19.08.26 - 21:3019.08.2026 - 21:30·6m6 Minuten Lesezeit·
Von Luis Mario Reyes
FLY Cryogen: "Everyone has agreed that we need to improve individually if we want the team to improve"
Teams must pick up the pace if they want to reach the playoffs. FlyQuestâs support, Cryogen, explained how the teamâs mindset shifted after their Week 1 loss.
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"When we start winning and getting better, we become too comfortable with the position weâre in rather than being hungry and wanting more, I guess"
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The end of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2026 Summer Split draws closer with each passing week. The conclusion of the fourth week of competition has solidified a distinction between the upper-half and the lower-half teams. Unfortunately for âs all-rookie roster, their 0-2 series defeat at the hands of a surging pushed them into the lower half of the table.
Next week will have massive implications in the rush at the bottom of the table as the lower half teams fight to secure their playoff spot. Following his match, Michael â" Luu had an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports. FlyQuestâs support discussed Johnson â" Leâs innovative ideas, how Head Coach Thomas âThinkcard" Slotkin has changed practice, and sets a reward for the missing Eain â" Stearns and Jesper â" Svenningsen.
Iâve been scrolling through FlyQuestâs socials. How viable is Gryffinnâs idea to âwaterboard until you win worldsâ?
Michael âCryogenâ Luu: âHonestly, it was pretty good because our Game 1s havenât been that good recently. I guess waterboarding yourself with cold water helps wake you up. Being more awake for the first game of the series helps us think more, which is why weâre working on it. It definitely helped a decent bit today because todayâs Game 1 was a bit better than usual.
Factoring in the teamâs great form during the Spring Split, what would you attribute this Game 1 slump to?
Cryogen: Sometimes, in Game 1s, weâre not thinking about everything. There are a lot of things weâre just not talking about. Weâre not having productive conversations in-game. I think being more awake helps us get the energy up, which pushes us to talk more. Right now, it somewhat sucks because weâre having a bit of a slow start, but I think weâre still getting better. Each game weâre playing is better than the previous.
The second post on the teamâs socials that caught my attention is the missing personâs post that used your image. If you were to add a reward to APA and Zvenâs missing poster, how much would each reward be?
Cryogen: I donât know, probably some money. Probably like $100,000 or $50,000 would be nice.
Iâm curious about FlyQuestâs scrims after listening to coach Thinkcardâs pre-match interview. I also saw you went rock climbing after âinting scrims.â How have scrims been going?
Cryogen: Honestly, a lot of us joke around with this, but scrims have been going well recently. Weâre working a lot on things weâre supposed to be working on. Weâve got goals weâre striving for, and I feel weâre reaching the mark pretty well. Sometimes I feel like we get too complacent or we forget to talk about other things when weâre focused on something else. However, honestly, scrims have been going pretty well. Even though weâre off to a slow start, weâve had good scrim days here and there, or weâre having better scrim days than usual. Obviously, there are bad days here and there, but I think scrims have been going pretty well.
Your Head Coach added during the pre-match interview, âThe players have stepped up each otherâs effort during practice.â Without going into details, what lit the fire so everyone would redouble their effort?
Cryogen: Losing to LYON in Week 1 was a wake-up call for all of us, especially because they didnât have (Kacper SĆoma). It helped us realize some of us were slacking and werenât quite putting in enough effort during scrims, reviews, individual reviews, and practice in general. After that week, we all had a conversation about how some of us needed to step up and put in more effort. I think, ever since we agreed to put in more effort, scrims have been going well, and weâve been learning more. Thereâs definitely been improvement, yeah.
I seem to identify that the loss to LYON shaped FlyQuestâs current mentality. Why did this loss sting the team this much?
Cryogen: After our Korean bootcamp, we thought we were in a position to be really good. When we start winning and getting better, we become too comfortable with the position weâre in rather than being hungry and wanting more, I guess. Especially because LYON was playing with a substitute, it felt like we were supposed to win that match. Going into that game, we felt like we were supposed to win, and losing Game 2 was pretty bad. For us, it was an unacceptable loss.
One final quote from Thinkcardâs interview is, âWe revamped a lot of the ways we practice, which is good, especially for such a young roster.â Why is it important for a young roster to constantly revamp the practice?
Cryogen: Recently, as we've reviewed our practices, weâve had more thorough conversations with each other, which has allowed us to offer more criticism and feedback. We havenât been holding back as much. Everyone has agreed that we need to improve individually if we want the team to improve. After games, we usually have conversations about individual plays. Obviously, we have reviews that involve the whole team, but we also allocate our time to review our own gameplay. I think this is when we can make a lot of improvement. Everyone has a different perspective on how to play the game, and I think that gives a lot of insight into how we can improve.
I have a somewhat personal question for you. Did you practice any sport or competitive hobby as you were growing up?
Cryogen: Growing up, I played football for like seven years. I won something back home; I donât remember exactly what. It was like state or something. I donât really remember, but I do remember I won something when I played football. It was so long ago. In high school, I ran cross country and track, so growing up, Iâve always been very competitive.
I swear this question is League of Legends related, but I have to take a tangent. What position did you play during your football years?
Cryogen: I used to play Center Midfield.
Thatâs pretty cool! We have a midfield maestro. I want to talk about the recent discussion regarding League of Legends practices and the implementation of drills. I also grew up playing football, and I remember the different drills aimed at improving finishing, passing, and crossing. Do you think itâs viable for teams to add drills to scrims or individual practice?
Cryogen: Honestly, Iâm not sure. Itâs somewhat hard because each team has its own distinct weaknesses, and most of the time itâs better to scrim the whole game rather than to drill a specific scenario the team needs to work on. I think itâs a hard question to answer.
Do you think there would be a positive influence on practice if drills were implemented?
Cryogen: I can see it. I think it still depends because each teamâs individual weaknesses differ. A team with one weakness could find a team with another weakness, and they could drill each other. For the most part, I donât think⊠Honestly, Iâm not sure. I think itâs hard to implement drills.
Another conversation around scrims thatâs made the rounds is forfeits. Has this problem plagued FlyQuest too?
Cryogen: Honestly, I donât think our team ffâs as much. Sometimes we will remake if the game is really unplayable, but weâre not really a team that ff or remakes a lot in scrims. Weâre usually the ones giving out a lot of remakes.
Do you think the practice of forfeiting and remaking scrims hinders NAâs growth?
Cryogen: I think remakes are good, well, to an extent theyâre good, so that you can test out a lot of early-game stuff. I think forfeiting isnât completely⊠Sometimes, if the game is clearly lost, I think itâs ok to forfeit, but some teams will forfeit after losing a team fight or when something goes wrong. I think thatâs somewhat unproductive for both teams. I think forfeiting sometimes makes sense, but some teams forfeit because they donât want to play, which is really unproductive.
Moving away from scrim culture, Jatt (Josh Leesman) started the conversation around League of Legends Esports All-Time starting five. Who would be in your starting five? The only restrictions are a maximum of two players from each team and no (Lee Sang-hyeok)!
Cryogen: Any region? When you say all-time, you mean taking them at their peak? If thatâs the case⊠Itâs hard. In support, I would take (Ryu Min-seok) or (Cho Geon-hee). I think Keria for sure; he is the best support of all time⊠or BeryL? I think Keria. In the botlane, I would take (Kim Kyuk-kyu). I think he is really good. Midlane would be a toss-up between (Heo Su) and (Jeong Ji-hoon). I would probably take Showmaker. For the jungle, I would probably take⊠oof. I think jungle is actually hard, but I would probably say (Mun Hyeon-jun). Finally, the toplane spot⊠would go to (Choi Woo-je).â
