Planet of the Apes, dystopia comes close to reality for the East

In a recent interview for Sheep Esports, Kacper "Inspired" Słomasaid this after qualifying for Worlds 2024 playoffs: “I saw that Reddit thread saying one monkey team would make it to quarters due to the draw. We’re the chosen monkeys!”. After FlyQuest's match against Gen.G on Sunday, the dystopian threat of the film ‘Planet of the Apes’ has never seemed so close... In fact, as Westerners, we are the monkeys and this catastrophe would be a dream come true. But for Kim ‘Kiin’ Ki-in and his teammates, it was indeed a nightmare that almost happened in the jungle of the Adidas Arena, in Paris.

The toplaner quickly donned his fireman's outfit to extinguish the embers sown by FlyQuest, to reassure his fans who might dread having to compete with monkeys shortly: “Based on the overall performance so far in the tournament, saying the gap is closing would not be right. However, FlyQuest showed great form today, and if teams continue to show this kind of performance next year, I’d say the gap could close then.” So, what happened when the tournament favorites were pushed to the limit against the ‘chosen monkeys’?

First of all, a very good start. As expected, FlyQuest came up with its own weapons, rather than those that seemed to have been imposed by the Asian meta since the beginning of the quarter-finals. It was Song ‘Quad’ Soo-hyung's Seraphine, in particular, that both surprised the humans of Gen.G and proved that the creativity and extravagance of monkeys can pay off. In the game, FlyQuest adapted to their opponents' sense of superiority, because in reality, they didn't necessarily create anything in the game and took advantage of the greed of a Gen.G that seemed to look down on them, to punish their every step too far.

One example of this was the winning first play at the Void Grubs, forced by Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon, followed by a much too deep attack by Son ‘Lehends’ Si-woo and Kim ‘Canyon’ Geon-bu, in the midlane. However, the lane swap was controlled by the North American team at the start of all the games played on Sunday. This was also to be expected, as FLY is undoubtedly one of the best teams in the West in this area. All too often, an advantage in the hands of a Western team is not enough against the Asians. Still, this time FlyQuest once again showed their creativity in teamfights, with good flanks from Gabriël ‘Bwipo’ Rau and surgical precision on Quad's ultimates... To win in 30 minutes, without ever flinching, and record the first Western victory in a Worlds quarter-final match since 2020.

Unfortunately, humans have too much pride and such an affront can only happen once. With a new-found respect for the inferior race, Gen.G have no choice but to banish the Seraphine who caught them so unawares in the previous game. But that's not all, as the emperor of the jungle, Canyon, feels obliged to pull out all the stops by doing them the honour of presenting his unclassifiable Nidalee... An honour FlyQuest could surely have done without, since with an overly scaled composition surrounding the Bestial Huntress, Gen.G still managed to dispatch this second act in 26 minutes.

While this turnaround seemed logical, it also seemed to confirm Gen.G's victory once and for all. Few imagined that the feat achieved in the first game could be repeated, especially given the way the second went. And to be honest, this single victory would surely have been enough to consider this BO5 a success for the West. But FLY didn't seem to think so and it was now the botlane's turn to prove what they were capable of. Fahad ‘Massu’ Abdulmalek and Alan ‘Busio’ Cwalina are young, and the only two players from North America in the team. The first came out of the academy league this year, the other last year. Pure products of the league, certainly full of hope, but not expected to be able to compete with the Gen.G botlane any time soon...

And yet. This game 3 opened with a festival in favour of the two FLY players, recovering elimination after elimination and burying Kim ‘Peyz’ Su-hwan who had made too many mistakes. A sizeable advantage, but not enough to outrun the GENs, who were pressing on the other side of the map, with a hungry Renekton. After a good pick-up on Bwipo, the Koreans once again committed a sin of pride by going too far into the North American jungle in search of extra kills. Together, with a synchronization worthy of the greatest, in a playing field that should be favourable to the LCK powerhouse, and thanks to a Canadian AD Carry who resisted perfectly, FlyQuest managed to turn this teamfight to their advantage with a 4 for 0, followed by a Nashor power play.

With insane confidence, FlyQuest managed to repeat the feat on at least two occasions in a tense game, until the titan collapsed completely. For the second time. Massu, in particular, wrote his name into the memories of the millions of people who discovered him that day, finishing the game with an 11/0/8 KDA on his Kai'Sa. Perhaps one of the greatest performances by a Western AD Carry in a series against the Asians at Worlds, since Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic in 2019 or Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson in 2018. The fourth game was completely turned around by a 1v2 elimination recovered by Kiin on this same botlane, who perhaps needed to come down from their little cloud. The problem was that a lot of resources had been invested for them this early, and this death inevitably slowed down FLY's plan and accelerated it for the toplaner and Canyon, who were quick to snowball.

So it was a costly mistake. But how can you blame them? Their previous game was a feat, and these two youngsters were just getting their second international experience, their first at Worlds, especially on such an imposing stage, with so much at stake that of knocking off a big favorite in a BO5 match, when in the last four years not a single team from the West had taken even one game from an LCK or LPL team in this exercise. FlyQuest will have died with its ideas in the draft for game 5, attempting a Fiddlesticks in the jungle. Perhaps not enough, as they fell into Gen.G's trap of not banning Yone, forcing Quad to retrieve it to prevent it from falling into Chovy's hands. But the best player in the world seemed to have anticipated everything and murdered him in lane with his Smolder, quickly reducing the Americans' hopes to zero. Despite the outcome, FlyQuest came out of the Worlds with its head held high. Far higher than NRG last year, Rogue in 2022 or MAD Lions and Cloud9 in 2021.

Busio offered some insight into their approach to the competition: “We don't scrim Eastern teams that much, and we don't show them our strats.” Perhaps this is the recipe for success. Like the LCK and the LPL, who, as we know, do not scrim each other in the run-up to the competition, to put all the chances on their region's side, not revealing their strategy and discoveries on the meta. We Westerners have a tendency to submit to this feeling of inferiority. We tend to see Worlds as an opportunity for our players to develop, to train against the best in the world, and not as a trophy to be won by playing as we see fit.

Because that's what FlyQuest managed to do for two games. Forcing the opponents to play THEIR game, bringing them into their territory and their way of understanding the meta. Force them to make mistakes, because by making them bleed, they have confirmed that none of them are robots, even if they go by the nicknames ‘Chovy’ or ‘Canyon’. The series may have ended in defeat, but it was a huge victory for the future of the West. The humans will remember it as the day they trembled again, while the monkeys will use it as a gigantic mine of resources to learn from, do better, and maybe, one day overthrow the ruling power.