It really came out of left field that GG just wasn’t going to be a team anymore. […] Then… I don’t know. For the first part of the year, it was really hard to watch LCS. I just felt so many feelings every time I tried to watch.
Eric “Licorice” Ritchie
How did it feel to deal with the haters & doubters at the start of 2023?
I don’t know if it was when I was on FLY or GG, but there was a point when I just stopped listening to what the fans were saying. It was just, you know, not the most positive thing for my life.
2023 was really interesting because I still feel like I was playing pretty well in Spring Split. But […] up until playoffs, people were still saying that I was one of the worst tops in the league. And I was like, “No, I’m doing pretty good, I’m playing a good game.”
Then we went to playoffs, and I don’t know if I started performing better [or] if everyone else started performing worse. I don’t know what happened, but somehow I really hit my stride and then I was one of the best players in the league again. So that was really cool.
You said before that the hate from fans fueled your self-doubt, when did you realize they were wrong?
I think it was 2023, coming into spring I felt good about my play […] and I was doing weird builds, people didn’t like that, people thought I was shit. I just really didn’t put any stock in what they were saying about me anymore. I felt like I had a team that believed in me, I felt like I had coaches that believed in me, so I just stopped caring about all that and was able to just perform.
How did GG’s success feel compared to your rookie year Worlds Semifinals and LCS win with C9?
It was a totally different feeling because with Cloud9, I joined in my rookie year. I joined a team that was good, and they continued to be good. (cont)
We did really well at Worlds, and that was sick. I’m not trying to downplay that, but I feel like I joined Golden Guardians when they were 8th place? 9th place? I helped build this team, kind of from the ground up.
I worked really closely with the [GG] coaching staff, and we really built a team that could do good things in North America and internationally. Being able to succeed at that was really cool because I think ever since I joined Flyquest I had this self-doubt — “Can I build up a team around me? I know I can join a team and be a good part of that team, but can I build up a team around me?” That was really cool, to have that happen on GG, where we went to spring finals, we went to MSI and we actually did really well.
How did it feel to perform so well at MSI?
I think MSI was such a cool experience for me last year because I really felt that I was the best-performing player from NA at points in that tournament — and I don’t think that I’ve ever been able to claim that before.
It was like so cool to go to MSI and really feel like I was the best-performing player from NA and I feel like that really did something for me — just a career goal or something to be able to say that.
What did it feel like being teamless in Spring after such an amazing year with GG?
It really sucked. It really came out of left field that GG just wasn’t going to be a team anymore. That wasn’t something I expected at all going into the offseason.
The way it started, we had really big plans — we were gonna try to build a super team, that was the plan. Then things started getting kind of murky and then all of a sudden it was like “Golden Guardians is pulling out of the LCS.” I don’t know. It just wasn’t something that I even expected, so that when it happened it was just … I don’t know. I was just kind of shocked.
And it was too late for you to go anywhere else?
When GG started to get […] kind of murky about what was going on next year, they gave me the chance to talk to teams and I did turn down an offer to go somewhere else because I wanted to commit to GG. Because, going back to when they picked me up, the coaching staff believing in me was such a big part of my success — I just wanted to stay with them and help them build another team. So that was the choice I made, and I don’t know. Kind of got fucked.
How did it feel watching the LCS from the outside this split?
I really assumed going in that even though GG fell apart so late, because I did so well last year I would be able to find a team and just having them turn me down one by one was, was really, really hard.
Then…I don’t know. For the first part of the year, it was really hard to watch LCS. I just felt so many feelings every time I tried to watch. I kind of took a big break from League and tried to decide, get clear with myself that this is what I still want to do.
And make sure that if I’m going to be on break, then I want to make sure that if I’m going to come back I actually really want to be back. Cause if I’m going to take a break and not want to come back and do it anyways, then it’s just going to go poorly.
Eventually I got to the point [during the break] that I was like “I do really want to be a pro player. And hopefully I’ll be able to find a team for summer.” Cause it’s a long wait otherwise — I’m really grateful I’m here.
How did it feel for the fans to rally around you in Spring?
Honestly, I think the fan support my whole career has been really amazing. I mean, starting on Cloud9, I had fans that stuck with me through FlyQuest, which I still think is amazing *laughs*.
And the community response to me not having a team was really nice to see. Like, it felt really good to still be believed in, because it was just so strange to me how everything turned out [with GG]. It was really nice to have that [support], and I appreciate it a lot.
Going into Summer with that fan support must feel great, right?
I feel like since I got picked up by DIG, most of what I see is people saying like, “Yeah, he’s a little better than Rich.”
It’s kind of funny to me, because [in Spring, the community] was like, “I’m the GOAT, I’m the GOAT. Everyone should replace their top with me,” and then Rich gets replaced and it’s like, “yeah, he’s a slight upgrade. Won’t change anything,” and I’m like, that’s weird.
I just think people are so current. I think that not being a part of the league for a while just means that when I come back, I’ll have to prove myself again. That’s just the way it’s gonna be — I don’t think I’m gonna be given anything for free this time.
I’m gonna be a big question mark coming in. I took a split off, [so] can I do it again? Or is it gonna be a repeat of earlier? It’s gonna have to be something I earn for myself.
What are your goals at DIG?
I don’t really know what to expect with DIG. I haven’t seen anything behind the scenes — I don’t think their Spring Split was super disappointing, but I’m sure it wasn’t what they hoped to achieve. So coming in, I just want to do better.
I want to help a team be more than the sum of its parts. I think that’s really what it’s all about for me. It’s like, I want to be a positive force for the team. And I want us to just do better than we should, you know? I think that’s the biggest thing.
I think that I have so much respect for players who can take a team and build it up to greatness, and that’s exactly what I want to do at DIG. […] I want to take this team to Worlds. I’m hopeful we can do it.
I think it’s just really hard for me to be confident saying “I can do this right now.” It’s just, one split’s just a short amount of time. There’s no changes you can make, there’s nothing you can do. It’s just, you got the pieces you got, and you have to make it work.