition problem or more of a coordination issue from your side?
This game was a very classic example of a team just not on the same page. There were two large team fights that happened that changed the tone of the game, and the reason they went wrong for us was because we were very out of sync.
The third game you played last week was against Vulcun. In that game, you picked Annie and were playing extremely aggressive. Are you mainly an aggressive mid player, or were you just super confident with that matchup?
Confidence and aggression are very much comorbid. They are definitely a double edged sword that needs to be fine tuned. The Annie pick fit my playstyle in lane and out, and we figured teams wouldn’t understand how to counter.
Last week you started your first professional game, earned two wins in two days, played champions not often seen in high calibre play, and were named LCS MVP of the Week. Having accomplished so much in so little time, how do you think this will affect your future play and how can you top your performance?
It’s definitely nice encouragement to see how much love I get after I’ve put so much into the game. This kind of thing will serve to just push me forward and continue to improve and impress. Staying stagnant in this game is something that’s always scared me, and it’s my main goal to keep increasing my skill cap.
Now that your first week is over, how do you plan to prepare for next week where you will be going head to head with Curse and GGU?
Same way as everybody. Practice and practice more and talk about video games and practice and keep pwning and dance then practice and go pwn. Rinse and repeat.
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