FLY Busio: “I don’t even know if we’re the best right now — I’m just very confident that we’ll be the best by the end [of the split]”
Q: Interesting match.
Busio: Yeah, we were in an easy position, and then we were having too much fun, I think.
Q: I assume you, like other FLY players, are still confident you’re heading to MSI?
Busio: Yeah. I mean, I don’t even know if we’re the best right now — I’m just very confident that we’ll be the best by the end [of the split] because we’re all working really hard, and we kinda just have a new team mindset that’s very effective.
Q: Can you talk about your new teammate, Gakgos?
Busio: I mean, the whole idea of a sixth man is the advantage it gives you in a best of series. We saw it with CFO. They had two top laners [with] different specialties.
As you know, Bwipo is a very specialized player, excellent on the champions he likes. Our other top laner is a young guy, and we just gotta develop him. He’s very mechanically talented, and I’m told he plays more of the meta while Bwipo obviously has his picks. So that’s kind of the contrast between the two.
Q: Do you feel pressure to “Save NA’s legacy” after TL’s FST performance and your Worlds 2024 performance?
Busio: I don’t really think like that, because I just do what I can do. Obviously, I just wanna make the LTA a good product all around. Like, recently, I’ve been tweeting a lot, and I’m trying to get a new PC at my apartment so I can start streaming again. I’m just trying to do what I can to build a brand — obviously, I’m doing it for myself, but it also helps LTA, of course, if the players are actively tweeting or trying to create content.
I don’t think going to an international and doing good is the only thing I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about that for other reasons. I just wanna be a good player [for the sake of] being a good player.
Q: I didn’t get to talk to you about it — how did it feel to watch TL flub the FST spot you thought you would take?
Busio: I mean, definitely the first couple days after we got eliminated, it just feels horrible, because you’re like, “What do I do now? I wanna be playing. I’m jealous.”
I was jealous, of course, that TL got to play and we didn’t. I think we’re all bringing it into this new split, that anger. I can’t speak for my teammates, but I know many of them probably share the same motivator. [But] every single week, we’re like a new team. We’re improving on new things.
Us going 2-3 against Gen.G is *so* in the past. For us, the only part of it that stays with us is that we don’t have to doubt. Like, [it proves] we can play at a high level. But, like, for the day to day, it doesn’t change anything. You just gotta give your maximum effort and try your best to improve every single day — no matter what happened in the past, because it doesn’t really matter. You still wanna do the same thing on the day to day.
Q: As a player who puts effort into branding, streaming, and socials, why do you think other players don’t?
Busio: I mean, I wouldn’t say players are lazy at all. Most players, I’d say, are pretty hardworking. Like, the hours they put in are a lot. And, the truth is, for most players, even including myself, streaming doesn’t feel rewarding. At all.
I’ve had times where I’m streaming almost every day, multiple times per week. […] I’m always told it’s good for building brand, blah blah blah. [But] it doesn’t feel that rewarding because my viewers aren’t going up like the players from the past that just have a lot of viewers, a lot of fans. Obviously that’s something that you need to build and grow, but I’m saying even in the times where I was streaming super consistently, it grew a bit, and then it just kinda caps out.
It’s difficult, you know? Being entertaining. not all players are equally entertaining. I’m just not as exciting to watch as the players that get more views than me, I guess. I was streaming a lot, and I still wouldn’t get that many viewers. People would rather watch some one-trick — and that’s fine. It’s the same with tweeting.
My tweets are pseudo-successful, and I just try to tweet funny things or cringe things, because that’s just kind of what works [for me] on Twitter — and it feels decently successful. But for another player, they might tweet 10 times the stupid things [I tweet], and they get no likes, and it just feels kinda stupid. You’re like, “Why am I tweeting these stupid, cringe things, and I don’t get rewarded. Why would I do it?”
It’s probably that players don’t see the reward or value in it, so they kinda need to find their thing. And not every player just actively has a thing to build their brand off of — it’s also on the player to find that themselves, but also certain conditions have to be met, you know? I’d just say it’s very situational.
Obviously, players can do better, and they should. I’m trying to do better. I think I am — I’ve been tweeting a lot recently. But, it’s not like every player can just start tweeting and it’s gonna change anything for them, you know?
Q: So then what’s going wrong? You had that amazing international performance, more players are focused on branding, but it just doesn’t seem to matter.
Busio: I mean, what was going wrong was probably from the past. I think, actually, things have been going right [recently]. Like, last year, when they swapped it to Bo3s, wasn’t it growing? […] I think the, biggest contributor is just after a merger, there’s some time to adjust. People aren’t used to the LTA branding — the stream has a different name, the Twitter has a different name, etc. I think that’s probably the largest contributor.
It’s a new product, so it just takes time for it to get situated. I honestly think that’s the biggest thing. Right now, it’s Bo1s — [which are] just not as exciting as Bo3s or Bo5s with Fearless. Like, a best of series with Fearless is so exciting. It’s exciting to play, [and] it’s exciting for the viewer. In terms of Fearless being a change in best of series, I think that’s a good change, and it should create growth.
