DIG Isles: “You get DM’d death threats by people that bet on [LCS]”

We sat down with Dignitas' support, Jonah "Isles" Rosario, to discuss his team's up-and-down split, what keeps them together, and how he deals with the pressures of pro play.

Dignitas could have come into this split feeling like the band on the Titanic, but they're leaning into their underdog status and have become plucky community favorites thanks to their scrappy style and seemingly unshakeable humorous attitude.

Esports.gg: You've locked in your second series with your win here today. How are you feeling about the series, and about the split more broadly now that you've locked in this second series?

Isles: "I think that, honestly, usually I get criticism for speaking like this — people don't like when I'm a downer after we win. But I really think we didn't... I guess we beat NRG, but NRG really beat themselves. They're so bad, it's crazy. There's a lot of stuff — nuanced midgame stuff, especially — some tendencies our team has that really need to be fixed. I was not really happy with my own performance in both games. My laning was really poor. I didn't really feel that comfortable on stage.

"It's awesome for the overall state. Right now, a lot of teams are really close, and the top three teams are all kinda ahead of the pack. This win is obviously really big for us, implications-wise, and I'm obviously really happy about that. This win was really important for standings, but it's really important that, [in] this last week we're going into, we need to hone in on some of these issues and really crack down on them. After playing today, even in the game, I didn't feel like, especially in the second one, we could lose at any point. I knew we were going to win, but it just felt so frustrating that I could see the issues we were having even in the game."

When you're speaking to these midgame issues, what do you think is the biggest problem? Is it the way you're setting up for objectives, deploying vision, and making a plan for fights? Is it forming a cohesive plan for where you want to be and what you want to do in the first place? What issues do you see that continue to be a problem for you guys?

"I think there has been some disconnect on our team's overall philosophy in midgame. When you push a wave deep, what do you want to do with it? Do you want to run back to the same lane and continue to push it deep, get vision around that area, and sustain that? Or do you want to see-saw it? You go one side, get vision, base, go to the other side to catch waves, this type of thing. Or do you want to use side timings to go mid and break the tower?

"That's something we tried to do in the second game, but it didn't happen cleanly. I feel like when you watch a Tier 1 region, LPL, LCK teams, if they get two sidelines pushing and the mid tower is half HP, it dies in one wave. They push one side wave, other side wave, all go mid, tower dies instantly, nothing happens. It just doesn't feel like it's happening cleanly. I feel like our team, philosophy-wise, that's one of the problems — what you want to do.

"When you're talking about the plan thing, that's definitely there. It's hard when you have slightly different philosophies. Or if you have a slight disconnect on what everybody wants to do individually, then it's hard to make a crazy plan. Let's say one person suggests something like, 'I wanna do this, then wanna do this.' During all this time, you're losing seconds that you could be using to do something or to come up with a plan or to execute it. I think, a lot of time, especially in our Shopify Rebellion series last week, there was just so much dead space that disallows us to push a lead from ahead or just play from an even state."

There's been a lot of praise this week from commentators and fans for Dignitas' happy-go-lucky attitude, despite being transparent that you're generally getting thrashed in scrims. What about this team has let you guys take what could have been a demoralizing start and turn it into fuel for competition and a lighthearted attitude?

"I dunno, honestly. It's really hard to... it's the first time in my career we've had us all speak English. No offense to Korean players or anything like that, but it's so much easier to get along with people who have a similar culture to you."

I'm sure that the language barrier can be a huge roadblock for building camaraderie.

"Yeah, exactly. When I point to last split, even Rich, for example, who had pretty decent English, pretty conversational and what not — but there would just be such a culture gap. When we would sit at a table to eat food, it would be the Koreans on one side eating hotpot and Kimchi and everyone that speaks English on the other side eating Western food. Just the little separations like this didn't bring our team together.

"Even if our team doesn't stay together next year, whatever happens, happens. I would still want to be friends with all these people. It feels like we actually have a genuine friendship when we spend time together in scrims.

"I'm sure people have mentioned this in other places, but we play board games all the time — every day, and everybody looks forward to doing it. Even though sometimes scrims go badly, everyone is still looking forward to spending time together, and that brings us together. I wouldn't say time is being [taken] away from our League skills or whatever."

Definitely. I think people recognize that you have to build up familiarity between team members.

"Yeah, totally. I do still think that we need to crack down on some of the issues that we've had for the entire split that haven't gotten fixed."

Well, now we have to ask, as board game lovers: what board games are you guys playing?

"We pretty much play The Resistance: Avalon and Secret Hitler exclusively. These deception, deduction games, the talking ones."

There's been a lot of discussion this week around mental health in LoL Esports. We had an interview with Sniper that gained some traction where he talks about the effects of the split on his mental health, Meech stepped down for mental health reasons, and Faker had an instance of visible distress after playing Gen.G. What are your thoughts on the pressures that you face as a player? What tools have served you well in what can be a career filled with pressures both public and competitive?

"I think it's really true that when you're a sportsperson, any type of sportsperson where you're meant to perform to a certain standard or expectation and you have the opportunity to lose, people are gonna judge you regardless. It really can be stressful. I'm sure everyone has received their fair share of playing bad on stage, then you get DM'd death threats by people that bet on the game. The public is definitely judging you for every move you make.

"I've been playing in the League scene since like 2020, I haven't been in LCS for that long or anything like that. I've been playing for a couple years, and it still definitely affects me. I'll avoid places where I can receive this negative energy or this bad feed of information and comments. I wouldn't browse Reddit or anything like that, but at the end of the day, you still have to be grateful that you play video games as your living, you know?

"Kids would kill to be able to do what I do. From my perspective, you really do have to view it as a blessing and take it one day at a time. Just be grateful for the chance that you have, the opportunity that you have. Also, just be grateful for the fans that allow this to be a real career for you."

Any words for Dignitas fans cheering you on as you head into the final week of play?

"I don't know what to say in specifics, but I really hope people support Dignitas for the whole team. How we support each other — I hope the fans support us. At the start of the year, people might have supported Dignitas for the star players we have, but now we're a real team. We're a real, five-man unit. I hope people don't watch Dignitas for one guy. I hope it's for everyone. I hope the fans can continue to support us and cheer for us."

One last question for the folks at home. What season is it?

[Laughs] "DIG Season."