One day until the
League Championship Series (LCS) is back, and
FlyQuest is starting a new chapter. Last year, FlyQuest’s roster found strong success in the league and stayed near the top throughout the season. For 2026, however, the team has made major roster changes in hope to reach new heights on the international stage.
In an interview with
Sheep Esports, the team’s ADC,
Fahad “Massu” Abdulmalek, speaks about what he learned from his former teammates and the challenges of rebuilding team chemistry. He also shares his thoughts on stepping into a leadership role, adjusting to the game’s new season, and his goals of reaching
MSI and
Worlds this year.
With the LCS finally back I wanted to ask you, how did the LTA era feel to you?
Fahad “Massu” Abdulmalek: To be honest, it went by pretty fast. I think especially the formats were a bit more experimental, especially in the first split or so. So it was kind of like a fever dream, I'd say. But I think it was a fine experience. It wasn't that different from playing in the LCS, but I'm happy that we're back to what it used to be.
Since you've joined the league in 2024, you've stayed near the top domestically constantly. What do you think is the secret to domestic dominance and what do you feel is missing to bring that on the international stage?
Massu: To be honest, I think first of all, I got really lucky with having such a good starting point with my team. I think we had a really good team. We had really good players and it was kind of just a matter of time before we won something with a team like that. And I was lucky to play with those players because it helped me learn a lot and it helped me learn pretty fast.
In terms of bringing that internationally, I think just when you go to internationals, you kind of have to play catch up a little bit to the Eastern teams, which honestly I don't think is hard to do at all. And once you do that, I think your game fundamentals, you're drafting all those kind of philosophies and how you play League of Legends as a team should stay the same as you were planning.
And then you just keep improving on that. Improve on your leaning phase, improve on your team fighting, improve on your macro. And then naturally, I think you can compete with the best teams.
You said you learned something from every member of your past team. Would you be willing to share maybe one thing that you learned from each and one of the past players that you played with?
Massu: Yeah, for sure. For Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau, I'd say kind of knowing your turn and knowing when you can be aggressive and knowing when you have to do something with your advantage in the game. I think he was very good at that and he saw timings really well and his knowledge of tempo was really well.
Kacper "Inspired" Słoma, I think I learned from him that you have to focus on your role in the game. Depending on your champion, depending on your team comp, depending on the enemy team comp, you really have to think about your champion's role in the game and execute that well. I think he was very good at that.
Song "Quad" Su-hyeong I'm still playing with him, so I can't really call him like a past teammate.
And then Alan "Busio" Cwalina, I'd say just learning how to communicate and how to be a good teammate. I think he was very good at that. And I think he did small things to make people feel more comfortable or more confident. And it was good to see his confidence go up at the same time.
As you said, it was only time that that roster reached the peak. So with FlyQuest changing almost every player on the roster, besides for you and Quad, do you see that as an opportunity or a missed one?
Massu: I think both of them are true. I think our roster the last two years had a lot of potential. I think we weren't able to fully reach it, which is unfortunate. I think everyone was going to leave with some regret, but that's just competition sometimes. And then I think the roster that we have this year is also very promising and it's like a completely different project and I'm really looking forward to that.
What is the biggest difference between last year's roster and this year? I would also say maybe you are taking more of a leadership role.
Massu: Yeah, for sure. Last year we had a lot of strong personalities, especially with Bwipo and Inspired. And I think this year coming in, it's a lot more rookie-centered. So I think the team is going to be a lot more malleable, and finding how we want to play as a team and kind of our roles will take some time. And I just feel like since everyone is quite new, that they're very flexible.
What has been maybe the hardest part of rebuilding team chemistry?
Massu: Honestly, surprisingly, it's been pretty easy with this team. I think everyone is very easygoing and just has an outgoing personality. So it doesn't feel like you're playing with strangers or anything, so it feels pretty good. Maybe the hardest part is kind of just figuring out how everyone operates and their personality. Some people you need to talk with a certain way or some people take feedback a certain way. So I think just figuring those things out might be hard.
Is there maybe a story that you'd like to share on your new teammates?
Massu: I guess Johnson "Gryffinn" Le is very funny. We would just be walking around after we ate anywhere in the street and then he's kind of just talking to strangers on the way. He's just like talking to anyone that passes by him, which is very interesting to me, but I like his confidence.
Going back to the new League season, how do you feel it changed the way that you play? So like gameplay changes.
Massu: I think the minions being faster definitely changes a lot. I think now level one, like, you have to be very fast with what you want to do and you have to be very decisive. And I think it will be interesting to see all the level-ones strats that people do.
And then in general, the game feels a lot faster. There's platings on every tower. So even if someone does not break a full tower, if you let them take a lot of plates, you will still give them a lot of gold over. So you just have to be really aware of the waves and the tempo of the game pretty much.
How did those changes feel during scrims?
Massu: It felt nice, it's felt pretty good so far. And just in general, I feel like a lot of things are viable. Nothing is too broken, so it'll be interesting to experiment with a few things.
Is there maybe a couple of ADCs that you would really be surprised to see not being played, especially like the first couple of weeks?
Massu: Honestly, I don't think any one ADC is like that much more OP than the others, so I can't really have an answer for that right now.
As a last question, what is the result that you would like to achieve personally this year and which result would actually disappoint you?
Massu: This year, honestly, I want us to go to at least MSI and Worlds. I would also say First Stand, but that's very soon and we're still a very new team. So that one I think it will just depend on how fast we grow together.
But at least making MSI and Worlds is very important to me. And I think with our team, we can definitely do it. And if we don't, then yeah, I guess that would be a disappointment.”
