Within 20 minutes of yesterday’s 2023 LCS Summer Split match between NRG and Team Liquid, Summit’s Fiora had become monstrously fed. If NRG wanted even a slight chance at taking down Liquid and subsequently climbing the standings slightly, they’d have to eventually confront this raid boss head-on—one that Dhokla took complete accountability for.
Thanks to a handful of overextensions from their opponents, NRG were able to avoid Summit almost completely, letting them stare directly at a hard-fought and well-earned victory. Yet even as his teammates collectively sighed in relief that a back-and-forth 30-minute game had ended in their favor, Dhokla couldn’t shake the feeling that much of this could have been avoided.
“For me, after we won, it was like ‘what a sense of relief’ just washed all over my body,” Dhokla told Dot Esports. “At the same time, I was like ‘damn, I really messed up where we even needed to be in a position like that.’ I can’t really believe that we won, but I’m really happy we did.”
Top laner Dhokla is one of the few remaining pieces of the most recent CLG puzzle that transferred to NRG following the team’s acquisition in April, returning alongside jungler Contractz and mid laner Palafox. Just a split ago, this trio was crucial in CLG exceeding any and all expectations set among LCS players and fans alike, emerging from the regular season at the top of the standings with a synergy that the team had not previously expressed together.
Now, more than halfway into the 2023 Summer Split with qualification into the LCS Championship on the line, NRG have only four wins to their name—including one that ended the short-lived undefeated streak of the reigning champions, Cloud9. NRG appear more than willing to go for flashy plays early, but as the mid and late-games approach, the synergy between the five members seems to falter as their focus shifts from major objectives to smaller victories that impede their momentum immensely.
Dhokla attributes NRG’s current fluctuating performances to communication issues that have yet to be fully resolved by the team internally, particularly in terms of getting the team’s new bot lane ahead. While the members of NRG are willing to do early bot tower dives that could potentially result in major leads, the top laner emphasized how “almost game-losing” messing this up can be and has been for the team in recent weeks, placing high importance on this as an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
But Dhokla isn’t keen on looking that far ahead just yet. He feels these issues need to be addressed presently before NRG can even think about a playoff run—especially after they were the second team to be eliminated from the Spring Playoffs despite their success in the regular season.
“I’m not sure what our future is right now, but we really need to just get our shit together,” Dhokla admitted. “When it comes to playoffs, we’ve kind of folded. I’m concerned about ironing out our issues as best as we can before playoffs, because, in reality, no one really remembers the regular season, and you feel a lot of regret if you don’t play well in the playoffs.”
As part of the change from CLG to NRG, the team welcomed an entirely new bot lane in the form of FBI and IgNar, two seasoned LCS players with multiple accolades to their names—including visits to LCS finals and previous World Championships.
Outside of their synergy on stage, Dhokla noted that the two have meshed with the existing trio very well, acknowledging FBI’s positive energy that keeps the morale high among the members of the team that contributes to an overall “positive atmosphere” and IgNar’s shot-calling nature in scrims—which Dhokla hopes IgNar becomes more comfortable with on stage with time.
From top-five finishes in multiple LCS splits to dominating NACL seasons and even winning a split of Champions Queue, Dhokla has achieved numerous career highs throughout his half-decade-long career in the North American professional scene. But compared to his success during the Spring Split, Dhokla does not yet feel that he’s proven himself to be that same player thus far, acknowledging how little time there is left to show the rest of the LCS scene and himself that he hasn’t lost that spark—even if he feels that may be a bit cliché.
“I don’t think I’ve had the best split so far compared to last split, but personally, I just want to play better,” Dhokla said. “I haven’t shown what I can do, so I just have to level up my gameplay before playoffs, pretty much. That’s what every player is going to say, but there’s not really much to do besides that. Just play better.”
NRG will look to continue their upward climb in the 2023 LCS Summer Split later today when they face TSM, who they are currently tied with in the standings at 4-6.
