In early 2019, Johnsun was a name that only a handful of passionate fans remembered from the Tyler1 Championship Series 2017. Now in 2020, Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen is widely considered to be a top tier up-and-coming North American talent in the League of Legends Championship Series.
Rookie bot laner Johnsun impressed NA fans on a Dignitas team that failed to live up to their expectations. In the 2020 League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split, Johnsun and his Dignitas teammates missed out on the playoffs by a single game. Despite the disappointment, Johnsun’s raw mechanics impressed fans of the LCS, and the AD carry is using the disappointing finish as a learning experience going into his second ever split.
Johnsun took the time to speak to TheGamer about his beginnings in the LCS.
It was just a year and a half ago when Johnsun joined his first League of Legends organization in Team SoloMid. Playing as an trainee on TSM’s academy roster, Johnsun quickly left an impression on organizations around the region, and soon found himself with a starter role on Dignitas.
Coming to the team as compensation for trading away the young support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme, Dignitas surrounded Johnsun with experienced veteran teammates to help him garner knowledge of the professional League of Legends scene.
The 21-year-old mentioned that being able to play with veterans such as Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black, Henrik “Froggen” Hansen, and Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon “feels pretty good.”
“These players know how to play the game,” Johnsun told TheGamer. “Aphromoo is my support, right, so obviously he knows how to play the laning phase or can give me tips and tricks on what I should do and not do. He helped me learn a lot and let me focus on my individual skill.
“If I did something stupid in lane, [aphromoo] just asks me why I’m doing that, and tells me a better way. He really helps me with laning phase.”
Despite Dignitas’ slow, 0-6 start to the 2020 LCS Summer Split, aphromoo and Johnsun have found a rhythm in the bot lane together. Even against tough opponents, the veteran and the youngster consistently do well in lane, even when the game seems to be falling apart around them.
Top laner Huni left Dignitas after just one split of playing with Johnsun, but the bot laner still takes advice he learned from Huni to heart. “Huni said that I should engage whenever I can. Like, just do it, it doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about missing.”
Johnsun also shared some fun facts about his personal life with his teammates, saying how he and aphromoo talk about anime together in their free time. “He just tells me some anime I could watch, if I want to. I think he made me watch Vinland Saga, and he got me into Webtoons.”
Competition and challenge go hand in hand, and one cannot exist without the other.
The Dignitas roster has seen inconsistency since Johnsun joined; from Huni’s exit, to Jonathan “Grig” Armao’s benching, to Grig’s release, to Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham joining, to Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett’s signing – Johnsun admitted he has had a tough time adjusting to all these new faces.
“I’m just used to playing with Huni and stuff and we were pretty close, I’d say. Getting new players in my second split is kinda different. But they’re pretty great players and they’re nice so I’m looking forward to playing with them.”
It hasn’t been easy sailing for these new players, with mid laner Froggen and jungler Akaadian seemingly on different pages. Additionally, new top laner Omran “V1per” Shoura has already gotten benched in favor of Samson “Lourlo” Jackson.
After just missing out on playoffs by one game in the spring, Johnsun feels motivated to right the team’s wrongs. “Yeah there is more motivation cause I feel bad that I had some great individuals and great teammates and didn’t get to go to playoffs, cause we were off by one game, which was quite unfortunate.”
“My expectations for the team for now would be middle of the pack, because I don’t want to say we’re the best, cause we still have to rebuild synergy and whatnot.” With Riot’s recent changes to the Summer Split format, eight out of the league’s ten teams will make it to playoffs as opposed to just six. “Also, it’s a new meta, so the game is always changing. But hopefully, 6th area for playoffs, and go up from there.”
Talking about the new meta, Johnsun spoke about how he wants to improve on his experience, and learn more about the meta as it currently stands. “I feel like right now you get a power pick, like Varus, Kalista, Aphelios, and whatnot. If you don’t get those, you just kinda get like a safe champ that can scale, or you get a team-fighting champ like Miss Fortune.”
Johnsun also semi-jokingly said that given the opportunity, he’d want to be able to rework the champion Graves. “He used to be an ADC and actually a good champ, and they just messed him up and made him a jungler. It just felt nice playing Graves as an ADC; the auto attack and the ‘Q’. Now he’s just [boring].”
Speaking on his goals individually as a player, Johnsun has plenty he wants to see himself improve on before the split’s end. “Individually, I’d say improving my champ pool, cause I have less experience. Being good at specific champs is pretty helpful. And then, just being better individually as a shotcaller, being more vocal in the mid game, I’d say.”
Johnsun has been a beacon of hope for fans of the struggling Dignitas franchise. With aphromoo at his side in the bot lane, Johnsun seems to only be improving as a marksman, as well as team player.
It’s obvious how much Johnsun has grown – not only since he was an 18-year-old playing on No Clue in the Tyler1 Championship Series 2017 – but in the past year as well, since making his LCS debut. If Dignitas can continue to build around their rising star, they might just achieve the kind of results that fans have been craving for.
