Zeph Reveals His Roster and His Vision for France at the ENC

How were you contacted? Did you hesitate?

This year it must have been between three coaches, I think. I got the message from Yellowstar and I told him let's go. It's an extra tournament in terms of experience for my future years, it's just a good thing. It's a head coach position, which isn't something I've done recently — it's been four years since LDLC. But it's a short tournament, no pressure.

Will there be an assistant coach for France?

From what I understand, no assistant coach is being sent to the ENC, but you can have people online who help. I've already had a few applications — I haven't decided yet whether I'll work with someone. If someone wants to help with scouting and save time, why not. But in terms of preparing match objectives, I think that'll be something to do on the moment with the team. Given the pace of the tournament, that's how I see it.

No substitutes in the squad — why?

At the time of this interview, the substitutes haven't been decided yet.

But from what I understand, the tournament format doesn't allow replacements during the competition.

So no need for subs.

How did the ADC choice between Caliste and Hans Sama happen?

I know Caliste — he works with me in my team. In the end, the choice between Caliste and Hans was really very close.

But for example, seeing Skewmond with Hans is something we already know from G2. Seeing Skewmond with Caliste — we haven't seen that yet, and we want to. In the idea of building for future years, I think it could be interesting to see that.

But overall, it's just my personal preference.

Caliste told me about a potential botlane with Hans sama, where they would swap ADC and support roles. Why didn't it happen?

For the duo to work, they need to be able to switch roles in-game. But with the quests, you can't select your role — it's pre-selected in the lobby. So that makes it pretty difficult.

Do you think it could have been a good idea otherwise?

Yeah, why not. Quite a bit of champion flexibility, but the players would have had to be ok with it.

On the support side, Stend just came back down from the LEC. Why Zoelys?

It's the preference of the ADCs. Both Hans and Caliste were leaning more towards Zoelys.

He's an excellent player — he'll definitely be back in the LEC, honestly. The choice between all the players was quite close, it was just the one I preferred.

Adam potentially won't be playing in a pro team until the ENC. Doesn't that worry you?

The future isn't decided — there's still the Summer Split, maybe Adam will find a team, I hope so. But in the top lane, it's still the least stacked role in France I think. There are quite a few top laners, but many haven't been explored on the competitive scene. And Adam is the only real candidate who already has competitive experience at the highest level. And there are big drafting advantages — you can lock certain champions, make slightly exotic drafts. I won't necessarily be used to doing that, so maybe I'll adapt poorly to it. But having the possibility to use Adam that way is always an open door.

And Nuc, who is a bit caught in the crossfire of a team that isn't working — his individual form in that context doesn't worry you?

Not at all — it's so easy to change your showing when you're better surrounded. When I look at their team (Shifters), I get the impression they're stuck in a hole and can't get out. But two wins in a row and they're back. Mentally, it's just that in every game you feel like they're winning then losing — it's often the same story. Very hard to handle mentally. But I think they know how to win. In the LEC, they challenge certain teams. Their drafts are interesting sometimes, they're not bad — they just have different priorities. Which makes them a bit harder to read, but also gives the other teams a lot of what they want.

To answer the question: I'm not worried at all. The ENC and the LEC are going to be completely different tournaments, with different teams.

I have no concern about his individual level, unless he no longer wants to play LoL — which I don't see happening. For Nuc, Adam and Zoelys, this is a huge opportunity to prove themselves against the best players in the world.

How do you see the role of Caliste and Skewmond in this team?

If Skewmond and Caliste lead the games well, it should be easy for the others to follow. Especially in a meta where you can always play jungle-bot — adapting should be straightforward. I don't think Adam, Nuc and Zoelys will need to take a lot of responsibilities in the games. They'll do their job. I expect Skewmond to take part of the shotcalling alongside Caliste and for the games to be played that way.

Were the choices difficult to make? Did you make them alone?

I didn't make them alone. I already had a list in the back of my mind in case I was selected. But I spoke with the manager (Yellowstar) — he told me his preferences, gave me his information on the players, and we arrived at this conclusion together. We had pretty much the same idea anyway, so it wasn't really a surprise.

How do you approach this competition? Very seriously, or a bit more relaxed?

The goal is to win. I think France is very competitive in LoL.

There are other strong regions — Turkey, Spain — but it'll depend on each nation's choices. A lot of players have dual nationality, which will make certain teams stronger or weaker depending on decisions. France is very stacked. For me, we're aiming for the top. And every time you enter a tournament, the goal is to win.

South Korea and China will be the big favourites. How confident are you facing them?

It'll depend on the format, which we don't fully know yet. Even if they have a lot of players, they can only pick five and can't take three players from the same team. They can be beaten, even if their rosters should be good. China might be a bit weaker — there are a lot of Korean players in the LPL, which makes them more attackable. South Korea is the favourite, but as we've seen in recent international events, they can be beaten.

Any nations outside of China and South Korea that worry you?

I would have said Turkey at first. But I just found out Naak Nako won't be on their team. So... maybe it's not as strong as I thought. I thought Turkey would be stacked, but it's not as stacked as that. If Turkey takes Broken Blade, Germany becomes weaker. In fact there's no really complete roster apart from Turkey. England doesn't exist. Spain is fine. Sweden, maybe. Czech Republic, there's something there. Denmark — Caps, Wunder...

If Turkey chooses Broken Blade, he's an excellent leader, a very good player for a team — I can understand it. And if you take Broken Blade, there's no Naak Nako in the tournament, which weakens Germany and strengthens Turkey's position. From Turkey's point of view, that might be a smart strategic choice.

But back to France: if our players perform properly, we are very well placed.

We have two world class players and three players who still have a bit to prove on the international stage — but Adam and Nuc have already competed at that level.

The only real question is Zoelys against Asia. But given his playstyle, I don't have much concern. That also played into the decision — ok, you'll play against Europe, but at some point you have to play against Asia, and when you think about who will be best against them, it weighed in the balance.

The ultra-condensed format — 8 days, play-in, group stage, playoffs — does that scare you?

No. In such a short tournament, having a good meta read is very important. If you identify the right champions, you have an instant advantage over the other teams. And given that the tournament is played right after Worlds — whether it's G2 or KC, we'll be there — we'll have been used to playing those matches and we'll have a good understanding of the meta. From that alone I'm quite confident. If the players add their own contributions on top of that, even better.

Is it complicated to project this far ahead (November) when a whole season with KC still awaits you?

I haven't really thought about it that much. In the middle of the season we have matches, we have the EWC, MSI coming up, Worlds. It's a question I'll think more about in Summer. For now I'm not going to focus too much on it. If we qualify for Worlds with KC, we'll have a good understanding of the meta and part of the work will already be done. The second part will be preparation on the opponents — scouting players, understanding their solo queue habits. That's more manual work, and that's where an assistant coach could perhaps help.

The French scene has always been divided between different communities. The national team can bring them all together — is that something that motivates you?

The fact of having the opportunity to play for all of France — that's great. Especially since we have real competitive potential, everyone knows we can get a good placement. It's very exciting to think we can go far in an international tournament like this.

For me, it's pure happiness.

A final word for the French fans?

I've never been very good at this. But listen — we have the opportunity to make a living from this work because people watch. So watch our matches, and we'll do our best for you and for ourselves too.