Xmithie’s Description Of League Classic: “Imbalanced, Chaotic, And Fun.”

League Classic is getting closer to release, and Riot Games is hosting showmatches around the world to get fans excited about the mode. We sat down with Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero after his victory in the LCS League Classic TSM VS CLG showmatch to discuss his thoughts on the game mode, the biggest differences compared to modern League, why new players should jump into Classic, and why he stopped being a head coach.

Did you enjoy the games? How did it feel to play on stage again after such a long time?

Xmithie:

It was definitely nostalgic. It was fun, but at the same time, not exactly enjoyable as a jungler in that era.

Luca: It looked really hard to clear camps in League Classic, from what I saw. I’ve never played it myself, but a lot of people are complaining about how strong the camps were. It has been a long time since you were last on stage, and you were coaching at the time. When you play competitively, you get that adrenaline from stepping on stage, and I don’t know if that’s something players actually miss after retiring.

So, did you enjoy being back in front of the fans?

Xmithie: Honestly, it didn’t feel that different. I’m so used to being on stage that it felt pretty natural. I was much more comfortable than anxious or full of adrenaline, especially because I’ve been with my teammates, Eugene, Pobelter, Doublelift, and Darshan for such a long time. It just felt very natural to me.

Luca: Doublelift actually had a different reaction from you, because he seemed to really enjoy playing the role. You didn’t, as you said, and you got put on Skarner, which is one of your signature picks. I don’t know if you had the chance to look at the new Skarner compared to the old one, the one with the ultimate.

Xmithie: The new Skarner is definitely much more fun. You can go through walls, you can ult more than one person, and it’s not just a point-and-click ability. There’s much more utility, and a lot more ways to outplay with Skarner. There are so many combos you can do now, compared to the old version, where you basically just pressed R.

Luca: You were forced to play jungle, but there’s a lot of fun stuff in Classic.

Which role do you think is the most fun to play, and also the most broken?

Xmithie: Skarner is really broken, which is why he was probably perma-banned in pretty much every game. Neither jungler could really play him. But I think mid lane is definitely the most broken role in this meta, because you have Sion, Master Yi, Kassadin, those three champions stand out, but honestly, everything else is really broken too. So I’d definitely say mid is the favorite role.

Jungle is also really favorable for camping mid, since camps respawn every 45 seconds. There’s not really a jungle route in this meta, it’s literally just take one camp, gank mid, take one camp, and then race. It’s pretty linear.

After your retirement, did you follow the League scene for a while, or did you just stop watching everything related to League esports?

Xmithie: More recently, I started watching a lot more. Before that, I mainly watched my friends play. We’re good friends with Huhi and Impact, so I would mostly just watch Sentinels games, and that was pretty much it.

Luca: The atmosphere between how League used to be back in the day and how it is now feels quite different. It seems like something is missing, because the fan support isn’t the same and the venues aren’t as full as they used to be.

Do you think events like this, with more fun and nostalgic content, can help bring more joy to fans and more support to the game?

Xmithie: These events are really good for the game. They’re healthy because they bring back that nostalgic feeling. Especially now that League Classic is coming back, more old players are trying to get back in, and I think it’s one of the ways to bring more players back into the game.

WE GOT TSM AND CLG CHANTS

NATURE IS HEALING pic.twitter.com/RUgn77E2B8

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) July 24, 2026

Luca: So we’re focusing a lot on nostalgia for older players, but there’s another point here.

Why should new players come into League Classic? If you had to convince someone to try it, what would you say?

Xmithie: For me personally, I didn’t actually play at the very beginning of League. I didn’t play Season 1 or the start of Season 2; I came in at the end of Season 2. I also didn’t play jungle back then; I played mid and top. When this came out, I was basically only playing Lee Sin and Jarvan as jungle champions. I didn’t really play anything else, so a lot of it felt new to me.

I think that would be true for new players, too. Even though it’s a classic game, there are still a lot of new things, and a lot of old things that are even more broken now than they are today. So I think new players can definitely try it out.

And if you had to describe the game you’ve played today in three words, how would you describe it?

Imbalanced, chaotic, and fun.

Xmithie: It brings back good memories, so it’s definitely fun.

Luca: Doublelift told me that you were basically tryharding the whole game because of the rivalry between CLG and TSM.

The second one was a content game, right? Can we agree on that?

Xmithie: I think it was a content game for Doublelift, because he got caught four or five times that game. He was too focused on trying to carry on Vayne, so he tried to 1v9, but obviously, it didn’t go well for him.

Luca: You played for many years, and you also tried coaching. There’s a topic going around in the League scene right now, because a lot of pro players are becoming coaches, and it’s also starting to happen in VALORANT. You tried coaching with Immortals and then you stopped.

Why did you stop, and what are the biggest differences between being a player and being a coach?

Xmithie: The reason I stopped was a combination of a few things. At the time, I felt like I needed to do something different or decide whether I wanted to stay on that path. I was also thinking about whether I wanted to go back to school or keep coaching. And if I kept coaching, would it be consistent? Would salaries go down? Or would I just end up in a stagnant situation?

There were a lot of scenarios going through my head about what I should do, but in the end, I felt coaching wasn’t really a long-term investment for me, so I decided to stop and look for other career paths.

After playing today, do you think League was better back then, or better during the last few years?

I definitely think League is better now. It’s more balanced.

Xmithie: Back then, it required a different kind of skill. I only realized that later, because you had to conserve mana. Right now, you don’t even need blue buff anymore, because people basically have unlimited mana.