LYON Isles: “I do think our team is playing with a little bit more confidence than we were at FST [and] we’re definitely a stronger team”

Q: Did you see the TL-T1 series? What did you think of it? 

Isles: Honestly, I was surprised it was as close as it was.

We scrimmed against T1 once and we went like 2-3 or something. It wasn’t that bad. But I thought that they were really good, to be honest. This might have been the best team I’ve ever scrimmed in my whole life.

I scrimmed with BLG at First Stand and [here] in Korea — I think up until that point, that was the best team I had scrimmed. But T1, I thought, was really good. They were really creative, and yeah, they just seemed like a team that was going to be so hard to beat from start to finish. The games were so proactive, and the games that we won against them in scrims, it seemed like they were just running it for fun.

So I’m surprised that in the second game, TL had this monstrous advantage. The champions that T1 drafted were ones they’re really familiar with, and I thought they would likely just run away with it.

I mean, especially the second game, I really thought TL would win. I was already making jokes to my team saying, “But we 3-0’d TL. So if T1 is going to lose this game, then what does that mean?” You know, like the classic meme.

But it didn’t happen. I guess T1 are a very tenacious team — they found a way to pull the rabbit out of the hat.

Q: Arguably you did have a more dominant 3-0 against TL than T1 did, though.

Isles: Well, the first game [in Finals] was so close.

Q: Quid talked about how their major mistake against T1 was going on autopilot — letting their foot off the gas from ahead. It sounds similar to a common criticism of LYON; you’re considered the slowest team at the tournament. Have you noticed that? Do you consider it an issue?

Isles: I haven’t noticed anything of that nature, I suppose, in scrims. Scrims are definitely a different beast to stage gameplay. Things are a lot more fast-paced, and there will usually be something unrealistic that has happened in the first 25 minutes, so the game will usually be decided in some way or another, or it will become just chaos.

But I’m not sure about the pacing. It’s true that sometimes our team takes longer to win games than other good teams, but I don’t think it’s really a huge problem. I think it’s just when we’re in winning positions, [we play carefully].

We get into winning positions very often, so some of the games go longer than other teams, but I don’t think it’s really a huge problem. I think we play the right way when we’re in winning positions, generally speaking.

Speaking about the second game [of TL-T1] really quickly, I guess the TL point — it did seem like Faker’s Ryze was just getting every wave in top lane, especially against Taliyah. They had a super fed Taliyah and Poppy just didn’t seem to have time or want to hover — I remember there was a time when she was playing through mid and Quid died top to Ryze.

It just felt like Ryze was running the map from behind. Taliyah was up so much gold, and then there was the Mejai’s with ten stacks incident, and then they’re kind of even in gold. I think it did seem like TL was nervous.

I’m not exactly sure about Quid’s assessment, but I did think that Ryze was getting more than he deserved.

Q: To me, though, being “risk-averse” sounds the same as the mistake Quid described — he let T1 back into the game because he didn’t want to take the risk of major actions. Can you describe the difference a little more?

Isles: I think TL were just ignoring responsibilities more so than being risk-averse. I don’t think Poppy has to kill anyone to win their game, but you can’t let people cheat every side wave and start having three lane pushes being lost in the mid game.

Even if you’re not losing every lane, you need to keep the map moving in a way. You can’t really go mid as Poppy and not win 3v3, give Taliyah an angle to die in the side lane, or she has to play ridiculously respectfully. Then Ryze can get tempo, he can base, and he can run bot and look for a play there, for example.

You just can’t let teams run over you, [but] you don’t necessarily need to kill them all the time. The way we play the game, we’re risk-averse specifically when we choose what team fights we take, what objectives we fight for, what jungle camps we contest. We like to play that more squeeze style —where we choose specifically what jungle camps or objectives we will fight.

I think T1 is really great, for example, at finding really creative plays around Nashor and being very decisive. Like the Nash they took in Game 2 while Kalista based on vision — that was a genius play.

T1 has been good at that for the entire duration that the majority of their roster has been together. Five years of Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, Keria — they’re crazy good at finding these Nashor angles.

I don’t think that’s something that our team excels at. Especially around Baron, our team is usually pretty risk-averse if the game already looks free. It is a big point where you can throw, dying around Nashor.

And Nashor is also not worth as much as it was before. It’s not always easy to end the game off the first Nashor. If you’re on pace to play a drake game, usually our games end more in that fashion. It’s just easier to set up, it’s more forcing, you take less damage from Baron, obviously.

Sometimes if the guy that kills himself to 50-50 it leads into Baron if you kill him on drake. I mean, every game will be case by case.

