G2 Yike: “[NA is] looking pretty good this year”Interviews

Yike
Image via Riot Games

Highlight:

“Caps will always start singing a random teen girl song. And then the whole team just sings it together before scrims while playing solo queue, in the hotel room [for] bootcamp. He likes Katy Perry, so he was singing Roar.”

Q: You all picked fruits for your solo queue ID’s, right? What was your reasoning?

Yike: We talked for months about what name we wanted and no one wanted to agree on something, so then Caps was like “let’s just take fruits”. Miky really didn’t want to, but then we convinced him.

I was actually gonna be Kiwi or Avocado, but we wanted to add Doctor in front of the name, [which was] super random. I don’t know if you know about it, but there’s a show called Phineas and Ferb, […] I love Phineas and Ferb, and there’s Dr. Coconut in [the show].

So I just took it from there. The Carl guy is Dr. Coconut. The ginger teen nerd guy. There’s one outro where he was in his basement and he’s singing Dr. Coconut. Very random but I love that. […] I was a big fan as a kid, probably the best kids show that I watched.

Q: Talk about some fun team vibes stories from behind the scenes.

Yike (after the Roar story): We also meme a lot, we try to be up with the trending memes. Like, Skibidi Toilet, […] Hawk Tuah as well, just this kind of random shit. And usually it’s me or BB that starts doing them, and then the whole team starts doing it, and even the staff at some point. […] Just writing Skibidi Toilet in the group chat.

Q: Do you have any nicknames for other players?

Yike: One thing I like to call Caps is Cappy, I call him Cappy and I don’t know if he likes that. He probably doesn’t, I think.

Miky has different ones, sometimes we call him Big Bear Miky, because one time he was crawling around like a bear [for] an exercise. He was really good at being a bear, so we call him Big Bear Miky.

Q: Going into your second Worlds, how are you feeling?

Yike: I’m doing amazing. It’s very nice to be a part of another worlds. I think last year was a bit of a worse Worlds for us, but I think this year we can make a difference [hopefully] go further than we did last year.

Q: What are you guys doing differently this time?

Yike: One thing we already do is wear masks more, so we make sure no one gets a bit sick. It’s not an excuse to how we lost or that we lost, but I think it’s a good start to make sure that no one gets sick.

Q: Talk about the top Western junglers at the tournament.

Yike: I mean, I’m up there, I would say. And then I would say Razork, FNC, and Inspired is looking very good. [And] I think Elyoya is good, so I think all of the Western junglers, even UmTi is also performing good from the games I’ve played and seen him, I think he’s a bit underrated. I think all the Western junglers are pretty good right now, so I hope we can show it off vs the Asian teams.

Q: What do you think about NA’s level?

Yike: I must say that NA is actually looking much better than they’ve done in the last years I’ve ever watched them and played against them.

Since MSI I’ve seen TL play pretty good. I really respect the way they work and how much they work. FLY too, I respect the rivalry they have between them. I think they probably learn a lot from each other, and I can see that in the gameplay when we scrim them.

I think [NA is] looking pretty good this year, so I’m excited to see how they will do. Maybe they will choke, maybe they won’t, but I think they look good.

Q: How do the team vibes help you?

Yike: It really helps me to have a good environment in the team, I think I haven’t had a bad team so far in a long time. I feel very lucky with that.

In this team, in two years I think we maybe once had a bad week with bad attitude. Overall, I think it’s always been good. Everyone on my team is friendly, everyone knows that [already]. It’s a very nice atmosphere to have, […]

Like Isma, our performance coach, talking to all the players and making sure we are mentally stable. I think we do well [avoiding being] crazy or going toxic, or anything like that. Maybe I would even say I’m probably the most toxic on the team.

Q: Toxic to each other or to the enemy team?

Yike: No, like negative kind of toxic, you know? Like, I get invaded I’m like “Oh, fuck, sorry guys” [and sometimes] I’m very negative.

Q: Your teammates are much more experienced than you, but I’m sure they struggled with the same stuff when they were newer.

Yike: I know like BB, for example, has been more ego, more toxic when he was younger, back in the old days for him. But now he’s a very good leader, like a team leader, […] and I hope I can do that too.

Q: How did it feel to get the G2 offer? Did you freak out?

Yike: Yeah, I never thought it was gonna happen. I was playing in the French division and we had a very good year, so I was in talks with G2 and other LEC teams. But I was like, “there’s no way I get G2, right?” And then I was going at the airport home to Sweden, and as soon as I was entering a plane I got [a] message from Miky and he was like “Welcome”, or something. […]

I was with a bunch of people so I couldn’t show it, but I was screaming inside, you know?