FUR Furyz: “I know the result is, like, 3-0, [but] there’s a lot of close games. […] It’s getting closer.”

Q: How close do you think that last game got?

Furyz: I think we had a good comp that we like a lot. So I think we had confidence, like, if we can skip a little bit of early game, we could scale and play teamfights well.

So yeah, [as a] coaching staff we were hoping that we could take the last game, I think.

Q: Is it the laning phase, then, that’s mostly holding you back right now?

Furyz: I think it depends on the team we’re facing. I think Korean teams have really strong lanes and very good fundamentals, so it gives you the feeling that you’re slowly losing the game, right? I feel like they have very good […] discipline and they don’t give too many windows, so I think it’s harder.

But I think against other teams, it’s closer — I think lane phase is not the problem for us. I think we did decently against LYON in lane; I think just Korean teams have very good macro and fundamentals, so they get slowly choked out.

Q: Is there anything you think the team has improved on, that you can take back to Brazil as you look ahead to Worlds?

Furyz: Yeah, for sure, for sure. I think we got very good scrims. I think when we came here, we were having a really tough time to get out of early games, so we’re doing better slowly. So I think we improved a lot on this. Also, I think those games we play on stage have a lot of material for us to study, [and] when we come back, we still have EWC to play — so we have one more tournament.

But we have like a week or a little bit more, so we can use this time to study a lot of things — and I think there’s a lot of good lessons for us to take.

Q: For Tatu specifically, Jojo mentioned that he felt like he had something to prove against Inspired, causing him to go for bad plays. Despite facing Oner, today was much cleaner. How did you address that?

Furyz: Yeah, I can see that. I think we talked a lot about this after our LYON game — that we shouldn’t respect them too much in game, we should play our own game. So that’s something we tried to do today, [and] I think Tatu played a lot better today. He did really well.

But I think T1 was a better team in every small [thing], so they were slowly getting leads. I felt like we should try to teamfight well and [force] teamfights, but I feel they were doing decent macro against us and getting some good leads. But after the game, we talked a lot about this, so today was better than against LYON, I think.

Q: Thoughts on LYON’s series against BLG? It seemed like both of you played better today than against eachother.

Furyz: Yeah, I was really surprised at how close it was. I feel like the gold leads were really close. I think [the beast teams] are getting leads on the small stuff — on the details. So when it goes to the late games, sometimes it’s position, or better decision, or faster decision. I think those things are really important, but I think LYON played really well today against BLG.

Q: Do you think that teams like LYON, G2, and FURIA are just too far behind the top teams from LCK/LPL this year? Looking ahead to Worlds, what’s your outlook on the regional levels?

Furyz: I think they’re really strong. I know the result is, like, 3-0, right? But if you watch those games, there’s a lot of close games. It’s the same thing I said — it’s a lot of micro decisions, small things they are doing better than us. When it matters, they’re doing the better decision.

I feel like it’s really close — it’s getting closer. It’s not like the game is over in 5, 10 minutes. You can see teams are fighting back.

[But] they play the game with a lot of discipline, and I think they play their own game. They’re not, like, [doing something special] — they’re playing their comp really well and just playing on their timers, right? So I feel like those things matter a lot. That’s why I feel the result is not good, but if you see the games, games are a little bit close, right? Sometimes it’s just one soul fight or something like that and then the game is over.

Q: What’s one thing you appreciate about each player out-of-game?

Furyz: So, starting from Guigo, I really like how he’s not afraid of things. I think he wants to play his thing. He’s always very confident. I think this is something he’s really good at. It’s not just the way he plays the game, but I feel like it doesn’t matter if he’s losing lane or something, or something’s not doing so well — I think he’s [always] trying to do his best. Sometimes he comes back, he plays like the way he should be. I think this mental part about him is really good.

About Tatu, I think probably his [best quality] is the leadership and the way he has so much confidence. I feel like, when he’s like feeling good, he doesn’t care like who he’s gonna play against. So I think this is something about his mental that’s really good.

Tutsz, I think out-of-game, for me, he’s really smart. I feel like he’s a very good person to talk about preparation and stuff like that. I think those things help a lot; he always likes to think about strategy and stuff like that. This is something I think he’s very good at. This is, like, his [specialty].

I think about Ayu, I think he has so much talent, and I feel like he doesn’t care too much about outside stuff, or what people think of him, [or] if he does something better or something like that. I think he’s just trying to do his best, and he’s really tryhard. He plays so much solo queue and stuff. I think he is very good about this. So I think for him, that’s it.

And I think for Jojo, I think he’s very good for the environment. I think he’s really smart too, but he’s also always keeping the environment super healthy. Sometimes when we’re feeling some pressure, I think he knows how to make some jokes and stuff like that, [and] I feel like this helps us a lot. And I think this inspires the other players to be confident too.

Q: Any final message for CBLOL fans?

Furyz: Yeah, I think we are disappointed by our results. I think we had really close games. I think especially vs LYON, we threw Games 1 and 2, and I think this was kind of hard for our momentum. We tried to come back for the better, but T1 was so much stronger than us at the smaller things and consistency.

I think we’re just trying to do our best. I think we got a little bit pressured in the game against LYON, [but] we’re trying to just study, use everything we learn here from scrims and on-stage so we can do better in EWC and the next tournament. I think we’re learning a lot.

Especially for me too, because this is my first year as Head Coach — in Tier 1, this is my first year as [Head Coach]. For me, I’m really happy to be here. I’m learning so much with those teams and the scrims we got here. So yeah, I’m just trying to make our team better every time.

Header Image Credit: Riot Games