G2 Esports played the second match of the Worlds 2022 Main Event group stage against DWG KIA from the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) and lost in a 32-minute game. It’s their ninth meeting in all international competitions, and G2 will have the chance to avenge their loss on October 14th.
Bot laner Victor “Flakked” Lirola Tortosa spoke to us after the match and talked a bit about the DWG KIA match, G2’s form right now, and his experience in the NA solo queue Champions Queue.
G2 VS DWG KIA
BLIX.GG: First and foremost, thank you so much for joining me for this interview. Your game against DWG KIA was pretty one-sided in favor of them; walk me through your thoughts on playing them in your first game at Worlds 2022.
Flakked: I mean, the game didn’t go great. I’m not going to say I’m happy with my or the team’s performance, but at least we managed to drag the game out and make them sweat a bit for it. But I think we were comfortable with the draft; we liked what we played against them. We just messed up hard on the Herald, and the game was unplayable after that.
BLIX: Nick “LS” De Cesare made a very interesting tweet, saying that you guys would have a good chance because DWG KIA picked one of the worst champions in the game now, Jhin. What are your thoughts on that?
Flakked: I agree with what LS said, and I think Jhin is not in the best state right now. It doesn’t necessarily win lane, and then like Jhin’s scaling is not that great, it feels more like a support-ish champion, where he provides setup and follow-up and stuff. But usually, his damage is not that high, and his lane is usually not the best. I think the Jhin pick wasn’t the worst, and they played the lane well. At level one, they tried to cheese us, but I don’t think it was worth it, like Leona flashing forward and trading summoner spells was not the best for them. But it made sense to try it. But yeah, I agree with LS that Jhin is not that great in the current meta.
BLIX: That’s fair. It’s the first day of Worlds, and there’s a lot to play for. Let’s talk about something personal. It’s your first year playing in the LEC, and this is your first Worlds, so how does it feel to play in New York in front of a big crowd knowing you’re at the World Championship?
Flakked: It feels impressive and great. Despite the loss of today, I felt really comfortable on stage and was really happy. I don’t think any of my teammates or I played severely; I’m satisfied with my performance because even though the game was tough, everyone tried their best. Despite the results today, I’m comfortable and confident in my playstyle and teammates.
Preparation
BLIX: I’m pleased to hear that. Can you tell me what G2 has been working on since your LEC finals coming into Worlds? What’s your preparation been like?
Flakked: We’re trying different stuff and playstyles, and so far, we’re playing pretty well in scrims. But of course, I can’t say what we are actually playing. We’re playing well at the moment, even though we messed up this game. But I’m optimistic looking into tomorrow and the next games. It’s only one game, and there are like five more left. It sucks to lose, but I think we can for sure turn it around. I’m just overall really positive and looking forward to the next games.
BLIX: Speaking of scrims, I believe you guys landed in New York on the first or second of October, which was not too many days ago. What has our practice been like for G2 so far in North America?
Flakked: We didn’t scrim for a long time and landed on October 1st, but we’re trying to scrim whenever we can. The schedule is not easy, especially during the first days, because you have a lot of content and stuff to do, so it’s pretty hard to find regular scrims like you would in Europe. But I think we got good teams from scrims and played a decent number of games. Some days we usually play around six games, and some days we even play seven.
BLIX: And how have you been enjoying the North American solo queue so far, or Champions Queue, for that matter?
Flakked: [laughs] I mean, I think the NA solo queue is really bad and very poor. Yeah, the level is not good. I don’t know, like’¦this is not a good level, and the quality is similar to Europe, where you get griefers and stuff, but I have to say the Champions Queue is fun to play. Overall it feels like you’re getting a decent amount of practice, but of course, there are some games you’re not going to be able to practice much, or some games will be one-sided.
For example, if you get Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and you get four Worlds players or something against like NA Academy players, the game will be mega doomed. It’s not the quality of the gameplay; it’s also the quality of the game itself. For example, you could get skill-gapped in one lane, but that guy will not go 0/10, or he will not be annoying or toxic or anything. He’s just going to try his best and stuff. NA solo queue, of course, was expected, and even NA people don’t like their solo queue, but Champions Queue was an excellent experience.
BLIX: Do you think Europe should implement the concept of the Champions Queue?
Flakked: I’m not sure because I think the main reason why Champions Queue is fun to play is that all the players at Worlds are there, so I’m not sure if it’ll be nice in Europe. I mean, it probably will improve the quality of the games because it’s true that in Europe, there are a lot of one-tricks and a lot of griefers and stuff, but I feel like that’s in every region. I think South Korea and China have the same issues, and it’s tough to get good-quality games in a solo queue. I’m not sure how it would go in Europe, but you will surely get more quality games.
BLIX: That’s a fair assessment. You’ve been to MSI, and when I spoke when I interviewed you, you mentioned you wanted to meet Gumayusi from TI there. You met him already, so for Worlds, which players or teams do you want to meet potentially?
Flakked: Every LCK and every LPL bot laner are good right now; they’re cracked and probably the best in the world. I don’t have anyone I would like to meet, but I like Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk and Park “Viper” Do-hyeon.
BLIX: I hope you get to meet them. And since it’s your first Worlds, what are your personal goals and expectations?
Flakked: I think if we play our game as we do in training, we can have a good chance of going far in the tournament. But for my expectations, I would say it’s for sure getting out of groups; after that, it will depend. But I think we can make it like really, really fun.
BLIX: One last question before I let you go. Last time I talked to you about your pet duck Tet, how’s your duck now, and why did you guys not bring it to New York?
Flakked: He’s just chilling at home, and he’s fine. The main reason why we didn’t bring him is, first of all, moving with a duck is pretty tricky because of legislation and stuff. There are a lot of laws, and I’m not sure about NA, but again in Spain and Europe, a duck is considered a farm animal, so it’s tough to transport it by plane. Also, a duck has a lot of needs and necessities; for example, he needs a bit of space, food, and stuff. And he’s filthy, so that needs to be taken care of too. I’m not sure how good or bad it is for a duck to travel in a plane with a lot of pressure and stuff. But we also don’t have anyone nearby, like family, that can keep him beside us. So for sure, it will be very hard if we want to bring Tet over here.
Thank you, Flakked, and best of luck going forward. Worlds 2022 continues today, and you can catch it on Riot Games’ channel.
