FlyQuest's Eyla breaks down team's weaknesses
FlyQuest has been the number one team in the League of Legends LCS 2023 Spring Split and the gap is quite large. With a stacked lineup headlined by Korean superstar talent like Lee "Prince" Chae-hwan on the lineup, there was no question that this team could dominate the LCS purely off of their mechanical talents. From the outside, FlyQuest looked unstoppable. However, this past weekend against CLG and Evil Geniuses showed that there are still things that the team needs to work out.
In this interview, we spoke to FlyQuest support Bill "Eyla" Nguyen about the team's communication struggles, his own struggles being away from the team, and how he wants to impact the team now that he is here.
I wanted to ask you about Aurelion Sol and Annie because it has been quite some time since we have seen them in competition. What were your thoughts on the draft?
Even before the nerfs, I felt Annie was still pretty broken since her rework. I think LCS teams were a little bit slow in picking her up, but she's still a really strong champion. Just being able to move forward and reflect damage with a big spammable shield is really strong. As for Aurelion Sol, he is kind of broken as we experienced in the game. We let him get to the late game and he was doing a lot of damage so the champion is definitely strong.
Can you walk me through some of the adjustments the team had to make in order to eventually be able to close out the game? It took some time to push into their base.
Yeah, I mean, if we didn’t lose baron, the game would be over a lot earlier. We should never be in a position where we lose baron, but we miscommunicated and our communication was really bad. People weren’t doing their jobs in keeping Lee Sin out.
When we mess up, we just have to wait for objectives and eventually it came down to Elder where they have to fight us. Aurelion Sol was getting really strong at that point, but we were still ahead in gold so we were able to push into their base and eventually win the game. It took a long time to do, tough.
FlyQuest's Prince and Impact on the LCS stage.
Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
I wanted to ask you about the team's communication. From the outside, one of the fears for this team was the Korean-English barriers that could arise. What have been your experiences since joining the team? Is that barrier still there?
I think Spica takes up most of our communication on stage, but I think there's still not a lot of communication. I mean, it's hard for me to tell because I wasn't on the team back then. But from what I've experienced, we have some communication issues. The Koreans, tend to stay quieter. It's hard for them to communicate what they want from us and vice versa. So yeah, it still exists, but it's just the reality. It's going to take a bit of time to work on. It’s only my second week and the previous team had Winsome who was playing and able to speak Korean and kind of communicate with them in that way. So yeah, that’s where we are at right now.
You were the primary shotcaller on Team Liquid Academy, but on this team, you are coming on as a rookie in a field of veterans. What has that adjustment been like for you as somebody that is used o speaking a lot in a team environment? Are you still slotting into that role or are other people taking more initiative?
It’s an odd adjustment, but I think I’m speaking less because of how smart they are. If I am the smartest on the team or if my team is not very talkative, then I will speak more. It’s not a struggle to speak in situations like that. When I first started playing, it was a struggle, but I developed communication skills to a point where it was very natural for me. When you’re on a team like FlyQuest, everyone is so smart. You can talk all you want, but if it’s not as good as what other people think. Or if you are not playing well enough, it doesn’t matter. It’s a work in progress, but I’d say that I’m not the primary shot caller on this team. I provide information and some calls every now and then, but I’ll usually take a backseat.
Will the eventual plan be for you to slot into that shotcalling role?
I think it should just naturally happen. If I become insanely smart in a year, which I doubt would happen in a year, I will take more of a shot-calling position in the team.
You don’t try to force it onto someone. It should just be one of those natural things that happen as you accumulate more knowledge. I doubt that will happen throughout his year, but let’s say it does happen. Naturally, I will take more of a shotcalling position in the team. Obviously, when I talk, other people will have to talk less, but I think it’s very natural. You don’t try to force it, but you just keep trying to teach people to communicate what they need to do. Then, it kind of just works out and players adapt to each other.
Did you just jump into scrims immediately or did you get some rest? Like what happened? Just getting here was quite a journey as you were in London for the first four weeks before you finally got your visa approved. Talk to me about coming back into the team and what that was like.
During my time in London, I had no idea when my visa would come. I would ask for updates almost every day and there was no update or any idea of when the visa would come. I just kept waiting and I was feeling pretty lost at the time. All I could do was play soloqueue, but when I found out my visa was approved, I felt a sense of purpose. I felt that I could start preparing properly once again and I was very happy. It gave me a lot of motivation when I came back. I had one day off and then I jumped straight into scrims. That has carried along and I am just glad everything got sorted out.
What was it like to watch the team succeed without you on the team? What were some of your thoughts while in London and you are not on the team? Were you happy to see them succeed? Or were there some fearful thoughts that the team could be better without you? What was going through your mind?
I had many thoughts during that time, both good and bad. I think it’s unavoidable when you are in a situation like that to not think, “holy s***, my team is so good, do they even need me?”
Some days, you are feeling good and you are playing well. I just would think that I want to come back and play. Other times, you have thoughts about how you could be doing so much more if I was there with the team. It’s a back-and-forth of having some days where you just feel good. You think that you will demolish them or that my team is so good. Other times, I think about what is my purpose or what am I doing to fulfill the team. I think you just have to accept both of these types of thoughts when they come and move on. YOu just need to keep trying to become better so you can have an impact and be useful.
How do you feel like that has been going so far adjusting back in the team? Do you feel that you have defined the purpose that you were talking about? What are your next steps?
Yeah, I definitely think we're still in the early stages. I have so much to work on. I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to matchup details and practice that I would have normally gotten. I think I have a lot to figure out. I'm behind on my knowledge, and I need to keep working on that. It’s a goal that I have. I know I have to work on that and right now, we're struggling to get to that point. Even though it might not show on stage, we are still working things out.
Where you can watch League of Legends LCS
Viewers can tune in for week 7 of the LCS 2023 Spring Split through the LCS Twitch and YouTube channels. The action will continue next week on March 9, 2023, as the LCS enters its final five regular season games of the split.
