Interview With Team Epsilon Esport's Solo Laner - NinjaDimi

NinjaDimi is the solo laner for the top challenger cup team in EU Team Eplison Esports. With their great success and domiance in the EU challenger cup scene, we decided to get to know this potential SPL level team a bit more.
                                                                                  

Your team has had great success in the Challenger cup, what do you think personally is the reason for your great success?

NinjaDimi: I think that our dominance in the Challenger Cup came down to us being more experienced than our opposition. All of us have been playing the game for several years and it really shows. In addition, our mechanical prowess has been key throughout all of our games and helps us to pick up early leads by finding kills in 2v2 or 1v1 scenarios.

As a Solo laner, what do you think are key traits a solo laner should have?

NinjaDimi: This is a difficult one but if I had to pick three, I'd go with mechanical skill, game knowledge and confidence. These traits can make for a devastating combination because outpicking and outplaying the opposition without second guessing yourself is just so very important.

As for solo laners to possibly go against, who in EU & NA would you like to have a shot at in lane?

NinjaDimi: So far I've had the opportunity to play against all european solo laners in either scrims, ranked games or tournaments. Sadly I can't say the same about players from across the pond and given the dominance of NA teams in the Spring Finals, I'd take the chance to face off against any north american solo laner in a heartbeat.

If you could change anything about the solo lane what would you change?

NinjaDimi: The solo lane is actually in a pretty good spot right now. The nerf to heavy hammer was on point and mages can actually be played to a certain extent. The only thing that bothers me is the amount of tankyness some characters can afford to build while still dealing damage with base values. While necessary, this can make certain matchups insanely boring to play and watch.

Which team do you believe is your biggest competition in the SPL assuming you get past regulations?

NinjaDimi: I'd have to give it to Fnatic. While we managed to take games off of them in scrims every now and then, they are still an insanely strong team.

There’s a lot of unorthodox picks in the solo lane from time to time, from Xaelia’s Nemesis and Cyclone’s Ao kuang recently at lan. Do you have any unorthodox picks that you like playing and might bring to the solo lane?

NinjaDimi: I personally love Ao Kuang in the solo lane and I've also played my fair share of Nemesis solo. Unorthodox solo gods like them will keep appearing as responses to dominating picks (Nemesis into Bakasura or Ao Kuang into Bellona/no sustain gods) but they'll rarely see play outside of their "comfort zone". I've had some success with Awilix here and there and I love ADCs in the solo. Thor is also one of the gods I'd like to bring out sometime but he is just too potent in the jungle.

Good luck in the upcoming regulations, any shoutouts to end the interview?

NinjaDimi: Thank you very much! Shoutouts to Epsilon eSports for being an amazing sponsor and shoutouts to my jungler Adapting for being a tryhard!