This is your first time representing Canada internationally on home soil. How has it felt so far to be in Vancouver?
Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek: "It's been pretty nice. Canada in general—or at least the cities I've lived in, like Mississauga and Vancouver—they have a very distinct neighborhood style. As soon as we came into Vancouver, I kind of saw that again and felt a nice wave of nostalgia. It almost felt like being back home, even though this isn’t the city I grew up in. Overall, representing Canada feels pretty nice. It’s nice to play in Vancouver.
People have joked that the LEC has more Canadian players than the LTA North. Does being the only Canadian representative for your country add any pressure, especially since you're playing at home?
Massu: I wouldn’t say it adds any pressure. I’d say it makes it more fun—maybe people will be looking out for me more here or watching me more. Other than that, I don’t really feel the pressure of playing in my home country. Even though a lot of my family and friends are coming, so maybe that’s a little bit of pressure—to perform in front of them.
Will your family and friends be attending the entire event?
Massu: Not exactly the entire event. They'll try to catch the games that they can.
This is your second time at MSI and your third international event overall. Last year, FlyQuest didn’t make it past the Play-In stage after facing T1 and PSG Talon. Do you see this year as a potential redemption arc?
Massu: I haven’t really thought about past MSI, to be honest. It’s kind of a bad memory, but at the same time, it’s not something I need to think about. I focus on what’s useful to take away from that MSI, but thinking like, “Oh, last MSI we choked really hard, people are going to expect nothing of us”—that kind of train of thought doesn’t help me with anything, so I don’t use it.
Overall, this year is a lot different than last time. We had a lot of team issues—especially me, I wasn’t as good as I am now. We’ve had a few roster changes since then, and now we’re just a much more complete team. We’re a much more cohesive unit as well.
Many people consider FlyQuest one of the most promising Western teams right now. Even BrokenBlade recently mentioned that scrimming teams like you and Cloud9 shows how strong the LTA has become. How do you feel about those expectations, and do you believe FlyQuest is the best Western team at MSI?
Massu: At our ceiling—which we haven't reached yet—we are for sure the best Western team. We can be a really good team when all our players are on, when we’re playing together as a team, and when we have solid plans and solid win conditions. In terms of LTA’s level, C9 really helped us level up this split. They were the team that challenged us the most and kind of forced us to keep getting better. It’s kind of like what happened last year with TL—they were that team for us then. Especially TL’s botlane really kept me and Busio (Alan Cwalina) sharp because they were just very good laners. C9 is doing that for us this year. The LCS level is slowly rising.
Cloud9 pushed you to five games twice in the playoffs, and now at MSI, every match is a best-of-five with fearless draft. How do you feel about the format? Does it suit your team, and do you feel well-prepared?
Massu: Personally, I like best-of-fives. As a team, we have pretty deep champion pools, and we have creative picks we can pull out. In general, our team—depending on the day—has a lot of tenacity in best-of-fives, so it’s beneficial for us.
Is İbrahim "Gakgos" Samet Bulut going to attend MSI with you or be involved?
Massu: He won’t be at this event in person, I believe, because he’s still graduating high school. So for now he won’t be at the event, but I’m sure he’ll watch.
Your winter split didn’t go as planned, although many people downplayed its importance. Only CTBC Flying Oyster is returning after First Stand. Did that disappointment make you more motivated to win LTA Spring and show a stronger performance at MSI?
Massu: For sure. During the winter split, a lot of people said the format wasn’t the best, but it would be pretty dishonest to fully blame the format. As a team we just weren’t playing well, and as individuals we also weren’t playing well. We kind of played with little trust in each other. That really helped us wake up. It helped us practice harder for the next split, and we took a lot from that coming into this.
Do you feel like a veteran now?
Massu: Not really, honestly. There are more responsibilities I have to take on as a player to consider myself a veteran. And there’s just a level I would want to reach before I’d consider that.
You’ll likely face either Anyone's Legend or CFO in your opening match. What are your thoughts on those potential opponents?
Massu: I watched pretty much every LPL game this year, and Anyone’s Legend looks very, very strong. They have insane teamplay, insane individual players—especially their botlane. They know how to play their matchups, they know what they want to do, they know their timings. And as a team, they’re very creative, they find really good windows, and they have solid ideas of their roles in the game.
As for CFO, I haven’t watched them as much as I watched the LPL—just some games here and there. But honestly, I also believe CFO is really good. I watched HongQ (Tsai Ming-Hong) at First Stand and was super surprised that he’s born in 2007, so I have pretty high hopes for him. Both of those teams are very strong, and I’m excited to play against both of them.
Since you’ve watched a lot of LPL, is Anyone’s Legend one of the teams you most wanted to face? Or would you prefer to face LCK teams as well?
Massu: I mean, to be honest, there are a lot of teams I’d like to face that aren’t here—like JDG. I’d really like to play against Peyz (Kim Su-hwan) again because I think he’s one of the best ADCs in the world. I’d have really liked to play against Diable (Nam Dae-geun), actually. I scrimmed against him at last year’s MSI when he was still in Challengers, and I thought he was insane. But yeah, Anyone’s Legend is pretty up there among the teams I wanted to face.
Do you feel FlyQuest is in peak form now, especially after moments like the Disneyland outing with Busio? Are you at your peak bot lane performance?
Massu: [Laughs] Our bot lane synergy is definitely high, but I don’t think we’ve peaked or gotten anywhere near our peak honestly. There's a lot more room for growth.
Have you had a chance to do anything fun in Vancouver, or has it been all practice? Do you get time to think about anything besides League?
Massu: So far, we haven’t, honestly. My friend who lived in Vancouver for a bit sent me a list of things we can do here, but I haven’t looked at it yet because we don’t have time. We’ve been busy with media, scrims, and practice. So far, it’s just been League and practice. Maybe we’ll get time in the future. As a team, we have a tradition where we walk at night for about 30 minutes—just walk around the city, explore a bit.
Besides a dinner with Chaewon, what are you fighting for at MSI?
Massu: We’re fighting to kind of cement our team as an international threat, I would say. I’d really like for us to reach a level where we can comfortably challenge international teams.
Do you have a message for FlyQuest fans?
Massu: Thank you guys for always watching us and supporting us. This year, we’ve honestly had a lot of ups and downs, and I hope we can repay your support by doing well in this tournament."
Header Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Armand Luque is an interviewer and journalist with deep roots in the EMEA League of Legends scene. A veteran of the esports world, they hail from France and are best known for their work on Leaguepedi...
