Cloud9 made several major changes to its League of Legends division ahead of the 2022 LCS Summer Split. The biggest change was moving Fudge back to the top lane after an unsuccessful split in mid. Following the first week of competition in the league, the Australian player spoke about going back to his roots.
In an interview with Inven Global, the 20-year-old explained that after being assigned to another position for over half a year, he has lost some of his mechanical ability. “I definitely think I am not at the level of matchup knowledge that I had in 2021, strictly because I haven’t been playing the matchups that often,” he said.
He also underlined that in the past, he was going for more scale-oriented champions and was avoiding aggressive plays in the laning phase, which he echoed in a recent interview with Dot Esports.
The player is adjusting to the top lane again, but despite dropping off in skill to a certain degree, he still thinks he’s in a good place at the moment. “I think I’m still better than the other top laners,” he said while adding that “everyone makes a lot of individual mistakes.”
Nevertheless, Fudge is confident that his level of play will be much higher when the playoffs come around. “I think that I will constantly get better and improve faster than the other top laners,” he said.
Fudge has taken over Summit’s role, who had an aggressive playstyle but also struggled with enemy ganks and synergizing with his team. Despite some of his downsides, though, Fudge looks up to his former teammate. “Summit is one of the best mechanical players I’ve ever seen, and that’s something I’ve been trying to work on,” he said. “He’s sort of the model of how I’d want to be in terms of mechanics while also still being strategical and keeping the good, consistent parts of me.”
Cloud9 kicked off the 2022 LCS Summer Split regular season with a disappointing 0-3 record, but they have had to play the first week with a number of obstacles. Fudge had to compete remotely after testing positive for COVID-19 and the team were forced to use substitutes in the bot lane. The full starting roster should make their debut on Saturday, June 25 against Dignitas.
