Sights on Spring: Xmithie

Looking back on 7 seasons of League of Legends, very few pro players remain from the olden days of this now global esports scene. The first World Championship took place in 2011 and the very thought of a structured NALCS remained a pipe dream until its debut in 2013. For Jake "Xmithie" Puchero, this rapidly growing industry would coincide with the entirety of his adult life.

"My family and I actually moved to America from the Philippines when I was 16 years old," Xmithie tells us, thinking back on how his career began. "I've been a gamer all my life, and when I moved here, playing free-to-play games was just a natural thing. I ended up picking up League of Legends in 2011 and that was that."

While shy, soft-spoken, and quiet are typical descriptors used to describe Xmithie, he didn't agree with such. And rightfully so. He'd answer any question thrown at him with such a calm, calculated vibrato; a description different from the 'camera-shy' accusations I'd get when asking others about their impressions of him.



"I'm actually not camera-shy, I don't mind all the cameras and pictures that happen around me," he says. "It's just been so long I don't really care about it anymore. It's more like an 'eh it always happens' kind of thing."

That sort of demeanor reflects a man of experience, and Xmithie, now 26--the typical age for retirement in this scene--comes in as one of the more seasoned professionals in the league. While most of the spotlight shines on his career chapter as Jungler for Counter Logic Gaming, incoming fans will never know he's been a part of legacy teams like XDG and Vulcun in the early years of League of Legends.

"It's funny, because everything is so different now from when I started in League of Legends," Xmithie says, reminiscing about the past. "People maybe won't remember, but I was on APictureofAGoose in 2011, Team Fear in 2012, and I was even relegated with XDG in 2014. But now it's different, there's no relegation, and teams like Liquid, Optic, TSM, and the others will always be around to cheer on. Everything is always changing."

While experience goes a long way in anything one can do, it's the inbound talent--the young blood--that keeps everyone on their toes. For Xmithie, being the flashiest jungler in the League was never a top priority. Being an older player, especially one with a seemingly more reserved play style, keeping up with others that get away with raw mechanical skill over the course of 7 years requires one to be "just super competitive and always striving to be at the top mentally."

"It's super boring if you don't think this way," he says.

And with the 2018 season on the horizon, and plenty of younger and more aggressive Jungler players attached to the other franchises, Xmithie doesn't plan to change his playstyle. "It's normal for rookies or newcomers to be more aggressive and take higher risks because that's what solo queue is about." he says, thinking about the competition. "And I understand because you have to have that mindset to maybe get noticed."

Xmithie continues, "But in actuality, everyone knows you can't really become consistent with that mindset. Especially as you age and become more mature in the way you look at the game. The more you age, I find the more passive others think you become. But really older players just become more understanding of what needs to be done and take more calculated approaches."



For most of his career, Xmithie had the allure of being under-rated by most of the public because of this calculated mindset. But the man's play ages like wine. The older Xmithie gets, the better his performance in regards to what he brings to the table for his team.

The last 3 years for him involved 2 NALCS titles and 3 Worlds appearances. And although his aggressive teammates shadow over him, being a role player for the team is pivotal in getting the wins you need. "For me, the success of the team is the most important thing, and while people are entitled to their opinions of me, I don't find myself under-rated anymore."

He continues, thinking about his current role on a Team Liquid roster loaded with veteran talent, "On this roster I don't really have to play an aggressive role on the team. With Impact who is an actual World Champion and Doublelift who is fairly outspoken, it's a roster where I don't really have to be head front at all or tell anyone what to do. I can definitely take a back seat and just do what I need to do. And well, we've all been around for so long, we know each other's play styles which is nice."

A Loaded Liquid

Now, Xmithie returns for season 8 with a roster of players he's teamed with before. At least 3 of his 4 Liquid teammates are familiar faces. He's had a long stint with Doublelift on CLG, where they won an NALCS Championship title together, and then he helped IMT, along with Pobelter and Olleh, go to Worlds in 2017.

"It's interesting to be teamed up with people I already know, especially Peter (Doublelift)," Xmithie tells us. But just because you're coming back with teammates you're already acquainted with, doesn't mean the synergy and strategy comes built in.

He continues, "In actuality, even though we've teamed together before, even for 5 years or whatever, the meta constantly shifts. It can be a top/jungler meta one patch, and be a botlane focused meta another patch. You're constantly having to develop your synergy, so while there's some advantage to having the same teammates, we're always having to develop synergy so we'll just have to see during the season."

Team Liquid face off against TSM on Saturday to open the season. Hopefully the team's synergy develops right on time!

	Xmithie League of Legends