Q: What are your takeaways from today?
Spawn: My takeaways are that paiN played exactly how we thought they were going to play. They’re a great teamfighting team — we knew that if we gave them good timings to be able to fight, they were going to be able to push us. And [we knew] that what we really needed to do was accumulate more gold across the map than [them], and beat them with experience and gold leads.
I think we did that really well in Game 1. Game 2, we kind of failed on that plan and more individual talent needed to show up, specifically APA in that game. UmTi had some good pathing as well that helped out our early game.
Satisfying win in that regard, but kind of unsatisfying because in big moments, when we could’ve really put them away easily and early, we failed to do so.
Q: Was taking the baron the wrong call?
Spawn: Nah, definitely not. We should hit baron, and then I think Vi + Jax should go over the wall, because we have Ahri holding a really nice flank. They didn’t have Orianna flash, they didn’t have Nocturne flash — so if we go on them first, they just die in one shot, to be honest. And then I think we get baron for free.
In Game 2, the mid 3v3 is just unlosable. They have no flashes and we’re playing 3 champions that are way stronger than their champions at that stage of the game. Nocturne doesn’t have ult. Somehow we go 1 for 1, we burn more summs [so] they grubs. From there [it’s hard].
Q: To me, it seems like much of TL looked off their game individually across Worlds, especially Impact, and seemed to fumble map play uncharacteristically today. Do you agree?
Spawn: I think that our lane swap and pathing in Game 2 are pretty hallmark of what TL does, but I think what you’re seeing is individuals fighting back [in the TL and WBG games] a little bit better than what we get normally in North America. And paiN, credit to them, were really able to put up a fight today. I think also that they’re just preparing really well for us. But I do understand the frustration because what happens when you’re 0-0, you have 3 losses before you’re out, so your risk tolerance is higher. And you know LNG is a slightly better team as well.
Against Weibo, we probably thought that was like our 50/50 game, right? I think we’re at the level of the LPL 4 seed probably. So when we’re ahead and we lose that one, it becomes frustrating.
And then today [versus paiN], you just can’t take as many risks. If you take the risk and you lose when you’re a better team, that’s obviously a disaster. So probably what you saw today is us playing a bit more controlled, more reserved within ourselves. Instead of going for 10 out of 10 plays, we’re just going for 8 out of 10 plays.
Even though in Game 1 it looks like Impact isn’t smashing people or taking over the game, what Impact is doing is cheating + pushing every top wave. Sure, Wizer is catching it, but on the other side dyNquedo can’t catch his wave at all, because if he steps out he’s going to die to Vi. So then APA goes up two levels right? And everyone’s like “oh look APA’s carrying and Impact’s doing nothing,” but it’s actually like, as a team, we’re playing the map very, very well, and Impact’s doing his job in that.
Now in the Gnar game, I think the mid 3v3, and the fact we lost first grubs when Impact played his lane that well was just a complete disaster for Impact. If he gets 3 grubs [in that lane] we don’t even have to fight second grubs on Renekton’s powerful spike timer. Then I think we’re going to have a very smooth running into the game.
As I said, as a team, we’re probably letting him down.
Now, in saying that, I do think Impact can play individually better at the moment. I’m not here coping, saying that it’s all a team issue and not an Impact issue, because I do think that he’s probably playing a 6/10 at the moment, and I need him to play at 8 or 9/10.
Q: Do you think scrim performance affects their confidence when they lose on stage after dominating scrims, like a negative cycle that burns confidence or gets in the players’ heads?
Spawn: Yeah, I think absolutely everything you just said is completely true. I think that when you play well in scrims, you get a little bit more confidence and go for some flashy plays. And then if they don’t work, your confidence goes back down. It’s kind of the yo-yo effect. We call it “storming, norming, and performing” in sports psychology.
Q: You guys use a lot of terms, huh?
Spawn: Yeah, so I’m the king of the terms, because it gets people aligned pretty quickly. At the moment, we’re definitely “storming.” Hopefully today was the “norming,” and then hopefully next week we show up and start performing.
Q: Speaking of, how are you feeling about the draw?
Spawn: Looking ahead to the GAM series, we know what they do really well because we’ve played against it a lot. I think they have two very, very special players in Kiaya and Levi, obviously. So we’re very prepared for them. I think [GAM] would’ve been very happy for us to be drawn into them, and we would’ve been very happy for them to be drawn into us, if that makes sense.
Q: You would prefer them over FNC?
Spawn: Yeah, look, I think they’re probably the two best draws for us, to be honest. I think we would’ve been happy with everyone but BLG, to be completely honest, even […] if we had to rematch Weibo, I’d be confident. But yeah, I think we’re both [TL and GAM] very familiar with each other’s game plan, so we’ll see how it goes there.
I’m quietly confident [against GAM], but I need to make sure that the next three or four days of scrims, however long we’ve got, go well.
Q: When I spoke to Busio, he said he loved the GAM matchup because it was a great style for Inspired to shut down. Do you have a different approach?
Spawn: So Bwipo and Inspired are the people that take a lot of resources on FLY and then fight very well, so it makes sense. [FLY] would be happy with that [GAM] matchup because they’re probably thinking that they’re very similar players, but they’re just better at it. Put Inspired on Lillia and throw Levi on a farming jungler. I’m sure Inspired thinks he’s gonna win 8 or 9 times out of 10. Our two neutralizers, Impact and UmTi, play into their two carries — so we have to go with a slightly different strategy in that regard.
But all I can say is when we face against teams, we think about how we match up against them a lot. And we think about how we can best take away the advantages that they’re going to get in the game whilst executing our game plan. And our game plan, honestly, is to make the map as big as possible, make the game as messy as possible, make it as uneven as possible.
Like, lane swap, Impact goes down experience, but their top laner goes down experience, or Yeon is randomly level 6 vs. a level 5 ADC. Those are the games we like to play, right? Because [it] challenges your brain a lot to be able to play that game. [Against GAM] we’ll be looking to challenge their ideas about the game and see how fundamentally sound they are at playing the map.