FLY Massu: "I have to dictate more for my team and help them out"

The highly anticipated series from the first week of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Lock-In playoffs featured a rematch between Cloud9 and FlyQuest. The result of this Winner’s Bracket match-up differed from their previous one, as FlyQuest faltered in a disappointing 0-3 defeat against C9.

The youngest roster in the LCS can’t afford to be complacent, now that they’re forced run the Loser’s Bracket. Fahad “Massu” Abdulmalek discussed with Sheep Esports the suffocating sensation of facing Cloud9, his new role as a veteran, along with Song “Quad” Su-hyeong, thoughts before facing Kacper “Inspired” Słoma, and how FlyQuest rallies from playing with a live crowd.

Fahad “Massu” Abdulmalek: “It felt similar to last week. We’re making many individual mistakes, and around the objectives we want to play for. Sometimes, we give them too much space, and it becomes tough to take it back because we lose all the control when we’re supposed to have it. When they’re stronger and take up space, we’re too hasty and act before everyone connects to the play for the same objective. The flow of the game is off when we play against Cloud9. They’re such a good team; they punish us when making these mistakes. For the future, it’s important we know when we’re stronger, what we’re playing for, how to play for it, and when we must concede something. During this series, we weren’t aware of this, which made it hard to come back from considerable early-game deficits.

Massu: When you have a team with newer players, it means they have less experience. This lack of experience might make us more nervous or unsure when to fight or give up an objective. In both series, when C9 went for something, we didn’t get anything in return. We never tried getting tempo around the map and kept responding to their plays. This meant they had more time to do whatever they wanted. We were never able to get control of the game. This comes from inexperience, a misconception of how your composition wants to play, and how you get tempo from your champions against the opponents. Communication could help significantly more. Everyone on the team and I could help much more towards clearer communication and making plans around contesting the map.

Massu: It happened when I was in the Academy, and when we went to internationals the past couple of years with FlyQuest. When you’re playing against a team that understands what they’re doing better, once they get control of the game, and you don’t understand how to get it back, it will be a tough game to play. That’s an advantage they had over us. They knew where they should be, can be, and what they’re capable of, which we didn’t know for ourselves.

Massu: Being aware of the win conditions of both team compositions and communication is also important. Once we better understand what our champions want, what they’re capable of, and when they spike, we will push the pace of the game when we’re ahead. Whether on an item spike, a position advantage, or when we can utilize a pushed wave to get control somewhere, that’s what we lack right now. I don’t know what leads us to get control, and what can help us control the map. This knowledge comes from playing together more, understanding the composition’s win condition, and knowing your spikes.

Massu: It’s definitely different. When I first joined FlyQuest, I joined a very strong and opinionated team with players who knew how the team and they wanted to play the game. Following them and fulfilling my role in the game is simple, but now it’s the opposite. I have to dictate more for my team and help them out. Help them see what our win conditions are and what we need to play for. It’s somewhat stressful because it’s my first time being in this role. Generally, a jungler, mid laner, or support would dictate these things, so I’m trying to find a balance between juggling my laning and teamfighting while helping people where I can. Maybe I can tell them where to be, what our play could be, and what the enemy’s play could be. It’s a different but fun experience. I have a long way to go, so I need to learn how to help my teammates.

Massu: It depends on the meta, your composition, and your win conditions in the game. How you can play and how you should play changes from game to game. In the third game, once we got the lead through the bot lane, I based and came back. Sivir was behind some experience following her base level 1. We had Nocturne, Akali, Kalista, and Renata. This would be a complicated timer for C9 to play because their bot lane wave is pushing out, and they need to crash it without access to Heal or Barrier. If they do contest the bot crab and they flip a fight there, we should be ready. This is the first major thing that happened. Even if we didn’t get 3-0, there were some flaws. Quad could have teleported to connect earlier, or after getting Wukong’s flash, we can kite up and run towards Orianna and Wukong, preventing Bard and Sivir from connecting. There are many ways to play that scenario. The way I like to play is to utilize an advantage for myself or to pressure the opponent so that a teammate can play the game. Against C9, it’s been hard to execute.

Massu: It depends on how we take this series over the next week of practice, because there are many lessons we can get from it. If we take the mistakes and practice them throughout next week, we can be serious contenders to win this split. If we’re not able to, it’s going to be difficult because LYON, TL, and C9 punish these mistakes hard, though I think C9 is the best of the three. It all depends on how productive this week of practice is. I think we are very capable.

Massu: I’m not really thinking of him specifically when I think of LYON. It’s always fun playing against old teammates. It’s fun seeing what he does in the game or his decision-making. He is a great player. It’s going to be a fun series.

Massu: Honestly, I’m very excited. It is a big change in mood, the atmosphere is better, and I prefer playing with a live crowd. It’s good for our team because they feed off the crowd.”