Home » The Next Generation: An Interview with Avant Gaming’s Violet

The Next Generation: An Interview with Avant Gaming’s Violet

The Game Haus Staff

Publish Date: February 19, 2020

This offseason, the OPL saw many of its top players and coaches get offers to go to other regions. The longstanding mid-jungle duo of Samuel “Spookz” Broadley and Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos both retired and moved onto coaching. Four out of six members of OPL’s 2019 Worlds representatives Mammoth are now participating in larger regions.

One of these players, three-time OPL worlds representative Calvin “K1ng” Truong was announced to join Cloud9 Academy as their starting AD carry. During this exciting offseason, K1ng was able to work with a promising young player looking to improve his skills. This player was Vincent “Violet” Wong, and this coaching session kick-started his entrance into the competitive League of Legends scene.

Participating in OPL color caster Jake “Spawn” Tiberi’s offseason inhouses, Violet impressed fellow players and viewers alike with his raw mechanical talent. Particularly impressive was his Ezreal, outputting maximum dps in nearly every fight. On January 20th, Avant Gaming announced that Violet would be the substitute AD carry behind Vincent “Gunkrab” Lin.

Before their week 3 match against Mammoth, it was announced that Violet would be playing his debut game. Avant Gaming defeated Mammoth in a quick, one-sided fashion, and Violet ended his debut with an impressive 5/1/7 scoreline. After the game, I asked Violet for his thoughts on his debut.

Image Courtesy of Riot Games

How were you feeling going into your first ever OPL stage game?

“I was feeling very nervous going into my first game. I’ve never had any experience playing OCS [Oceanic Challenger Series] or OPL and that resulted in me missing a lot of creeps in lane. I needed to call someone before the match to help me ease the nerves and anxiety.”

Your first introduction to many OPL fans was this offseason’s Spawn Inhouses. Was this system a good preview for how OPL would be?

“It was definitely better than Solo Queue but I wouldn’t exactly say it was a good preview for how OPL would be. This was because a lot of OPL players during the offseason were bootcamping in Korea. The inhouses allowed lesser-known players to play with the pros and see how they played in a somewhat more structured environment.”

Have you been sharing scrim time with Gunkrab? If so, what is the percentage?

“We’ll have to see whether I get the opportunity again to play on stage.”

Many Oceanic pro players have recently gotten a shot in larger regions like North America and Europe. Do you see a future where you are given the chance to join them?

“Yes, I believe with enough effort and time spent on improvement. I wish to one day share the LCS stage with FBI and especially K1ng since he taught me a lot as an AD carry.”