TLAW Josedeodo: “It will show, I hope, during the split, that we want to play fast.”

Q: I bet my whole house that TL would win Split 1. Now I’m broke. What happened?

Josedeodo: I think many of the mistakes that we didn’t know [about] showed up on stage. Basically, a lot of the stuff we weren’t aware could go wrong, went wrong on-stage — stuff that we couldn’t practice too much, or stuff that we didn’t see throughout the split happened in the series.

And yeah, I just think we also didn’t have a good day against LYON. That’s what happened.

Q: With all these promising teams, do you still think LYON is #1 — where do SEN and C9 fit in after their losses at the Americas Cup?

Josedeodo: I think Sentinels is better than what we saw in the first split, from what I’ve seen. I think how they play the map is way better.

I don’t know what happened with C9. I mean, watching the games with FURIA, [I couldn’t] believe how they were losing — [Cloud9] were finding better angles all the time [but still lost].

Q: FURIA were playing well, though, no?

Josedeodo: I agree. FURIA… I mean, I also played with FURIA last year.

The thing with FURIA is like, they’re a team that [plays together]. Maybe they’re not doing the right thing, but they’ll do it as a five-man, and it looks good. So even if the play is not the best one you can take, they are committed to it. I think that’s really good.

Q: You said a similar thing about FlyQuest, this year. Do you think that’s true?

Josedeodo: Yeah, maybe. I need to remember — because I think at the start, [FLY] were doing it well, and then they started [coordinating] a bit worse.

I think FURIA, even last year, I […] was thinking in-game, “Maybe this isn’t the best play, but since they’re 5-man doing it, it doesn’t look that bad.” In [America’s Cup], I think they played really well mechanically too — I think, to beat these teams, you gotta be sharp. That’s what they do well.

And I think C9 wasn’t on their best day, so that’s what happened, mostly.

Speaking for us, I think we’re now the strongest team — but not because we’re still winning scrims or anything. I think it’s mostly how we play scrims now. I think we changed our approach; there’s a lot of stuff that [we did] differently last split.

Last split we [would] win games, but I just thought like, the games don’t feel real. There was some weird stuff happening — like we were winning too hard and stuff. We’re putting a lot of effort in trying to make these games as real as possible and playing way more aggressive — but not an [unrealistic] aggression that you will be like, “Okay, I won’t do this on-stage.” It’s an aggression that you’re like, “Okay, I will do this on-stage if the chance is there and if this happens normally.” I think that’s what we changed the most.

I can tell, like … now, the games aren’t 100 to 0, like they cannot play — like [our scrims] were before. Now, we [still] win, and it feels nice to win because we’re doing things that we’re supposed to do — doing the correct thing.

So I just think it’s better for us — I think First Stand also helped us a lot, to watch BLG and G2 playing [was a] huge inspiration for us, because they like to play fast and not really [like other teams].

I don’t know if G2 likes to play fast, [maybe but] they’re really good at playing the map. We like BLG a lot, me and Core — we took a lot of inspiration from them and tried to … not “mimic” their style, but … have a similar idea. Learn from it. That’s what we’re aiming [for].

Q: Do you think LCS is as close as it looked in Split 1? Or was the format just chaotic.

Josedeodo: I think that is true, but there is a bit of a gap between the top four and the others, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see it on stage.

Q: Top four would be LYON-C9-TL-SEN, in no order?

Josedeodo: Yeah, I have a feeling, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see — because we also don’t know FlyQuest, because they were in Korea, so we have no info or anything. That’s what I think.

I also think DIG is better now. If you ask me, I think every team got better; when I play the games, I can tell teams are better, but I don’t know what the ceiling of every team is, you know? I just think there’s a bit of a gap when I play [against] top four teams, I think the map feels harder to play than against the other ones — […] there is a bit of a skill gap, but it’s not huge, you know? It could change over time.

Q: You played in LTAS last year, and after the America’s Cup, it seems like the level may have evened out between regions. Do you have a read on how good FURIA and CBLOL are? 

Josedeodo: Well, I think last year what helped the LCS the most was how slow you could play the map. But nowadays, the game is really fast, and you can have a game style that is like playing fast, just avoiding these vision timers and stuff. And I think that helps a lot for Brazilian teams because they like to play really fast and they like to fight a lot.

