SEN DARKWINGS: “Be on the lookout. I think we’re gonna do pretty well this split.”

Q: You’re sporting the bright red of the Sentinels jersey now. How are you feeling about the new team?

DARKWINGS: Well, I haven’t really gotten a chance — I haven’t officially met Hambak and Rahel yet and [didn’t get the chance to] do a meeting with them online. At least Hambak seems like a really cool guy and he’s got a lot of energy. But so far… I’m feeling good. I’m very excited to play with them.

Q: Hold up, you say you didn’t get to meet Rahel?

DARKWINGS: No, no, sorry. I misspoke because I put them both together because they’re both not here yet.

Q: But did you meet Impact? Impact’s here, right?

DARKWINGS: Yeah, Impact’s here.

Q: Did Rahel and huhi coming to SEN influence your choice at all?

DARKWINGS: I think when they were talking to me, they didn’t even tell me, or they said they were still looking at options when they’re talking to me. I wanted to sign kind of regardless of my teammates. But I did hear that they were looking at Rahel and Huhi.

Q: Was the Sentinels brand a big part of it for you? Did you follow them or Tenz in Valorant at all?

DARKWINGS: Yeah, I definitely knew of Tenz. I don’t really watch Valorant at all, so I wasn’t really familiar with the scene, but I knew they were popular and it seemed like it was like a good opportunity to join them when they’re new.

Q: You had what I’d describe as a breakout year. There weren’t really any expectations for you going in, but your laning fundamentals and stuff clearly drew a lot of attention from other people in the mid pool. Where are you setting your expectations for yourself this year?

DARKWINGS: I think the main point I brought up to Goldenglue was that I wanted to be this rock, a person who brings stability in midlane. I want to continue providing that for the team, just making sure that I do [my job midlane], and making sure that we can create wins through stability.

Q: Is there a specific player you model your playstyle after?

DARKWINGS: Not specifically. I mean, I do watch a lot of players, like Chovy, he’s super good at laning, so I watch him a lot for the laning.

I plan to watch a lot more Faker, cause I feel like he brings a lot of the macro and he really understands how the game works, like those extra steps to make sure it follows how the game should happen.

Q: Do you think your controlled style — also favored by Faker and Chovy — is just how mid lane needs to be played, or just how the meta has been?

DARKWINGS: I think midlane in general is kind of that way, where if you lean too much towards one direction, it does hurt the other side a bit, because you’re in the middle of the map.

If you focus too much on laning, either if you don’t roam enough or you roam too much, you’ll fall behind. So you still need to do your job, you just need to do well enough in lane to get to the mid game parts.

Q: Let’s say if the meta changes to be a lot more explosive and coin flippy this season,  do you feel just as comfortable in that style? 

DARKWINGS: I do think the meta is changing a little bit for midlane. I do see a lot more Akali because of Gunblade, but I think that midlane as a whole is still similar in the sense.

Or even if you are playing these explosive assassins, you still need to play for yourself. The early lane is like you kind of play for yourself and like the things around you or like the things that are going on the map. And then after that, for mid game… there might be some switch ups, which also I’d have to think about.

Q: Have you discussed the game with Impact yet? He’s famous for his unparalleled game sense in NA.

DARKWINGS: A little bit, we’ve played in the mini in-houses for only like two or three days. We’ve been talking a bit about just the game in general, but I haven’t had too much time.

Q: Expectations are split for this SEN team. What are your thoughts on the team’s goals and trajectory?

DARKWINGS: I think our base skill, just from no experience at all, I’d say probably middle of the pack for us. But I feel like if we can gel well and become this kind of strong macro, good laning team, that’s pretty much all you need to be a higher-level LCS team.

Q: Do you focus on out-of-game synergy/relationships? Things seemed to improve a lot when you and Ido had time with the DSG roster last year.

DARKWINGS: I think it’s definitely a combination of everything because it’s not just one single thing that makes [a team] work really well together. I feel like I was pretty adaptable to the team environment, and me and Ido came in at the same time, right? I was kind of like, as huhi said, a breath of fresh air.

So that kind of changed the team and we were able to kind of start as a new team. I think that really helped us.

Q:  You have a shy, quiet personality, especially on broadcast. For someone named DARKWINGS, you’d expect an edgy punk who’s a little annoying. Do you plan on being more of a shit talker now that you’re on Sentinels?

DARKWINGS: I think I do want to be more — like, I don’t know if edgy is the word I want to be. I guess I just want to put myself out there more, but not in like a super… I feel like edgy is a bit negative. I guess I don’t want to be negative. I want to just be positive, but more outwardly positive.

Q: Do you have any final messages for your fans?

DARKWINGS: Just be on the lookout. I think we’re gonna do pretty well this split.

Transcription help from @sakaruii