Heralded as one of the most exciting prospects of the offseason, Rudy "SkewMond" Semaan, a French-Lebanese jungler, is set to join G2 Esports in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) at 20 years old. Having recently won the EMEA Masters and peaking at 2049 LP while consistently competing for the rank-one spot in solo queue, SkewMond enters the league with high expectations, tasked with filling the shoes of historic junglers like Yike and Jankos. In this brief interview, SkewMond shares his dreams for the LEC, his goals with his new squad, and the differences between G2 Esports and his previous team.

How does it feel to join G2 and fulfill your dream of playing in the LEC?

Rudy "SkewMond" Semaan: "It feels really amazing. At first, I didn’t expect much from my offseason. And yeah, when I got the offer to join G2, it was like my absolute biggest dream, so I didn’t hesitate. Even though we lost against T1 today, it was a pretty fun experience. Playing in front of the French crowd and so many people felt really amazing.

Your first dream was to join the LEC, and now your second dream is likely to make it to Worlds. How do you envision the next steps for your career? How far do you think you can go?

SkewMond: For sure, I really want to win the LEC first. I don’t want to get too far ahead in my dreams. So, the first step will be to win Europe. It’s not going to be easy, but we will work hard and do our best. If we can get to the international stage, we'll do anything to win. Not only me, but everyone in G2 believes we can do great things in these tournaments. So, we’ll do our best. Personally, I really want to win Worlds one day, so that will be my ultimate goal in this adventure.

Everyone is comparing you to Yike, as you both followed a similar trajectory before joining G2. Now you're a rookie jungler with a lot of expectations. How do you feel about this, and do you think you’ll surpass what your predecessors have achieved?

SkewMond: That’s definitely the goal. I really don’t want to join a huge team like G2 and only win one title out of the three. I want to win everything in the LEC. It’s going to be hard, but we’ll work really hard, me and the whole team. I’ll try to maybe surpass them one day, but I don’t like comparing myself to others. I just want to do my best, and win or lose, I want to be proud of myself at the end of the day. It’ll come with winning titles, obviously, but I’ll do my best and hopefully make you guys proud.

Will we see your Nunu in the LEC? Inspired picked it at Worlds, and it performed decently. Do you think it’s possible for you to bring it into the LEC?

SkewMond: In my eyes, I think it’s completely possible. I mean, right now in 2024, I think the champ is a bit hard to pick in competitive games. But who knows, with the new objective Atakhan, maybe the champ can get stronger. So yeah, I really think it could happen. I’m not going to promise anything, but I really hope I can pick him because he was my one-trick when I played jungle, and it means a lot to me to play him on the big stage. Hopefully, one day, I’ll play Nunu.

You were very comfortable playing with Parus in BDS Academy, where you formed a dominant duo. Now, you'll be playing with Labrov, who is a very different player with different skills. How do you feel about playing with a new support, and do you think you can recreate the same synergy you had with your previous support?

SkewMond: Yeah, definitely. For those who don't really know Labrov, even though he’s played many years in the LEC, he's still very young. He has a lot to show. We've actually been practicing together for almost two weeks already, and I really think we can do great things together. Right now, we're just trying to understand each other and get on the same page. I really believe he's a great player with a lot to show on the big stage, and hopefully, we can do even better than what I did with Parus this year."