Many will remember Origen lost in spectacular fashion to G2 Esports in the 2019 LEC spring split finals. However, Origen earned their right to compete in the matchup after decisively beating Fnatic 3-1 – an outcome G2's Mihael "mikyx" Mehle somewhat expected.

Following the loss, one of our two correspondents for the event, Adel Chouadria, sat down with Origen's jungler, Jonas "Kold" Andersen. Although he was disappointed, he was willing to participate in an interview to look back at the team's achievements, also revealing where his focus during the summer lies.

The transcript below has been very slightly edited.

Last year, you were at the finals of the EU LCS, but as an analyst rather than as a player. Even though things didn't necessarily go alright in your second time as a player, how special was it to be on stage rather than on the broadcast team?

The last four finals, I have been part of the broadcast team. It's quite different: being a player and being on stage is what drives me. That feeling you get on stage, the chills, the adrenaline rush, those moments... you can't get as an analyst. These kinds of moments is why I play the game, and it's really, really cool. I absolutely loved every moment of this weekend, even though it was quite a rollercoaster, honestly.

It's a little bittersweet to lose this badly to G2, but I think [that] when we will look back at it, we will be proud of what we accomplished this weekend.


This is Origen's first split as a new lineup with the RFRSH method, and you're getting direct feedback that everything is working out – except that G2 are super wild. That has to stand for something.

Absolutely. Right after a loss like this, it's hard to put words into what actually happened in the split. Sometimes, the disappointment is clouding some of the better thoughts about what we have accomplished. I'm definitely proud of myself and my teammates, and the general staff around Origen, because we made five new players [to one another] into a team that can compete against a team [that has] four out of five that went to Worlds. That statement in itself is something unique.

When we look back at it, we will be proud, but we will not be satisfied. I think we can still accomplish more.

It's good that there's always something more to aspire to. But let's talk about early on in the split: some things needed fine-tuning. What can you tell me on that regard?

For what people don't see: behind the scenes, we started out this split way before [it began.] We were practicing a month before it started. We were honestly killing it in practice, and we were doing really well. We were smashing most teams. We had a really good start, then we went into the LEC and went 2-4, and we were looking like a team that was super uncoordinated and didn't have good understanding of one another.

At that point, we realized we had to sit down with each other, actually follow some steps that make us play as a team. It has been quite up-and-down this split; some weeks have been very stressful and harsh with all the traveling and the constant grind of trying to get to the playoffs in the first place. Right now, we all need a little bit of time off to reflect, and I think, after we have done that, we will follow the same path that we have followed the past couple of weeks.


As far as following steps, which staff members made you realize that you needed to structure gameplay, or have some structure in general?

As a team, a lot of the things that come up are a mix of coaching things, and from the players. For example, I'm a guy who likes structure in the game, and when I don't have structure in my game and how we are playing as a team, I get more uncomfortable with how we're doing things.

We got to figure out what each of us needs in order for all of us to succeed, so we built a system that works for us. A lot of praise has to go to mithy: he brings a lot of questions in terms of macro and how we should play, [and he] gives a lot of feedback. [mithy] and the coaching staff are pushing us towards the right direction, and all of us players are juggling ideas on how we should execute things.


What other takeaways do you have from today, more on a personal standpoint?

The last couple of weeks in the split, and the series against G2 and Fnatic – the first series against G2 – I think I played at a consistently high level. I was happy with that. [In the finals,] I think I've played the worst Best-of-5 that I have ever played. I need to reflect a little bit on why that happened.

If you asked me this question [after beating Fnatic in the semifinals], I would've said that I was following a good path, constantly improving and getting better and better. [Against G2,] it was kind of a step back for me. I was not very satisfied with how I played. Usually, after a loss, I am my own biggest critic, and what matters to me the most is how I feel about my performance.

I felt completely devastated after the series not because of the way we lost, but because of the way I played. I will try to fix that for the next season and learn from it.

We would like to thank Kold once again for taking part in this interview. Origen's next game will take place in the 2019 LEC summer split, but no date is officially available. Stay tuned for more information on the matter!