DIG Isles: “Some of these issues that I would consider growing pains are still issues, which is why it’s frustrating.”

Q: Dumb question out of the way: How are you feeling? Was that a good win?

Isles: I don’t know. I would say it was a good win, but, you know, winning always is fantastic. I’m kinda disappointed with how I felt on stage and how that came across. It was kind of obvious that I was frustrated. Usually, I’m a bit ice cold on stage games, stuff like that, but it felt pretty emotional at times. 

Q: How far do you think DIG is from the “perfect” version? How long will it take to just keep improving?

Isles: It’s just frustrating that issues can reoccur, I suppose. Every team, no matter what, has growing pains when you get together the first time. And you will not all agree on the same thing. You will not naturally be inclined to think exactly the same way.

But some of those [growing pains] are still issues, which is why it’s frustrating. And I think in the second game that we played, there were obvious examples. I have so many negative words to say about it. It’s so shameful.

The game ends up being drake 5v5s when Pantheon and Jayce are this far ahead, and we just end up 5v5ing with this Maokai and somehow finding a way to lose even when we had superior setups at times and when we had advantages. Not only was the teamfighting terrible, but the macro, the way we utilized our leads in side lanes, and the way we utilized having a global [ultimate] was just so unbelievably underwhelming.

Especially in comparison, for example, to how Flyquest played literally the game before us. In that game, their Pantheon was extremely clean; [the] enemy team can’t play on the whole map. If they get one lead, [the] enemy can’t play, and it just doesn’t feel that way for us yet.

When I look at it in review and when the team [and] coaches look at it … the coaches have really high standards for us.

Q: Sounds like you have very high standards for yourself too.

Isles: Yeah. I mean, I’ve always been very self critical, I can be. And it’s just it’s just really frustrating, I suppose, that that’s how it’s going.

I’m happy to hear that the public perception might be that we’re improving, and, like, people didn’t think much of us, so it can be natural, I suppose — low floor. But, yeah, still a long way to go, to answer your question. 

Q: Who’s the shot-caller? Is it you?

Isles: I wouldn’t say so. I think I would consider myself to be the out of game leader who’s doing this type of thing along with the coaches. I’ve given [the coaches] praise in interviews in the past, but I think they’re really great. And I really like the standards they set for us. A lot of teams have this thing where in scrims, they’ll be quiet, but on stage, everyone is shouting into their microphones. So on stage, I tend to take a bit of a back seat, but I’m extremely vocal out of game to try and present what I think is right.

So in game, solo laners and jungle will have the ability to make the right decisions. So when I say stuff is frustrating, this kind of ties into it that we’ve worked on making these right decisions in scrims. And then on stage, the right calls are not being made. 

Q: Why aren’t you the one to micro them in-game like a lot of veterans do?

Isles: I will not paint myself to be a perfect player. It’s not easy to take on that role, and I think it’s much more healthy — at least in the practice portion of competitive League — to try and work things out so they can be automatic; these things should happen naturally. But, obviously, on stage, you have to try and cover everyone’s weaknesses no matter what.

If someone doesn’t do something, you have to try and band-aid it on stage by communicating better or doing something for them, which I will definitely try to do. But like I said, our team is a huge offender of [talking] so much on stage, but not so much on scrims. So even if I do try to talk, there’s just not a lot of comm space at times. People’s bad habits can sometimes just kill whole segments of tempo and really disable you from being able to make a play that you should have been [able to make]. And good teams just don’t make that mistake. 

Q: How do you fix this before your playoffs match then?

Isles: I think the coaches — specifically Rigby — have outlined it in a way that really rings true to me. It just simply puts it to players based on the experience he’s had and it makes complete sense. In life, if you’re trying hard at something, you will be capable of being great at it. And if you try really hard and you do everything you can, you don’t end up good at something for some reason, you were just incapable, which is very rare. But [where we’re at], if everyone was trying 100%, then we’re not trying in the right areas, or people aren’t trying hard enough.

