From benching to Worlds quarters, Rogue’s Comp has shown his potential over past year

October 27, 2022

by Nick Geracie

NEW YORK -- It is the evening of Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Less than one hour prior, Rogue, the final Western team competing at the 2022 League of Legends World Championship, was eliminated from the tournament.

After a walk through the lengthy labyrinth of backstage hallways at the theater, Rogue AD carry Markos "Comp" Stamkopoulos sits down in an interview room. The young Greek’s season has just come to an end, and yet the energy he has filled the small, white-walled room with is not one of sadness or dejection. There’s a particular amount of tension emanating from Comp, who can’t help but feel like he left business unfinished in Rogue’s final match of 2022.

“I just feel like we shouldn’t have gone out on this round, you know?”

At face value, Comp’s words could easily be dismissed as hopium at a world championship where the teams from the leagues of the Western major regions -- North America’s League Championship Series (LCS) and Europe’s League of Legends European Championship (LEC) -- have been largely outclassed by the teams from South Korea’s League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) and China’s League of Legends Pro League (LPL). Rogue, the only team from the LEC or the LCS to escape the Worlds 2022 group stage met their end at the hands of LPL No. 1 seed JD Gaming -- in a 3-0.

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But for those who watched the series from start to finish, especially the thousands who watched the match in person, it’s undeniable that Rogue gave JDG a run for their money at multiple points of the best-of-five series, which wasn’t as one-sided as the 3-0 score implies.

In Game 1, Rogue were able to land punches on JD Gaming, due in large part to Comp’s performance on Lucian. However, with each advantage for the LEC No. 1 seed, JDG was able to throw a counterpunch and keep the game close before taking over in the late game. Game 2 was a much more one-sided affair in favor of JDG, but Game 3 was once again close with Comp getting the better of the bot lane matchup on Kalista with Rogue support Adrian "Trymbi" Trybus on Soraka. Between Comp’s reliability as a consistent threat in an otherwise uphill battle and a phenomenal individual performance by mid laner Emil "Larssen" Larsson on LeBlanc, Rogue kept the final match of the series competitive for thirty minutes before once again succumbing to the superior consistency in execution of the LPL side.

Photo credit: Lance Skundrich / Riot Games

The bright spots of the series for Rogue were in far higher quantity than a majority of fans expected heading into the series given JD Gaming’s status as a favorite to win Worlds 2022, but Comp wasn’t surprised that they were able to exceed external expectations.

“For many people, it might not seem like this, but I think JD Gaming was the best best-of-five matchup that we could get,” Comp said. “I think our teams are very similar in the way we want to play, but I think you can still tell there’s a big difference if we talk about consistency in that matter.”

There’s a lot of truth to Comp’s comparison. Rogue and JD Gaming both have strong individual players, but they’re not looking to necessarily dominate their individual laning phases in every matchup. Both teams take the game at a methodical pace, and while the junglers from both teams boast very different styles, their roles in context of their respective team’s identity share a lot of similarities. The main difference is that JD Gaming simply does it better; for every one thing that went right for Rogue, JDG would either equalize on a cross-map play or out-execute Rogue in the war of attrition.

“I think the reason we won the LEC is because we were the best 5v5 team in the league,” Comp said. “But you can tell these guys are way more consistent on choosing their fights, being decisive and committing to plays.”

In some ways, Comp feels that he’d be less full of regret if JD Gaming had steamrolled Rogue. Instead, the silver linings of the series give him hope for what could have been if Rogue had made more of their opportunities, and by extension, regret for the fact that they could not.

“I don't even feel sad that we lost in there,” the Greek sharpshooter declared, seemingly as much to himself as in response to the question he was asked. “I don't care about the result, I care more about how it happened … We made so many stupid mistakes, and preventing those is on us.”

Comp pauses, acknowledging he’s repeating himself several times on what could have been before flashing a sheepish grin.

“Game 2 … hands down … I got f---ing gapped, OK? The moment that game finished, I said, ‘OK guys, AD gap this game; I’m sorry’... but the other games were so winnable. It feels so bad to go out like this.”

From getting benched by Vitality to reaching Worlds with Rogue

Despite an undesirable end to the 2022 season, it’s hard to contextualize Comp’s year as anything but a success. In 2021, Comp made his LEC debut with Team Vitality, but was benched after just six games for veteran mid-spring pickup Juš "Crownie" Marušič (then known as Crownshot). Comp didn’t have the best LEC debut in his first six games, but many in the LEC scene thought the young marksman wasn’t given a fair shake; he simply needed more time and that the environment at Team Vitality -- who finished in 10th place in the 2021 LEC spring split even after benching Comp -- wasn’t ideal. Still, when Rogue announced Comp would be replacing AD carry Steven “Hans sama” Liv, the move was widely considered a downgrade, emphasized by Hans sama’s phenomenal individual performance at Worlds 2021.

Instead, Comp slotted into the roster seamlessly alongside new jungler Kim "Malrang" Geun-seong, and Rogue finished the 2022 LEC spring split in first place after winning nine consecutive games to kick off the season. Rogue would have to settle for third in the LEC spring playoffs and would not win their domestic title until summer, but Comp established himself as one of the top European AD carries and was able to translate that performance to the international stage. Comp’s steadiness against superior international competition was a huge part of why Rogue were able to take matches against a struggling Top Esports and, more impressively, a surging DRX, in Group C at Worlds 2022.

“Last year, around this time, I had already been benched for like the whole year,” Comp said, reflecting on his 2021 season. “I had the mindset that if I had to grind through ERLs [European Regional Leagues] again, I knew I had the mindset and motivation to do it.

Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

“One year later, I’m playing against what could potentially be the winner of Worlds.”

Despite his regrets in the JD Gaming series, Comp can hold his head high after the 2022 season after a rough start to his LEC career with Vitality one year prior. Although he and Rogue exceeded the expectations of many throughout the year, he doesn’t think their performance was enough to silence their doubters.

“People will always find something to talk about, right?” Comp asked rhetorically. “They will say things like ‘Oh if this was Rogue last year’ or ‘If they had this player or that player, they could have maybe won those games’ -- it’s always been like this.”

Regardless of the opinions of others, Comp ended his 2022 season by getting a taste of what it was like to make mortals out of some of the strongest League of Legends esports teams on the planet to cap off a successful domestic year. Worlds 2023 is a year away, but the Rogue AD carry is already steeped in anticipation, ready to prove himself even further at his next opportunity to compete on the international stage.

“I’m not saying that I’m perfect and that I don’t need to improve, or that these were unlucky games,” Comp said of Rogue’s final appearance on the international stage in 2022. “I’m saying that we possessed the level to compete even though it looked doomed for us this year. It’s disappointing, but I just want to go next year and get revenge.”

Lead photo credit: Lance Skundrich / Riot Games