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　　Alvar “Araneae” Aleñar is the jungler for team Millenium in the European LCS.

　　

What did you think of IEM Sao Paulo and Millenium's performance there?

IEM Sao Paulo was a great event for us. It was actually really warm, like 35 degrees which is really warm because it’s about 0 degrees for us in Germany right now. That weather was a bit annoying for us, but it was still fine. We didn't know that much about our enemies, we watched some replays from them and they didn't look that strong. Their compositions didn't look as strong as the ones we are used to facing in Europe and their teamplay wasn't as strong. We weren't that confident, but I felt like if we could play on our own level we could win IEM Sao Paulo. We were probably more scared about Dignitas coming from NA or any team coming in place of them as it happened with oceloteworld. And also from Lyon Gaming, we thought they were a really strong team since they were an ametur team in NA.

　　So we felt like they could be a good challenge for us. It turned out that Lyon didn't play that well and we had to face the rest of the teams. It wasn’t the best because every single game the Brazilian crowd was against us. They were a really loud crowd, and every time they called our name they were booing us, not a single one cheering. It wasn't the best feeling to be there, but after we won the event, I had so many people from Brazil talking to me on Facebook and Twitter. We made a huge fanbase there and that’s something I really appreciate from Brazilian people.

　　

What are your thoughts on Brazilian teams? Where are they in comparison to North America or Europe?

They are really good individually. In Europe, we have really strong midlaners with Kerp as one of the stronger mid laners in Europe. I felt like some of the Brazilian midlaners were really strong, especially the CNB player, Takeshi and paiN player, Kami were on a really good level individually. Here’s what happens in every single sport, you can be one of the best players in the world, like for example in soccer,if you get stuck on Brazil, like it happened to Neymar in the past, you’re probably not going to improve anymore.

　　That’s why people from these kinds of countries are trying to move out of their country to play against the best. The main issue I believe Brazil has right now is that they are only training against teams from their own country. paiN,CNB,Seven Wars are playing against each other all the time. Probably against some other Latin American teams like Lyon too, but that’s not a big challenge. They are not training against the best teams in the world. For example in Europe, we are training against officially two of the best teams in the world as shown by the World Championship, Gambit and Fnatic. They have shown that they are probably some of the best teams in the world. So, for us, it’s a really high level that we scrim on every week, and that’s a big issue for them. The second thing that’s really different from us, is that we are playing at an offline event every week. That makes us lose the pressure at offline events. They actually have some offline events, but not as many as us. So we get a lot of offline experience where they probably lack on that a bit.

　　

What are your first impressions on Ocelote’s new team?

We've been scrimming against his team, and I know Ocelote pretty well. The team didn't have it’s full roster at IEM Sao Paulo, their starting AD Carry couldn’t get a passport so the used a substitute. Not having your starting roster is never the best performance you can put up. I believe they have individually strong online players, but I don’t know if they will do that great offline. To be honest, two of their players didn't play at they same level at IEM that they do online. Some of the players lack on offline experience.

　　

What kind of infrastructure does Millenium have in place right now in terms of coaching?

Even though you always learn from someone on the exterior, I believe that if you are intelligent enough, you realize your own mistakes. I believe that it’s a strong point Millenium has, when we point out any mistake on this team everyone realizes it. In teams I’ve played on in the past, when I point out any mistake they were a bit hard with that. They didn't want to accept mistakes. In that situation is where you live with a coach so he can be the exterior point of that conversation. But on this team, we don’t really need a coach. Even though we have one that we like a lot and believe is really intelligent, we still have separate team and coach conversations. But, we don’t really need it to be honest. There are a lot of players that don’t want to admit when they made a mistake and try to blame other people. In this case, you would need a coach to calm down that situation and make a clear point. But, on this team it’s really clear that we are all friends and we all accept our mistakes.

　　

So far in the LCS, Millenium hasn’t had the greatest record. What’s the plan moving forward?

The first weeks, I still had exams. So I couldn't focus as much on the LCS and my team had to live with it. They knew for the first weeks that I was going to suck, and I was playing really bad. Now we have a gaming house where we can train and practice a lot instead of having to try and go to the studio to train. We are still not at 100 percent, but we are getting to it. I beleive that we are getting better and better in the coming weeks.

　　

In a recent interview, you said that now that you can fully focus on LoL that you can become one of the best junglers in the world. At what point do you think you could attain this level? Do you think if Millenium went to world this year you could be the best jungler in the world?

I could for sure. If I focus completely on gaming and focus on my own gameplay I could become one of the best. One of the main differences between me and other junglers is that I’m really predictable. The most unpredictable jungler in Europe is always going to be Diamond. But the rest are really good, but also predictable. I would like to show everyone once we get to worlds that I can be one of the best.

　　

What are your thoughts on Alliance? Why are strong individual players failing as a team?

I feel like they lack some kind of leader in game. Because they are really great players individually, but not in terms of teamplay. When they were Evil Geniuses, they were a really solid lock and all understood each other. Especially when they are losing, they seem to lack in a lot of competence. So it’s going to be a mess if they keep up this way, but I believe that they will step up and become one of the best European teams for sure.

　　

What’s next for Millenium? What should fans expect in the coming weeks?

Apart from the crazy trackball, they should expect good team compositions. Different kinds of teamcomps, not like everyone else is is doing in the standard meta game. We are trying to improve on that and play another set of champions, playing the champions we like to play.

　　I would like to give a give a shoutout to all my family and my fans. Especially all the fans coming from Brazil. I would also like to give a big shoutout to Millenium for making all of this happen, and to Corsair.

　　Image Credit: Riot Games, SK Gaming, ALTERNATE