APA hugs Blaber on stage after beating LYON on January 31st. Photo Credit: Christian Betancourt / Riot Games
“I’ll shit talk Dom, Dom will shit talk back, Nick will shit talk me, I’ll shit talk Nick back… but when we have to lock in, everyone locks in.”
The LCS is back, and with it, Cloud9’s dominance over the league is back as well. Coming into playoffs as the first seed, C9 dropped only one game in the entire Swiss Stage, in their 2-1 win vs. FlyQuest. A huge part of that success has been their one new player, Eain “APA” Stearns, a surprise addition to the team in the midlane. APA has been a tremendous fit, smoothly incorporating himself into C9’s well-oiled machine, now running better than ever.
Following their win vs. FlyQuest, Sheep Esports sat down to speak with APA hours before he was awarded his second LCS Player of the Week award this split so far; discussing his stellar performances, his fitting into C9’s culture, and his perspective on teammates and rivals alike.
C9 looks far and away like the best team in the LCS. How have you guys gotten so good so fast?
Eain “APA” Stearns: “Well, I just joined a really good team, to be completely honest with you. Yeah, C9 didn’t have insane results last year, like a team like, for example, FlyQuest had. But they were, in my opinion, the second-best team all of last year. They just literally choked. Like, they choked last year in the second split in finals with FlyQuest, and they choked in playoffs again. Which, hopefully, doesn’t happen again. I just joined a good team, and I fit in really well with everyone. Who I am as a person has been really unlocked. I can be enabled to do what I want, and what I believe in, as a person and as a player. And I feel like I can enable others, and push others forward. And even though sometimes we have a rough time in scrims, or a rough time in anything, I’m trying my best to learn what I have from previous years on Team Liquid, and just propel us forward, rather than stunt our growth. To simplify the answer, I joined a good team, but I’m also trying to push them above where they were last year.
How’s your synergy with Robert “Blaber” Huang feeling so far? Are you stylistically clicking with him?
APA: Blaber’s a very efficient jungler. He always wants to play for the extra camp, you know, of course, everybody knows him as the guy inting for scuttle crab, which is true. He’s very vocal on what he’s going to do on the game, when he’s locked in, and he’s very vocal on how he wants to push his game forward as a jungler. For example, in just last game, Game 3, after his first raptors, no more than 30 seconds later, he said “I’m gonna do this, this, this, this, I’m gonna base, and I’m gonna go to his raptors; I think I can make it in time,” and that’s literally exactly what happened. So, it’s so easy for me as a player to just go “I’m winning my lane, I’m gonna push, and I’m gonna be there for that raptor fight,” and we ended up getting a kill out of it, Sylas flash, and Sylas lost a lot of minions for it. He makes it very clear, his game plan, so if anyone is winning their lane, which to be honest, a lot of us are on average winning our lanes right now, it makes it very easy for us to play the game. Overall, he’s a very good player, he’s very efficient, always getting jungle leads, always carrying the game: I personally think Blaber’s the best jungle in the LCS. Yes, I have good synergy with him, but he’s also made it very easy for me to play with him, just ‘cause of the skill level of him as a player.
How has your relationship been so far with C9’s coaching staff, working with Nick “Inero” Smith and Christian “IWDominate” Rivera?
APA: I would say it’s very good. I trust them a lot in draft. Our culture, right now so far, has been very friendly, like, everyone’s throwing banter at each other. I’ll shit talk Dom, Dom will shit talk back, Nick will shit talk me, I’ll shit talk Nick back. It’s just very friendly, like a bantering environment, but when we have to lock in, everyone locks in. Going into our matches today, we were all locked in. The culture’s a great fit for me personally, as the person I am. The C9 culture right now is very much thriving, and it’s easy to enjoy things, honestly.
You’re an expert on psychological warfare through trash talk. What do you do when so many players mute you, as four players did at the start of Game 1? Or, does a mute mean you’re already in their heads?
APA: Well, if they mute me, can’t really do much. In solo queue right now, anytime I get players, I literally just type to them. Not in a toxic way, like all-chatting them in solo queue or whatever. But, I just try to persuade them to not mute me. For example, like, I have Saint (Kang Sung-in) on my friends list, and I was telling Saint, “don’t mute me, when we face each other next.” I don’t know if he will or won’t, but, you know, just an effort. I can’t really do much in competitive games, though. When certain people mute me, like, that’s just life.
After your C9 debut on the pick at KeSPA cup, Ziggs has been banned in literally every single game. Why do you think teams are more scared than ever of your signature pick?
APA: Well, I think it’s just the team is really good. Literally. It’s just like, if they give me Ziggs, they’re gonna lose, and they can’t get a draft advantage. Whereas in the past, you could give me Ziggs, because TL was just weak last year. You could give me Ziggs, because if we did that, we’d end up in a losing draft scenario either way, ‘cause it is a weird champion to pick. But now, I’m on a team with insane laners. Like, Thanatos (Park Seung-gyu) and Blaber are the two best players in their respective roles, and Zven (Jesper Svenningsen) and Vulcan (Philippe Laflamme) are up there. I don’t know if they’re necessarily the best, but they’re minimum top-two, top-three, in my books. So it’s hard to leave up such champs vs. me. It’s the same thing for Thanatos, for example, like Rumble is always picked or banned away from him.
It was interesting to see you lock in Neeko mid today, the only Tier 1 Neeko mid locked in so far this year. Will your other unique picks, like Aurelion Sol, or even the rare APA Kled mid, make any appearances?
APA: They can! I’m not gonna knock off anything. I don’t want to leak anything, but they can, as we go into playoffs, and as we go into best-of-fives. I love unique champs. I’m good at unique champs. Like, the Neeko game today was a good example. We picked Neeko for support, and it ended up being a good Neeko game for mid. With all the midlaners down, it was solid. So, we can see a lot more unique champs outta me, and definitely going into best of fives, you will see a lot more unique champs. We’ll just see.
Lately, you’ve been joking about hatewatching your old team, TL, and you mentioned that you and Jeong “Impact” Eon-young “weren’t the problem.” Having faced them already in a 2-0 series, what’s your diagnosis: what is the new TL’s problem?
APA: I think they, as individual players, are very good. But team-wide, they are not meshing, currently. Which makes sense, they’re an entirely new team. Of course, they had the same KeSPA Cup bootcamp we did, but I joined a team that has been together for well over a year, and multiple people have played together for years. But the only returning members on that team are Yeon (Sean Sung), Core (Jo Yong-in), and Spawn (Jake Tiberi). And Spawn’s not a player. So, it makes sense that their macro understanding is either differing, or lacking, or however you want to put it. Individually as players, they’re all good. I’m definitely hatewatching them: I know they’re probably playing soon, or now, and I’m excited to see the result.
If C9 keeps up this level of play up for the rest of playoffs, it’s possible you’ll make it to your second First Stand in a row. With a track record like yours, nearly always making internationals, are you at all already looking forward to that opportunity?
APA: Definitely not. Like, the split’s not won. We’re doing a great job, but it’s like the famous quote: “Job’s not done,” because it’s not. Just because we’re first place in regular season doesn’t mean anything. If we bomb out, lose two series in a row, everyone’s gonna think we’re complete pigs again. We’ll keep working hard, we’ll keep at it. I’m not gonna say the split’s won at all, but we have a good footing right now, and we’ll keep going from there.
If we’re to believe what your OG username, “always plan ahea” suggests, what are you planning ahead for right this instant?
APA: Uhh, just thinking that I want a DIG win. In the DIG-TL series.”
(Perhaps to APA’s dismay, DIG lost.)