Santorin was annoyed, evident both physically and in his tone. Professionally, this year hasn’t been too kind to the multi-time LCS finalist, and a loss in his first game of the Summer Split on June 14 certainly wasn’t making him feel any better.
But he couldn’t help but joke and crack a smile through the frustration. One game wasn’t going to determine the trajectory of Dignitas’ performance for the remainder of the split, and in that he found optimism.
“I’ve been really, really motivated, and just having a fresh start was something I was looking forward to,” Santorin told Dot Esports. “That’s why I’m pretty upset right now, it was pretty much a stomp. You’ve just gotta learn your lessons and move on.”
Following two years with FlyQuest and another two years with Team Liquid, Santorin sought to write the next chapter of his tenured LCS career with Dignitas, an organization that had completely revamped its roster heading into the 2023 season. Headlining the roster was not only Santorin, but reigning LCS champion Jensen, former MAD Lions top laner Armut, and fellow-tenured LCS star IgNar, shaping a well-rounded team that, to many fans, looked like a promising contender.
Those expectations quickly proved to be too lofty, though. Loss after loss, the members of Dignitas made room to showcase their strengths individually. But when it came to coming together as a cohesive unit, they were outperformed by every other team in the LCS—resulting in multiple mini-split roster changes and a 10th-place Spring Split finish for the team.
“It was a hard transition [for me onto Dignitas],” Santorin said. “I have been on bad teams in the past, I just think I’ve been on a lot of good teams in a row. So I was kinda getting used to winning, going to playoffs, doing all of these things. When I realized I can’t even make playoffs anymore, that was really hard for me.”
Yet Santorin continues to be optimistic about what’s to come, acknowledging there’s simply no time nor reason to dwell for too long on the opening loss to Immortals—especially with the shortened schedule of the Summer Split. With each week now featuring three games rather than two, he said that not only will there be much less time to practice, but that even fitting extra scrims into the schedule will be difficult, meaning each opportunity to learn needs to be fruitful.
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Alongside Santorin in the summer iteration of the Dignitas roster is Jensen once more, though he’s now accompanied by top laner Rich, as well as support Diamond who returns to a long-standing duo lane with Tomo. Santorin has high hopes for his new teammates, who he already feels fit into the roster very well. But he said it likely will take some time for the team to synergize completely as positive results can only come from how much the team learns from each experience.
“Obviously winning the split is the ideal, that’s what we’re all striving for, but you also have to be realistic with how much time you have as a team, how much you can practice,” Santorin said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t win the split, but after the game today, you’ve gotta humble yourself a little bit and just take it one step at a time.”
Even with his cautious optimism about what’s to come, Santorin feels nostalgic about the time he was once widely referred to as an LCS great—something he doesn’t want to remain in his past. Thus, for him, the remainder of the Summer Split is not only going to be spent working alongside his newly-constructed team to prevent a sequel of the spring but individually striving to meet the expectations he has set for himself as a player.
“I definitely want to prove that I’m one of the best junglers in the league again,” Santorin said. “I kinda feel like I dropped the ball in spring—and that motivated me to do better. We’re not just some tenth-place team, and with that comes trying to help my teammates as much as possible.”
But Dignitas have quite a ways to go to reach those expectations set by Santorin. The team has fallen victim to yet another gloomy 0-2 start following losses to both Immortals and Cloud9, forcing the team to stare at an upwards climb only made steeper by the shortened schedule of the split.
This may not be the “fresh start” Santorin was hoping for, but he and the rest of Dignitas will have ample opportunity to turn their luck around starting today with a match against Evil Geniuses at 6pm CT. Whether Dignitas win or lose, Santorin’s optimism toward the future is more than likely to continue shining through.
