Back after several months away from the European professional circuit, Nihat "Innaxe" Aliev looks back on his integration into the Solary 2024 roaster as a botlaner.

Hi Innaxe, thanks for being here with us. First of all, how does it feel to be back in the league after being « on a break »?

" (laugh) On a break... »

Obviously, I’m really happy to play again, it was really annoying not being able to play for a split, but you know I took the time to find a new hobby, I played a lot of League of Legends, spent time with my dad, my family, my friends."

"So, I had a good “break” from league, even if I was still spamming solo Q when I could, and when I was back, I just realized how much I need to play, how much I need to compete, it’s my life so I need to do it."

Were you confident about making your comeback?

"Yeah, I had high rank, I was still on the same level, maybe a bit shaky for the first official game ‘cause I haven’t played official games for like 5 or 6 months, even for the first scrims. But once I played two or three games that was fine, I may not be at my peak level so far, but I’m getting there so, it’s good."

How do you adapt to the new meta, and do you like it so far?

"I think the botlane meta is pretty nice overall, at the moment it's more Ezreal and Karma that are OP. I don't know why they've done that, but they are to be nerfed in the next patch, so until then we'll have to ban, or at least pick or ban for Karma."

"It’s kind of the same champion, but you have some fun stuff like senna lanes, maybe karma adc even though it’s banned, but this situation suits me, and I can play champions that I like, Kalista or Varus for example."

On a more general note, how do you communicate within the team?

"It’s hard to say because we don’t have a single shotcaller, jungle makes early game plans, then midlane, toplane, well, I won’t say for toplane because toplane is toplaner (laugh) we don’t really go there."

"For midlane and botlane, Myrtus our support doesn’t speak that much you know, it’s not his style, but I kinda call everything, what we do with the wave, what I need for jungle, and the midlane do it for him."

"From that, Eckas just called where he's gonna play, what he wants to do, Grubs, Drakes, etc. So the early game is just jungle directing with the lanes, mid game is like overall gestion, mainly Eckas and Decay, Krize sometimes as well if he wants to pick for a fight and stuff so, yeah kinda everyone."

Speaking about Myrtus, how does it feel to play with a rookie?

"I like the way he plays, he is skilled, and he is really good at the game, obviously, he’s young so he needs to learn some things like how to use his practice time properly, and not waste it."

"But apart from that, he learns fast, he cares about the game, he wants to win, he is not toxic at all, it’s nice to play with him and the vibe the entire team has with him is good."

You’re not new to LFL, and it’s not your first LFL days, but you’ve played with different teams. How does it feel to play for Solary who had such a strong community?

"During my career, I played for Gamers Origins, GameWard, Vitality and now Solary, the first two have smaller communities compared to Vitality and Solary."

"Now there is also a difference between the last 2, Vitality fans are a strong community, but Solary fans are on a whole new level, honestly, when we lost, I was really surprised by their reaction, I didn’t expect angry voices of course, but I didn’t expect the public to continue to cheer us on."

"So it hurts even more to lose, especially when we have such committed and considerate fans beside us, I like them very much, they support us enormously, I can hear them at any time in the crowd even through my headphones. They also gave my family a very warm welcome, it was the first time they match me, so I was really happy but also very frustrated by our defeat."

"I felt bad because we lost and I couldn’t tell them anything except to apologize, they deserve better, it pisses me off, but this is life, and we’re all going to improve"

To finish a little return in the past, in 2022 you performed two Pentakills with Sivir, do you want to see her back in the meta?

"Ahah, even if Sivir is not the funniest champion, it’s quite simple to make pentakills with her, however, she is not my favorite champion, I would still prefer to see Kaisa and/ or Xayah in the meta, or even Vayne."

"I also like Aphelios, but I think that Kaisa and Xayah will always be my favorites, having several penta on Sivir is always nice, but it is not as extraordinary. It’s like Katarina on botlane"

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.