FLY Massu: “Alan’s always been good. I think he’s improved a lot this year — like, exponentially.”

Q: Have you considered being fucking normal? Have you considered that?

Massu: We did, but, like, the views and the clips — you have to think about all that. You gotta think about all the aspects, you know?

Q: I assume Game 2 just felt lost for most of it, right?

Massu: I mean, yeah. I made too many mistakes.

I think a few of my teammates also made a lot of mistakes, so we were behind a lot. They had the game, and they kind of just ended up not being able to close it out. They gave us good angles here and there, so we just started slowly getting back in the game. 

Q: Are you jealous of Busio getting all the praise and attention these days?

Massu: No. It actually feels pretty good, because Alan’s always been good.

I think he’s improved a lot this year — like, exponentially. So I’m happy to see he’s getting the recognition he deserves. I think he’s just a good player. He’s a good teammate. He learns pretty fast, and he’s very flexible. It’s good to see him being recognized. 

Q: Inspired is considered an LPL/LCK level, international-class jungler. Are you and Busio there now?

Massu: I think on the Inspired part, I agree completely. And then, just for me and Alan, I think we’re slowly getting there. I think right now, we are in very good form, and I would consider us able to, on our best days, challenge LPL/LCK bot lanes and be considered world class. But, yeah, I think we’re working every day to get better at many things.

And I think we’ve developed a skill set that, originally, I only saw in international ADCs and supports [but] I believe me and him have [it] now. We have to work on that every day to make sure, first, that we’re very consistent with it, and second, that we actually are able to reach those peaks.

Q: Do you agree that the bot lane pool in NA is really stacked? ADC may be our strongest role.

Massu: Yeah. I think you’re right.

I think TL’s bot lane is pretty good. For example, Bvoy and Hena, who I think are really good […] — their supports are not quite at their level. But I could see throughout the year, from Lyonz and from Ceos — when they played with Bvoy and Hena — I could see that they’re reaching that kind of synergy. They’re both becoming equally skilled, so it makes those bot lanes a lot better as well. 

So, yeah, I think there’s a lot of good ADCs in LTA right now. 

Q: Thoughts on the SR matchup? They’re arguably the second best team in the league now.

Massu: I think it’s hard to say that from one best-of series, especially because I think C9 had a lot of uncharacteristic issues and made a lot of mistakes in general. 

But I do think our team is just really good, regardless of who we’re against. I think when we’re able to focus on ourselves and we play to our level, we trust each other, we communicate plans well, and we know what we wanna do in the game, I think we’re just a very good team. So it’s hard for me to say the gap between us and any other team is changing.

Q: So if it’s not changing, what’s the score prediction? 3-0?

Massu: I don’t know. I don’t like being cocky or having expectations, but I would say 3-1. […] As myself, personality-wise, I try to focus on what I can do. I try to focus on what my team can do and focus less on, “Oh, this team is so bad. This player is so bad,” and focus more on, “This player is not doing this and that, which I can do, which will make me a better player.” 

I just don’t group people in, like, shit and good positions. Even though, obviously, I can’t say I do that 100% of the time.

Q: It’ll happen, but you try not to think of it that way?

Massu: Exactly. I want to use other people’s levels to elevate my own, not put myself above them, if that makes sense. 

Q: Talk about the Singed pick. What was the logic? Was it a flex?

Massu: No. There was no flex. And to be honest with that, the Singed pick might have been a Bwipo draft hijack. He took over the bus, and he started controlling it.

Q: Had you scrimmed with it?

Massu: Not recently. We’ve had no [Singed] games recently. But he’s just very good at the champion, and he thought it was a very good position in the game, so we ended up just accepting if he thinks it’s good in the game, and he pilots it very well, then he can carry. And I think there were a lot of moments where he did. 

Q: Is the power of love how you’re building synergy?

Massu: I mean, I think liking the people around you and just liking your teammates in general helps a lot with creating a good environment. And a good environment results in everyone learning faster, everyone being more comfortable with each other. 

So even though those things are just silly, they build better relationships between us, and that ends up kind of elevating the team overall. […] It doesn’t directly increase [synergy]; just because we like each other, it doesn’t mean we’ll learn more from each other.

But because we like each other, we’re more likely to be comfortable telling each other what mistakes we’re making, what we think is between each other, and that will help us improve more.

Q: Any final message to FLY fans?

Massu: Thank you guys for watching always, even though this is a generic sendoff — and hopefully we can make it to Worlds and bring some hope.

Transcription help from @eonmoons