Q: The ZOFGK used to be known for flipping every Baron. Now it feels like they just win every Baron, every time.

Isles: Yeah, I mean, they’re really great. And I think Oner is unbelievable on Smites as well, to his credit.

Q: Having scrimmed many of the top teams, where do you think LYON stacks up?

Isles: I mean, it’s really hard to tier people based off scrims, to be honest. I think the way that some teams play scrims just doesn’t reflect how good their teams are. Speaking honestly, we had really good results versus Chinese teams in scrims, but I don’t think that makes us a better team than them at all.

I will say Saint’s been playing fantastic in lane. I think noticeably he is really performing in all our games so far, so that’s a big positive. But in terms of ranking, I wouldn’t know much more than a spectator, to be honest. It’s really hard to know what the main stage will look like. G2 as well—they were looking good as well. It’s so hard to know.

Q: At First Stand, you talked about how your first scrim against ON was a shock — he was so good, you felt “out of your depth” at first. Does it feel a little easier, now that you’re a little more practiced, facing him and Keria now? 

Isles: To some degree. This is my first time playing against Keria and T1. I don’t think it’s just Keria as an individual. Just the way that T1 plays the game is so coordinated. I remember when I spoke about Sentinels in NA, I used to say they’re so coordinated. They just weren’t that strong as individuals.

But T1 is just crazy. They’re just crazy good. It makes sense because they’ve been together for so long, especially the majority of their core players, that they all kind of have a good understanding of what everyone wants. But it feels like their game is just very, very fluid, and they all know what they want, and they’re fairly disciplined.

So it doesn’t feel like that much can go wrong.

Q: Have you guys gone out, or done anything fun as a team in Korea?

Isles: I mean, we’ve been out a few times, but nothing special, to be honest.

Q: Any fun highlight stories?

Isles: I’m not sure about Dhokla anymore, but at least for me, I’m still kind of jet-lagged. Even though I’ve been going to bed on time, I haven’t really been sleeping well. And I know Dhokla has been going to bed pretty early. It’s probably the same for him. Not sure how everyone is going now in terms of that. Fun stories…

Actually, it is funny. We’re staying at the FearX facility, and for some reason, to get out of the facility, you need a card to scan on a door.

At 3 a.m. yesterday — I didn’t see it at 3 a.m. — but there was a notification on Discord saying Saint needed help, because he couldn’t escape from the FearX facility, because he didn’t have the card and he was locked inside.

It’s funny because there was actually a trick. You walk to the third floor, take the elevator down to the first floor, and then you can get out without using a key. […] Almost every one of us had this experience — this happened to, like, four of us.

This happened to me on the first day where I didn’t have the code for the gaming room. I was kind of stuck in between and I couldn’t get out because I didn’t have the code. So this also happened to me, and it happened to someone else as well.

Q: Do you know who ended up rescuing him?

Isles: I think Berserker just texted him what to do. Just walk to the third floor and take the elevator.

Q: Can you give a message of hope to NA fans?

Isles:  I don’t know if I want to give hope, per se. I mean, I’m still kind of unsure myself of our level and whatnot.

I do think, for what it’s worth, that scrims have been going slightly better than First Stand, and there is a little bit of experience, and our team is coming together a little bit more since then. I think whenever you go to international events, sometimes you have a bit of a landing shock, and you have to get yourself up to scratch as fast as you can.

I think we’re still a little bit in the middle of that process. But speaking honestly, I do think our team is playing with a little bit more confidence than we were at First Stand, and I do think we’re definitely a stronger team since then. Not sure about every other team at the tournament, but talking about us specifically, I do think we’re definitely a stronger team.

Q: One last thing. Since Berserker struggled in LCK and then came back to instantly dominate NA, many have argued that NA’s ADCs are just weak — that Berserker isn’t strong at the international level. With two internationals of scrims where you’ve talked about learning to adapt, do you feel Berserker is in a similar spot?

Isles: I think Berserker is a world-class AD carry.

I think if you put him on one of the top LCK teams, you wouldn’t see much of a difference, if at all. I think he really is a great player. He understands the game to a great degree. Holistically, his view of the game and what should happen has matured so much since he was a rookie in LCS.

He really knows how to drive the game forward from the AD carry role. I really do think that he would slot really well onto a top LCK team or top LPL team, whatever it might be. I really don’t think there would be much of a difference. I have nothing but the highest praise for him. I wouldn’t rank him lower than pretty much anyone else.

Transcription assistance from @misaagamizz

Header Image Credit: Riot Games