That’s the simple reality of the situation. So if you claim to have been trying, and you were genuinely [trying], then you’re not trying right. And if you weren’t trying, you need to try harder because where we are now, with the resources that we have, the responsibility that we have, and the position we’ve been blessed with is not good enough. And I know — personally — I’ll be taking it as seriously as I can. I hope the same for all my teammates. But if that doesn’t come out in results, that’s the reason why we lost. 

I also think that the LTA doesn’t have fantastic teams. It’s definitely a top heavy league. I think Flyquest is far and away the most competent team based on their results, what they showed at Worlds. They have fantastic moments, and they are a great team when they’re at their ceiling, but every team is prone to falter. We’ve seen that before. They lost to C9. Today, they looked great, but maybe next week, they won’t. And the teams below Flyquest and below C9 are even worse. Sometimes, TL just loses randomly. Sometimes, Flyquest just drops the game to SR. 

The standard that you have to set for yourself has to be the best. And what is being shown in LTA right now, the inconsistency that teams have and this inability to sometimes create consistent results in matchups that people understand really well is just the reason why if everyone just put their entire life into League, you would see something different, I believe. 

Q: Why do you think pros don’t stream more while the league dies? Wouldn’t it build fandom? Is it just too distracting from competition?

Isles: Distracting from competitive, I can see. Just to frame [streaming] personally, I wake up at 9. I have to Uber to the office and I play scrims. [Scrims] can be really emotional. [I’m] pouring my heart out there often. And it’s really frustrating when you notice the results, but that’s the gist. I will usually get home between 7 and 9 [PM]. So that’s already 11 hours gone from my day.

I’m married, so usually I like to spend at least 1 or 2 hours doing something with my wife. We’ve gotten into F1 recently. Been watching the Netflix documentary, I’m a big fan of that. But, that’s something I really look forward to every day. But to stream as well, I have to cut out my maximum focus practice, which I can be spending to work on stuff that has come up in scrims.

Let’s say my map awareness isn’t good or something, I really just wanna focus on that in solo queue. I can’t do that 100% while streaming. 

Q: If you’re no mic, no cam, do you think it still affects you? 

Isles: Absolutely. When [you] have people watch you, even if you do no mic, no cam, no personality, stuff like this, then it ties into the other thing you said: will you really appeal to viewers this way effectively, long term? Will you actually build something off no cam, no mic streaming, and giving it all to practice? It’s kind of hard to believe — at least in my opinion.

Q: There’s an argument that at least it would do *something*.

Isles: I will never deny that streaming does something, especially on [a] macro scale. If it were up to me and I was a team owner, I would mandate streaming hours. Definitely. And I’ve even talked to people when I’ve done contracts in the past to ask them if they can employ streaming incentives or mandates just to [get people to do] this stuff. But when it’s not there, I don’t see immediate gain.

The only immediate gain I can see is by practicing at my best. And like I said, I’m married and when I get home at 8PM, I have to then shower, do whatever, do chores, this type of thing, then I wanna spend the few hours I have practicing based on what I’ve learned, champs I wanna try, anything. [Let’s say] two hours.

It’ll be 10PM then. Then I will sleep at 12, [spend] one or two hours with my wife. There’s also only one off day for this schedule — scrim five days a week, one match day, one off day. You don’t get two, so there’s just not a lot of time to sacrifice. Also, one thing I don’t do anymore than I used to is go to the gym. So that would also be [another] hour gone, potentially. I can’t even do that. 

If I saw incentives from other sources, I suppose, I would love to be the person that streams. Every time I get content requests, I don’t mind doing them. Genuinely, I really like giving back to fans, and I understand that League is a fan driven sport and the industry is entirely powered by that. Whenever someone requests something with me on the content side, I will always do it no matter what. I’ve never ever declined something like that. 

It’s funny because I was talking [about it on] the analyst desk: people don’t give me that opportunity sometimes. I’ve only done one stage interview ever. One Pros podcast, and that’s it. That’s pretty much [all of my] content requests directly from Riot. I just wish people would ask more of me because I’m always happy to do stuff like that.