Golden Guardians’ Newbie transitions from Latin America to LCS

One of Latin America’s top support players, Leandro “Newbie” Marcos, is making his mark on North America’s League of Legends Championship Series. The former All Knights player has an impressive track record, and Newbie now plays for Golden Guardians alongside AD carry Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes.

The team pushed their way to victory on the first day of the LCS Lock In series and went 1-1 for the week. Saturday’s game against TSM displayed what each player is proficient in, whether it’s aggressive initiation or macro play. As support, Newbie’s Thresh helped his teammates carry out successful team fights, although TSM took the glory at the end. Regardless, the team show mechanical competence as they look forward to improving in 2021.

Veteran-level dive from our rookie topside for First Blood 😱#LCS #GGWIN pic.twitter.com/H1XnLHcsW1

— Golden Guardians (@GoldenGuardians) January 16, 2021

Newbie’s entrance to the Golden Guardians

Daily Esports: What has your daily routine been like with Golden Guardians? What are you doing with them that is different or new to you?

Newbie: It’s not way different than before. I think it’s pretty good to work here, in an LCS team. They do everything correct; they are very try-hard. I like to work with them.

Daily Esports: How are your positional strategies as Golden Guardian’s support compared to your previous strategies during your time at All Knights?

Newbie: In my previous team, I was a bit of a leader because there were a lot of rookie players. But here, everyone knows what to do. Like, someone’s a rookie but they know how to play a game. So I’m not like a leader here.

Daily Esports: Are you looking to eventually translate those leadership characteristics of yours to the team you’re in now, or who do you think is the leader now?

Newbie: Yeah, I think Stixxay is a good leader here. For me to be a leader here, I need to improve a lot. Also, I need to speak better because my English is not on point. So, in time it will improve. I do think that Stixxay is a good leader. He talks a lot so it really helps us.

Daily Esports: That makes sense. Going off of that, what have you learned playing alongside Stixxay since joining Golden Guardians?

Newbie: So far, I’m learning more about how to position myself during laning phase. I think this is our main goal: to be a good bot lane. So, we focus a lot during 2v2. I think we have improved a lot, so it’s looking fine now.

Daily Esports: In last night’s performance, your team completely stomped CLG. What were your initial feelings after seeing that you won your very first match in the LCS?

Newbie: I was really happy, of course. I was really happy to play competitively here in the LCS and winning is very important. Overall, we’re feeling very happy with the win. Of course, today we lost, but we’re not that sad because we feel like we played very good in the early game. We just made some bad decisions but it’s fine. We’ll improve a lot and this is what we’re working on in our scrims, so it’s looking good.

Daily Esports: As an experienced player, do you find yourself giving Niles and Iconic some pointers? What’s a piece of advice that you’d like to give to rookie or oversea players that are hoping to make it to a big region?

Newbie: Some advice is to be confident in yourself. If you have a rookie approach to it you might be a bit nervous, but just be confident in yourself and don’t hesitate. After some games, you’ll feel better. If you’re not confident, then you’ll play way worse than in a scrim.

Transitioning from LATAM to NA

Daily Esports: What is the support like for you, coming all the way from Argentina to North America? What do your previous teammates in All Knights have to say about your performance so far in NA?

Newbie: I haven’t spoken with them but of course they write to me on Twitter or Instagram to congratulate me. LATAM fans are supporting me a lot, and it’s an aim for us to go out of LATAM and play in a major region. I have support from previous teammates or previous fans, so it’s really nice to be here and I want to make them proud.

Daily Esports: You and Josedeodo are the only LATAM players to make it to NA. Do you feel some kind of competition with him as you’re both representing the same region? What would you say are the biggest in-game differences between the way LATAM teams play and the way NA teams play?

Newbie: Honestly, I don’t feel any personal competition with him. I want him to do just as well as me. We came from the same place, so I wish him the best. I think LATAM players play a bit more slow. They don’t play too aggressively or punish enough. Here, if you make a mistake then they will punish you and snowball the game. I think LATAM needs to be more aggressive; that’s the biggest difference.

Daily Esports: I’m looking forward to your growth here in the region. What’s one skill that you’d really like to work on as a player?

Newbie: As a player I want to improve my mechanics. I think I am fine with some players here, but a top support like SwordArt and CoreJJ can be way better than me, so my goal is to improve my mechanics and improve as a team.

Daily Esports: Did you feel any kind of nervousness playing against a top player like SwordArt?

Newbie: Yeah, just a bit nervous. He’s a Worlds finalist so I have to give him some respect. I don’t feel that way after today’s game because I think I could play better.

Daily Esports: And, finally, what do you think makes you more valuable than all the other supports here in the LCS?

Newbie: I have a lot of experience that can help and I have a good mindset. I’m very positive and a hard worker, so I think that can make a difference compared to other supports.