“I want to experience all these high levels of play” – An Interview with GGS Deftly

ESTNN had the chance to talk to Matthew ‘Deftly’ Chen following their victory in Week Three over 100 Thieves. Deftly has been part of the Golden Guardians for the past two years and has seen recent success with the rest of the Golden Guardian squad. He has long been considered a strong North American talent that has yet to reach his full potential. Despite the slow start from Golden Guardians throughout the 2018 Campaign, the team was rebuilt with Contractz and Deftly as the main components. 2019 Summer Split has been favorable for the Guardians as they look to challenge for a second consecutive playoff appearance.

How do you feel you did against a team like 100 Thieves (0-4)? You pulled out the Draven that game as well.

Deftly: I don’t think the team overall is content with our win because it wasn’t that clean and we made mistakes leading into the mid-game. It will be something we will look at and try to fix for the upcoming weeks.

Even though you say the team is not content with the win, we still see the Golden Guardians fighting for the top spots. How do you feel about the differences from Spring Split coming into Summer?

For me in particular, it feels pretty surreal. Ever since my LCS debut, I have not had this good of a start. When we first started off it was 0-4 or 0-8 and even last split we started 0-4, so being 4-1 feels pretty good. I think we just need to focus on maintaining this momentum and hopefully keeping it up all the way to playoffs.

So far you are doing well, you even took down one of the top 3 teams in Cloud 9. Even if a game like today’s, which was against 100 Thieves, didn’t feel great do you feel like the Golden Guardians have what it takes to break into the top?

I definitely think if it is any team it will be us. I think even our win against Cloud9 wasn’t the best … but hey a win is a win. I feel that we have what it takes to be a top three team or a top two team even. As long as we keep improving and staying in a hungry mindset we can do really well.

Last split you were part of your first-ever playoffs, what did you learn? What did you feel? And how have you applied that to this split?

Being in playoffs is a whole different level of excitement, pressure, stress, anxiety … all these different emotions really come to mind and I love it. I loved every minute of playoffs. I think if you go back and look at the footage, I am always smiling. Even when we are losing I am just having a really good time and it really makes me want to make it into playoffs again. Last split, regular season was everything to me because that was all I had played in. Now that I have seen the next level of play I want to make playoffs, I want to make finals, I want to make worlds. I want to experience all these high levels of play.

Talking more about international tournaments, we have seen EU and NA take a more central stage. How do you feel about it? Do you think it’s a one-off thing for either region? Or has the west overall gotten better?

I think it is all about the way the meta has changed. It is not as focused on vision, it is much more about fighting. Looking even at the OP picks they are just so OP that they can take over the game when ahead. So I think a big reason is the meta changes but also adapting to the meta. Certain regions are quicker than others in adapting to a meta and whoever adapts faster will win. I think that is also true in-game, that the team that adapts faster will win.

Talking about adapting, you are known for the ‘cheesiest’ picks in the Heimerdinger. Do you like the metas where you can play a little bit of everything or do you prefer more traditional ADCs?

I think it is funny that people know me for Heimerdinger and Draven. I'm actually a person of habit, I like to do the same things over and over. I actually had not really played that much Heimerdinger before picking it on stage and it just all came to me randomly. *Laughs* I would rather just stick to what I know and what I have practiced.

So you are not really looking at Griffin Viper playing Teemo ADC and thinking “oh I have to try that.” It’s more sticking with the traditional?

Personally, I want someone to prove to me that this is very strong before I put time into it, rather than being on my own and thinking “oh f*** it, let’s try this”.

You have already had the chance to play against Doublelift, Zven and other high-tier western ADC players. What are some others that you would like to play against in the future?

Outside of NA?

Yes, outside of NA.

Oh, well, I think it would be really cool to play against Uzi. From what everyone says he is the best in lane and every time you play against him you learn something new. So I think it would be cool to play against him. I would also like to play against Perkz and Upset from EU; they are like the two shining ones from over there. In Korea, I think Teddy would be great to play against. I always look at his VODs, and Deft of course. They are all fantastic players and I really hope to play against them one day.

Do you have any words for fans of you and of the Golden Guardians?

Well, thank you guys for supporting us. This split has been going pretty well and I hope that we do not let you guys down. We hope to reach playoffs going really strong.

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Featured image via LoL Esports.