LYON Dhokla: “We definitely need to improve if we want to compete with all the teams that are attending [MSI].”
Q: Easy 3-0. I like the long hair — are you growing it out?
Dhokla: Just trying it out, that’s it.
Q: Any reason for that?
Dhokla: No, I mean, eventually I want to try to get a perm, so I need it a little bit longer. I’ve usually just been cutting it short, but I’m just trying it out. […] I mean, it’s really hard. My hair is very, very straight, so I just want to get a perm. I used to have a perm back in the day.
Q: You’re hopping on the trend kinda late, though, right?
Dhokla: I mean, I did it before, like two years, three years ago. In 2023, I had a perm.
Q: Oh, I do remember that.
Dhokla: Yeah. But then it just grows back out and then I just go straight. I don’t think you double perm, right?
Q: You do look kind of goth though. It was an interesting look today. You kind of murdered Thanatos and came out looking very emo.
Dhokla: *laughs* Yeah … Is this — Is this part of the interview?
Q: Yes. It’s very important. Is the perm going to be pre-Korea or post-Korea?
Dhokla: I don’t know. I don’t think my hair is long enough right now, so maybe —
Q: Maybe in Korea?
Dhokla: Yeah, I can get a perm in Korea, so maybe.
Q: If you had to pick a player from another region to get a perm with you during MSI, who would you pick? Sounds like great content.
Dhokla: I don’t think I’m gonna get a perm with anyone. I’m just gonna go by myself, so I’m not sure.
Q: You’re not a social creature? How sick would it be to get a perm with Keria?
Dhokla: I mean, I guess I’ll go with Faker: “Hey, give me that Jensen Huang 5080 [graphics card], whatever you got.”
Q: I imagine it must’ve been an easy day, right? You performed quite well, and your job in most of the games was to weakside — but they didn’t have too much pressure.
Dhokla: I mean, I definitely didn’t feel that much pressure. Obviously, in Game 2, they did target me quite a bit, but overall in the game, I felt fine. Just need to keep my composure and play for the big win condition because ultimately it’s going to come down to team fights. I think we did a better job than them when it came down to it.
So yeah, they just had a plan to really put me behind in at least some of the games, and I was able to bounce back.
Q: Going into MSI, have you guys examined adapting to a faster playstyle? Do you agree with the idea that you got outpaced around the map early at First Stand?
Dhokla: I mean, that’s something I try to push for, I think even in one of the voice comms that was played like a week ago, I said, “Guys, let’s just fight, and we’re just gonna win…” I checked back, and we were up maybe like 13,000 gold.
If we got out-teamfought 13,000 gold up, then we deserve to lose. It’s really that simple.
I’ve been trying to push for us to just play faster because I feel like even if one person dies, we’re just going to win the rest of the fight. We need to get more comfortable playing like that.
We definitely had a chance to do it in this series, too. I think in Game 2, when we had Baron, and I think it was like fifth dragon coming up, we could have just fought in their base and probably won. But instead, it dragged out for another three to four minutes or so.
When we’re strong, I definitely like pushing the pace and just fighting them. It’s a style that we have grown accustomed to, and I’m trying to break that mold.
Q: In both Western finals (LEC and CBLOL), FURIA and G2 picked Nasus to win. Do you think that’s the key to lifting the trophy? I’m sure you guys have scrimmed it.
Dhokla: No. I think it’s a situationally very good pick because the strengths are really, really strong, and Wither is just a really strong spell. But he definitely does have his weaknesses.
When the angle looks good for him, it looks really good for him because if he gets a slight lead then he’s just going to run you over.
That’s kind of why in LEC he was like 8-0 or something. […] Once you get ahead, you do more damage to them while building full tank. They just can’t kill you.
It’s really strong, but you need to get to that point. Obviously, we’ve seen it. We lost to it. I wasn’t in that game, but we definitely experienced how strong it can be. So yeah, we’re aware of it.
Q: You locked MSI after a clean 3-0, so what can fans look forward to for your MSI performance? What will MSI LYON do better than FST LYON?
Dhokla: Honestly, I haven’t even thought that far ahead. For now we’re focused on whoever we play in the finals.
Once we figure that out and get some time, then I think it’ll be obvious what we need to change to compete after we scrim a little bit. I do agree that we definitely need to improve if we want to compete with all the teams that are attending so far, because they definitely play much more chaotic.
I haven’t thought that far ahead. I’m sorry.
Q: It doesn’t have to be super specific — since you guys are a stronger team now, what aspects of your game have you improved?
Dhokla: I’m not sure. We still do make silly mistakes in terms of setups, even in this series.
I TP’d in a little bit late while the dragon was pretty much already dead.
We are improving on it. Definitely much better than First Stand, but it’s still a continuous process.
Ultimately, lane better and teamfight better is what it’s going to come down to, and we’ve definitely improved from First Stand in that regard.
It’s just a continuous journey, and you just have to keep going on it.
Q: Who are you gonna face in the finals?
Dhokla: I have no idea. I think if C9 plays like this, then it’ll be TL for sure. But I don’t imagine C9 will play how they did today next weekend, so I think it’ll be close.
Q: Does today’s version of C9 get 3-0’d by TL?
Dhokla: I mean, yeah, they could for sure. I feel like they were not super proactive in terms of their objective setups. We just stood around there for a while, but our comp was better in those cases than theirs — I feel like they definitely need a revisit of how they’re playing objective setups.
Q: APA mentioned that they scrimmed only TL and FLY last week — assuming you did the same, do you feel that TL has actually fixed their major issues?
Dhokla: Yeah, we scrimmed TL and Fly too. […] We scrimmed TL, and they played much better on stage than they did in scrims.
It’s hard for me to get a read because they played much better yesterday than they did in scrims.
They got blasted, as far as I remember. Maybe not blasted, but it just didn’t feel like they were cohesive. I didn’t feel the connection. I don’t know how to describe it. They just didn’t feel cohesive, I guess.
So they played a lot better on stage. It’s really hard for me to judge it off scrims because I don’t know which version is going to show up.
On paper, both teams are relatively evenly matched, so I can’t really give the best prediction.
Q: Considering TL took you to 5 games and C9 got 3-0’d, that might lead to people favoring them in the head-to-head.
Dhokla: I don’t really buy into those narratives because ultimately, it depends on how you play on that day.
Teams will adapt and evolve over the course of their last loss. If you want to take a snapshot from then and try to paint it into the future, I don’t think that’s going to be relatively accurate.
It ultimately depends on how they show up on that day. That’s kind of my mindset, too. Let’s just focus and play well for ourselves.
Q: It doesn’t sound like you’re really confident after today’s win — which is a good thing, of course — but a lot of fans don’t feel the same way. A majority have already written LYON in as the champions.
Dhokla: We still have a match to play, and it’s not going to be free. I don’t have that mindset whatsoever. Ultimately, I don’t even think I played insane this series, so I still have a lot to improve on.
Q: You got quite a bit of praise for this series — the desk was even lobbying for a POG or two.
Dhokla: I’m surprised about that. That doesn’t really matter, because I don’t think I played particularly well [and] there’s stuff for me to improve on. I just want to play the best I can. I’ll be satisfied with whatever the outcome is as long as I control what I can control.
Q: Do you have any final message for LYON fans now that you’re going to MSI?
Dhokla: Just thank you for cheering me on. Thank you for the kind words on the broadcast and the sentiment within the community. Obviously, First Stand didn’t go how we wanted. I had some stinkers, so it’s going to be hard at MSI for sure as well. But it’s a good challenge for us. One game at a time. See you in finals.
Header Image Credit: Riot Games
Transcription assistance from @flomillinoflo
