Spotlight on Korean Challenger: Jayce with Narakyle

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

Narakyle has been making waves recently in the foreign scene. we spoke with him on his favourite champion and more.

Hi Kyle, glad to meet you, can you please introduce yourself to our readers who are unfamiliar with yourself?

Hi, I'm Narakyle and the midlaner for Virtual Throne Gaming who currently participate in the Nice Game Tv League of Legends Battle League. I'm currently streaming on afreeca tv and attending a lot of tournaments in Korea. I'm also working with GBKTV Gaming and eventually hope to join a foreign team in the NA LCS.

Recently you've been thrust into the spotlight due to your Jayce play, What do you like about Jayce?

There are so many champions in League of Legends but I like Jayce most of all because for me he is the most unique out of them all. I've never regretted my decision to play Jayce and he's currently my symbol in League of Legends

Prior to being nerfed, Jayce was considered to be a regular pick or ban throughout Season 3. During that time period, we got to see a lot of great Jayce players emerge. Which professional player was your favourite to see on Jayce?

To be honest, there were no pro players who were experts in Jayce, well Shy, Ambition, Trace played Jayce in early S3 but they didn't play him really well. They were just using the champions on poke meta with good stats, they weren't that special on Jayce.

Jayce has seen little competitively play since the series of nerfs he received at the tail end of Season 3. Is Jayce currently a viable champion in the current meta? What are some buffs you would like to see on him that would make him as strong as he was before?

Yes, if you have a good team composition, you can easily win with Jayce. The upcoming Muramana buff that makes Jayce have slightly better damage as well. He doesn't actually need a buff but I would like Riot Games to fix a major bug with him.

Currently Jayce has a Q bug where the Shock Blast doesn't blow up, causing vision to be impaired. RIot Games has acknowledged this bug, but has so far done nothing about it.

What is is the best build path and Skill order for for Jayce? What are some tricks and tips that newer players should know about when playing Jayce and playing against him? What are the more difficult match ups for Jayce in mid lane or top lane?

To be honest, there is no best item build, you go whatever you want, because Jayce has a different build depending on the way you play him. For example, you can go for a poke build, an armour penetration build, and an ad carry build.

I usually go Infinity Edge if I'm snowballing but otherwise I got Trinity Force because it gives you additonal movement speed when you auto attack. Last Whisper is the optimal item for poke oriented comps.

For a special tip, use Jayce's Hammer Form with his Hyper Charge so you can maximise damage and use the acceleration gate close to Jayce as possible, so you can make the trajectory of the shock blast very unpredictable.

I recommended top lane Jayce, mid lane Jayce is doable, but significantly harder than top lane Jayce due to the poke that mid laners can do.versus the melee of top lane. Additionally, top lane has bushes which allow Jayce to do surprise pokes against melee top laners and help him escape ganks better. Mid lane offers no such advantage.

You played for VTG, how is the amateur scene in Korea compared to North America and Europe. In NA/EU amateur teams don't generally have gaming houses or staff, how is the situation like in Korea?

In Korea, if you get into the NLB League, teams easily get sponsors because Korean E-sports is really active compared to NA and EU. Once we have gaming house we can easily practice and learn. but it depends on your ability, you will get sponsored if you have enough ability. generally you will get sponsors if you practice and play well in online tournaments first.

Team VTG provides gaming house and payment, it's really almost a pro team but it's still amateur as the team is not good enough as a team, because in Korea, becoming pro team is really tough.

So you mentioned that you'd like to come to NA to participate in the LCS. Why do you want to come to the NA LCS particularly and what would be your goals in NA?

When I was small, my parents divorced so I lived with my mother. So I was really poor and I decided on my own that I have to earn money myself when I was 15, even if I was young, I decided to make myself famous and i started streaming on afreeca.

I live in small house with my mother, and the only way I can improve her life is if I go professional in League of Legends. I'd like to pay her back everything with my own earned money. I have so many things I need to repay my mother for.

Who is your favourite NA team and your favourite NA players?

Najin Seraph was in a Korean Pro team and he moved to NA team and he is doing really well, he is my idol at the moment. Also, EG Helios's brother was also in VTG team so my favourite team would be Evil. Geniuses.

Since you mentioned that you wanted to go to NA, your English needs to be at an acceptable level for teams to consider you, what is your current level at the moment?

It's a bit difficult to quantify but I think my English is around the same level as Seraph's before he joined Counter Logic Gaming. I'm working on improving my English to the best of my ability.

Thanks for answering all these questions, I'll leave this space to you:

Thanks for having me, I'll keep continuing to do the best I can.