Galions may not have made the dream start to the
Ligue Française de League of Legends (
LFL) Spring Split regular season, but they managed to come back strong, beating
BK ROG Esports twice in the Swiss Stage. They will face
Vitality.Bee in the playoffs tomorrow at 6pm (CET). Just before this decisive match, we had the opportunity to interview the team's support, Théo "
Zoelys" Le Scornec. He discussed the progress of the split, his relationship with Jean "
Jezu" Massol, and his hopes of one day returning to the LEC.
The regular season didn't go as well as you hoped, especially at the beginning. But in the end you came back well. On top of that, you beat KCB and M8 in a tiebreak. Then you followed that up with a pretty convincing Swiss Stage. In your opinion, what has changed to make this rise possible throughout the split?
Théo "Zoelys" Le Scornec: I think that at the beginning, the defeats were positive because when you lose, you question yourself a lot more than when you win. So, as we lost, we said to ourselves: OK, there's something that's not right and we sort of fixed what was wrong. I think that, individually, we weren't at our best. I think that after that, people started to spam more, which raised the overall level of the team a bit. And then just as a team, we need to be on the same page. That's something we really struggled with. And right now, I really feel that we're more and more on the same page. So that's why we're winning games.
When you talk about spamming, are you talking more about tryharding scrims together or are you talking more about spamming solo queues individually?
Zoelys: Yeah, both, we played more solo queues, we played more scrims and the overall level went up.
Next Tuesday, you will be facing Vitality.Bee, a team that has gone the other way. They finished first in the regular season, but have had more trouble in the Swiss Stage. How do you feel about this BO5 match-up given the form of both teams?
Zoelys: I think the level of both teams is pretty high in the league. I think we're both among the best teams, so it's going to be a great BO. I still see us as favourites, I think we're a bit better in our current form and we've been able to watch them play a bit, so we've got a bit more data on them. And yeah, frankly, it's going to be a great match.
How are things going in the botlane with Jezu (Jean Massol)? Do you get the impression that the two of you are getting on well, that the synergy between you is going well? Or do you still need to make a few adjustments to reach your full potential?
Zoelys: I think that on a human level, we get on really well, we're very close, it's easy to talk to each other. But when it comes to the game, it's not often... We agree 50% of the time, but 50% of the time we're not on the same page. It's something we're working on, but I think recently it's been better, even in terms of lane stat, we've really improved. I don't know exactly, but my impression is that we're winning most of our botlanes. So frankly, the two of us are starting to play at a really good level.
Outside of the game, is the group getting on well at Galions in general?
Zoelys: Frankly, the group gets on really well, we have a really good relationship. We have a lot of laughs and spend a lot of time together, even when we're not scrimming. I've taught them how to play “président”(card game), so we're playing some “president” together. Frankly, the group gets on well, we have activities organised by Galions, so frankly it's a very good group.
In the first split, you almost qualified for the EMEA. This time, there's just one place left. So, you'll have to beat vitality in your next game and then IJC or BK ROG to get there. Are you approaching this final sprint with the idea of correcting something from the first split?
Zoelys: Yes, because last time we lost our first BO5, so we don't want to make the same mistakes now. I think one thing that cost me individually was that I didn't really know what I wanted to play in games 5 and 4. You go really deep into the champion pool and I didn't have too many ideas, but I've been working on that a bit more now, so in scrim we're practising a lot on a large number of picks, so I think we've learnt from our mistakes and it's not going to be the same.
LFL Spring Split Playoffs Bracket. Credit: Sheep Esports
You mentioned the picks in games 4 and 5. Would you say that Fearless is a good thing and that it challenges you or, on the contrary, would you have preferred the game to stay in a format without Fearless?
Zoelys: Basically, I have arguments that go both ways. As a player, it's certainly nice to play different champions, and even in scrims, you don't get bored as much. For a year, if you play the same champion, it's a bit hard. But I have the impression that in BO5, there are a lot of random drafts. And because I think we're the best team, we kind of want to remove that random factor. So I'm a bit for and against.
You're part of a new project with Galions after a more complicated experience with Rogue. Do you have any regrets about your year in the LEC?
Zoelys: Do I regret? Yes, I have quite a few regrets about the choices I've made in my career. I think I had a lot more potential when I was young, at the age of 22, I won some titles, but I could have dreamt of much better things.
Do you feel that your chance may have gone, or on the contrary, that your time with Galions today won't be long?
Zoelys: I don't think that my chance has passed. I think that if I train well and have a healthy lifestyle, I can last a long time. I'm not 40 either. But frankly, I think I've got what it takes to get back into the LEC and I think I'll be back pretty soon. You can take the example of Raphaël "
Targamas" Crabbé, he had a bad year and the year after, he's probably the best support. It can go fast, I guess.
Despite your time at Rogue, you're still one of ERL's best support players. How do you feel about the current level of support in the LEC? Do you think you belong there?
Zoelys: Yes, I clearly belong in the LEC. I don't think I'm at the level of the top 3, which is quite high. But clearly, the level in the LEC drops very quickly, there are huge differences. Mihael "
Mikyx" Mehle and others are at a very good level, but when you look at the bottom 5, it's not very strong and I find that the ERL top 5 are at about the same level. You even see players like Yasin "
Nisqy" Dinçer
first timing who manages to do pretty well. It's pretty much the only role where you can see that. I can't see a roleswap in the jungle where the player isn't going to be destroyed by everyone.
Who would you put in your top 3 support in the LEC?
Zoelys: I'd put Yoon "
Jun" Se-jun, Targamas, Mikyx. I think Jun's probably top 1. After all, I've got a bit of experience from playing against him. But, he was in Fnatic so it was quite a big team. The hard thing about support is that it also depends a lot on the team. Last year, for example, I didn't think Targamas was all that strong, but this year you think he's strong. It's a team game, so there's a lot of team dependency too.
Zoelys: At the beginning, it was a dream, because I had a really strong team on paper. I had all the conditions to perform well, but in the end, it didn't go so well. I think there are quite a few things wrong with Rogue internally. I'm in a bit of a difficult position. I don't want to say any bad things. It's the same idea, but... But I think there are things that aren't right, perhaps the end of a cycle of certain people who have been playing together for too long and who are a bit... Maybe they're a bit too friendly to say things to each other. And frankly, I don't think the arrival of a new team is a bad thing. It'll bring in new blood, there'll be other ideas about how to run the team, so it'll shake things up and I think it's good that things are changing at Rogue.
Header Photo Credit: Elliot Le Corre/Webedia