You can tell, in the FURIA series, even if they’re not fighting, they’re aiming for it all the time. Those things are really good for them, and I think that’s what helped them the most. I also think similarly to what happened with G2, like how they beat the LCK. Even LCK kind of plays their slow game like they want to, and they have to come and fight sometimes.

I think this meta is very chaotic, and it helps a lot of teams to look better — but I also think you have to be really talented and be good mechanically to win the games like that. It’s like 50-50, you know? I think the meta also helped to make the perception [of the gap shrinking]. But I also think if you play in this style, you still have to be better than the enemy.

Q: It seems like every NA team, though — except maybe SEN — plays slow. Do you think, if TL can pick up that BLG-esque fast style, that you’ll be able to dominate with it?

Josedeodo: I think if we play fast, we can have a lot of chaos in the games, and we can play way better. When there is chaos in the games, I feel like our team is fast at thinking how to adapt — and mechanically, I feel like we’re always sharp. I like playing fast. I like entering the enemy jungle and fighting till the end. I love that style, if you ask me. For us, it’s very fun to play that style. It’s like, even in scrims, we can tell we’re having more fun than playing “let’s control this vision and not fight”.

Now it’s like, “Boom, let’s go here. Fight, boom, boom.” Every 30 seconds, there is action, so it’s very fun to play. Especially when there is a reason for it, it has more value. And I think forcing the enemy team to come and fight you makes the game more fun, sort of.

So I think for us to play like this, of course, you have to be sharp, and many times it happens in scrims. Maybe we lose a fight, but the next time we were there again to fight, you know? So it’s not like we lost [immediately]. So I just think it helps us a lot, and it will show, I hope, during the split, that we want to play fast. And it’s not something that we want to drop at any point. We just want to get it up. So we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes, I’m excited.

Q: Is there a player, or jungler, that you particularly want to beat this split?

Josedeodo: Not really, not really. I think I stopped caring much about who I want to beat because, for myself, I first have to win the title, and for that, you need to beat everyone, sort of. So once I win the league, I can start aiming for players.

Q: Any fun stories with the team during the break?

Josedeodo: I always forget when they ask me this question, but then I remember. Yeah, I’m sure there are some, but I can’t remember any. Like some of these are so random that I laugh at the end of the day or something. I don’t have any right now. I’ll have to think for the next interview, I might have one. I’ll try to remember.

Q: Since you’re a jungler, I’m curious — do you prefer Skewmond or Inspired? After FST, people are split.

Josedeodo: I must say, I like Skewmond more, maybe because I like his style more than Inspired’s. I don’t think Inspired’s style is necessarily bad, but I personally like junglers that play fast and challenge you to fight them. I think that’s how you [force] the enemies to show if they can fight you or not.

And I like [Skewmond’s] style because I feel like that’s the correct game that you should play as a jungler — it’s not like he’s playing for his lead, but he’s always, like, playing through his lanes. That’s what Skewmond does really well. I like how he plays mechanically, too — he’s sharp. It’s not like he’s just good on the map; he’s good mechanically.

I like his style — I’ve liked him since last year. It’s not like [my opinion has suddenly changed]. I’ve been saying this guy is good and, [last year] I didn’t know if he was better than Yike, but I think during this time [at G2] he got way better, and I think now he’s the best in Europe, for sure. So yeah, I like Skewmond more. I don’t think Inspired is bad — I think both styles are good.

Q: Do you think Inspired would play faster, or more for his team, if his solo laners were more stable or trustworthy? In Lock-In, it seemed like LYON was bad at playing in chaos.

Josedeodo: Ah, I don’t know. I think it’s hard to tell how junglers will play in any other teams, because if you look at how I was playing last year and how I’m playing now, it’s so different. I think the team sort of shapes how the jungler works, but for Inspired, his style [is] how he likes to play.

On FLY last year, he was playing very similar to what he’s doing right now [on LYON]. I don’t know if it’s like an Inspired thing, but I also think it’s fine to play for [scaling] if you’re, like, confident that you can win the fights. I don’t think it’s necessarily like a bad style, but you know, it’s how junglers like to play. I don’t know if he’d play the same if he was in G2, you know, like Skewmond.

Maybe they’d play different … or I don’t know, or maybe [Inspired] changes his style. I don’t know. Every jungler changes based on how the team likes them to play, so I don’t know.

[But also] for example, I think players like Hambak, I don’t think they will change their style to the teams — they will make them play their style. So it depends, you know?

Transcription assistance from @flomillinoflo

Header Image Credit: Riot Games