LYON Inspired on the Worlds stage: “I don’t dream, because I’ve never been in a Worlds final”

I wanted to discuss the final you had against TL. What do you think happened there, and has the team drawn the right conclusions from it?

I think we got the right conclusions. We just didn’t perform well on the day, and I think their drafts were smarter than in the final before that, when they played us in Split 2. They finally put their best players on champions with some agency, and small mistakes decided the series. I don’t think we actually played that badly — some situations got unlucky, in some we made small mistakes. It was a close one.

Watching that series, I felt Team Liquid have always been a very good macro team but less sharp in micro and in the small decisions inside teamfights. Did that change this time?

I think it’s the opposite. I think their macro is not that good — their mechanics are what’s keeping them alive. They’re just really good mechanically. As I said, the biggest adjustment they made was picking way better champions for their top laner, who I think is their best player, so he could actually have agency in the game. Their game plan was to not really do much, just show up at teamfights and play better than us — and that’s what their players are really good at. Josedeodo’s biggest strength is his mechanics; in the games we played, he made sure he didn’t fall behind. He just farmed, got strong, showed up in teamfights and played well there. That’s the strength of that team: in an even game, they have the mechanics to win the fight.

You’ve been regarded as the only real deal in the jungle in the LCS for years. Josedeodo beat you in that final. Spawn told me he’s the best player in the West right now, not just the best jungler. What do you think of him?

Funny statement, the best player in the West? I think he did fine — I don’t think he did anything special or anything unexpected. Honestly, I think their top laner played really well in the whole series; they also picked him carry champions like Ambessa, Camille and Jax, and those were their three wins. In the game they lost he was playing Gragas, so he couldn’t have impact. When he was creating leads 1v1, it was a bit hard for us to play. And yes, Jose definitely plays Lee Sin and Qiyana well in skirmishes.

You said with Caedrel that the issue wasn’t so much what went wrong for you as the other teams progressing. What about LYON — do you feel you haven’t progressed that much since MSI?

I don’t know. I think the other teams had way more missing for them than we did. Our biggest issue was always consistency — we tend to have off games, especially in the solo lanes. If Saint or Dhokla has an off game, it’s just hard for the whole team to play. So what we’ve been working on most is getting a good matchup understanding, knowing which champions we actually want to play, laning well so we don’t fall behind, and then playing well as a team.

Facing Eastern teams at Worlds, their solo lanes are usually very good and very consistent. Is that something you’re a bit scared of?

It’s always like that when you go to Worlds — you’re a little bit scared the game might explode before ten minutes, before you even get the chance to play. But my teammates are improving a lot, everyone’s working hard, and hopefully we manage to match them.

How has it been going since the bootcamp started? Do you feel you still have a chance like you seemed to at MSI?

It started well and it’s going well. We definitely have a chance — but every team at this tournament will say that, and it always comes down to who performs better on the day. Even the team that finishes last probably felt before the tournament that they had a good chance, because there are just no weak teams here. Someone always has to lose. We’ve got to make sure we perform on the day, no matter how the scrims are going, because every team is capable of beating us.

Did MSI feel different — did it feel more possible then?

No, same. Always the same. We never really feel, as LYON, that we’re playing and can’t win scrims — we’re always fine in scrims. But then you go on stage and you just have to make sure you don’t underperform on the day.

Is it about pressure a bit?

Not even pressure. When you play against a good player, a small mistake can turn into bigger mistakes. It’s not that you’re pressured — you go for something you thought might be good in the moment, it ends up being bad, and the enemy doesn’t make a mistake back. It’s hard to come back from that. When you play the best teams you have to keep focus a lot, because if you sleep for one minute, they might make a play it’s very hard to recover from.

You face TSW tomorrow, a team you played at MSI. SofM told me they’re a real danger for any team in the world in a best-of-one. What do you think of them?

I agree. They’re definitely capable of beating any team in the world, and in best-of-ones it’s easy to make an upset. Their jungler is their best player and they really play around him, making sure he has good opportunities on the map. Their midlaner’s laning phase isn’t great — he likes champions that can impact the map rather than lane bullies. So we need to be ready for that, not give them too many openings, and play a standard game; I think we should be able to beat them. But as SofM said, I agree — they’re capable of beating anyone, especially with how aggressive they play.

You’ve told me before that you never really dreamt of winning Worlds. Does the Worlds stage still feel different from other stages?

It doesn’t feel different, and I don’t dream, because I’ve never been in a Worlds final. Once I get to a Worlds final I’d dream about it. I never really think about it that way before going to Worlds. Right now I focus on beating Team Secret Whales, then win or lose I focus on the next game — and if we somehow make semis, then I’ll start thinking about winning Worlds. Right now that’s my dream, and then my dream will be to beat the next team we face.

Do you have an overall goal for this tournament?

The goal is to not underperform. If we lose because the enemy team is better than us, I’m always fine with that — if they do things we weren’t expecting, or they just beat us because they’re better, that’s fine. But losing because of silly mistakes we’ve already talked about in practice, and we still make them on stage — that’s very disappointing.

You don’t have the ambition of beating a good Eastern team?

Of course I have. I’m not saying I don’t want to do that — but right now we’re playing Team Secret Whales. When we play another team, I’ll focus on that.

You’ve come so close against those Eastern teams so many times — Gen.G, HLE more recently. Do you see a pattern in how you lost, or were they very different?

The BLG one was a bit weird, the draft we did — and Gen.G as well. I feel like we just weren’t ready for how they drafted; they picked Smolder into Yone in game five and we were adapting on the fly. And against HLE, it came down to us wanting to break out the Kalista-Renata combo, and we got punished because we didn’t expect the Blitzcrank the second they locked it in. In the three game fives people talk about, I really think the enemy teams had good draft approaches — it was kind of smart what they did.

Is there something to learn from that — will you come more prepared for a game five now?

Maybe, but it’s not just up to me. I don’t think it was jungle situations deciding those games. Both the BLG and Gen.G series were a lot about the mid lane — the fact they got those mid matchups in game five. And how we approached game five with our bot lane draft was something we did on the fly and it didn’t work out. So yeah, it’s hard.

What can we wish you at this event?

Wish us to beat Team Secret Whales, then wish us to beat the next opponent we get. Personally, I just want to play well. I think we will play well, and we’ll see how it goes.

Rapid Fire Questions

A rapid-fire round to close out — yes/no answers, with optional context.

Best player in history after Faker? → Chovy.

Most underrated League player? → Thinking about someone who’s at Worlds right now — maybe Creme.

Fiddlesticks or Nunu? → Nunu.

Are you the best jungler in the West right now? → Yes.

Which league is the best, LCK or LPL? → LCK.

Best player you’ve ever faced in the jungle? → SofM.

Best roster in LoL history? → DAMWON — the one that won Worlds with ShowMaker and Nuguri.

The hardest loss of your career? → The reverse sweep in my first LEC final.

Is the meta in a good state right now? → Yeah, the meta is nice. I think shutdowns should be nerfed a bit, because you can be owning the game for 20 minutes, make one mistake, give up shutdowns and the game is back to even.

Does draft matter more than individual skill at the highest level? → If you consider two teams being really good, then draft matters more.

The champion you like playing the most? → Ambessa, Lucian, Sylas — those three.

Would you consider this Worlds a success if you make semis? → I don’t really like to think about success result-wise. If we play well, it’ll be a success. If we play badly and get owned by a lot of teams, that won’t be a success.