Astralis Vizicsacsi: LEC return felt like “coming home”

Legendary European top laner Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss returned to the Legend of Legends European Championship for the first time since his 2019 retirement when he signed with Astralis ahead of the league’s Summer split.

Speaking with Fragster after Astralis’ win against Team BDS on June 18, the seasoned veteran talked about what it was like to return to the league, his aims for the split, and whether fans will get to see his signature champion on the Rift.

Fragster: So, first of all, congratulations on your first win back in the LEC!

Vizicsacsi: Thank you very much, it was a very big win.

Returning to the LEC

So we spoke at Worlds back in October and part of that conversation was about your desire to come back and play in the LEC. How does it feel back?

I would say yesterday [June 17, first day of the Summer split] felt a bit odd for me. I think just couldn’t settle on the stage as well as I expected. But today I kind of felt like I was coming back to home. So it felt very familiar, and with the crowd back as well, it really reminds me of the old times. So it felt really nice.

How did it feel to come up against G2 in your first match back? Was it kind of a baptism by fire?

Yeah, that was a bit of a tough matchup. But at the same time, I think it largely came down to me not feeling all that comfortable on the stage yesterday, which was much different today. And that’s why I felt I couldn’t play my game, and I felt I couldn’t help the team as much with directions and shotcalling. But in this game [June 18 versus Team BDS], I stepped up a lot more and was very vocal.

Familiar faces on Astralis

Speaking about the team, I think that has come up with many people: the last time you were with a majority of this Astralis roster, you went to Worlds. So first part to the question about that — was the roster that Astralis were building part of the reason you chose to come to the team? Or was it just a coincidence that you ended up with a lot of guys you had history with?

I think it mostly happened by coincidence. When I joined Astralis, I didn’t know they were planning to sign Xerxe, but I would have really been fine with the other roster as well [Astralis’ Spring roster, who the team changed three members of for Summer]. Of course, I didn’t know them personally so I trusted the decision of the coaching staff to make the changes. But Kobbe being there was definitely being a big thing, I grew with him and playing with him again, he’s definitely a top AD Carry. Definitely one of the best. I can’t remember a single game where he played badly so it’s very nice to play with him. I can always count on him having our back.

And do you think there is a benefit, first time back in the LEC in three years, that you’re playing with guys that you’ve played with before?

I think it’s really huge. I feel like if I have any problem, I can turn to them for help. There’s already a level of confidence in one another. There is a huge level of trust already. And that was there from the beginning. So I came into the team and I was like, Xerxe is an insanely good player, Kobbe is an insanely good player, and the rest [midlaner Dajor and support JeongHoon] I didn’t know at the time so I was like, okay I can trust them and I think they just became better than they were three years ago. It’s actually insane, and I have really high hopes for our team.

Goals for summer

That’s exactly what I was going to ask about next. Starting with you as an individual, what are you hoping to get out of your first split back?

First of all, I think realistically that we as a team should aim for playoffs and then look how it evolves afterward. I think there’s this thing, when you have a team and you’re like okay we’re going to 3-0 this week, 2-0 this week, 2-1 this week, I feel like talk like this is very result-oriented instead of focusing on the games one-by-one. It really should be about being in the present, saying okay we have this game now, we need to win this game first and the results will just come naturally if your practice is good and you play well. I think it’s always better to focus that way instead of just looking at results. Like when we say okay we want to make playoffs, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword because I feel a little pressured to then reach the goal and maybe do a bit of overstepping to try and reach it. But I think it’s very important on match days like this to focus on the matches themselves.

Thoughts on the meta

Yeah, completely get where you are coming from. Now, you didn’t completely step away from League after you retired but obviously the game is in a very different place now. Having come back, how do you feel about top lane right now?

I feel like after the durability changes, it’s very tank and teamfight oriented. At least that’s how I feel about it. Obviously it’s different in other regions, like in China they are still picking carries all the time. But watching Chinese matches is just like watching a much higher quality so like, they are executing dives that I wouldn’t even think were possible. So it’s really hard to judge what is actually the meta but I think in Europe it will be much more teamfight and tank-heavy.

Picking Poppy

So I think final question before I let you go and celebrate the win — are we going to see the classic Vizi Poppy this split?

I really hope so. It’s ready, it just needs the right opponent to come out. So I’m waiting for any team to give me that and I’ll put it off.

I love to hear it! Okay, thank you so much for talking to me today, congratulations on the win, and best of luck tomorrow.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

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