FLY Gryffinn: "There are better alternatives to the popular champions"

Should professional junglers rely on the same rotation of popular champions? FlyQuest’s jungler, Gryffinn, shares how important it is for him to have a baseline knowledge of these popular champions, but still have room to innovate.

Gryffinn at the LCS stage in the post-match interview | Photo Credit: Riot Games

"It’s really funny because if I suggest, for example, Shen jungle, they can be slightly hesitant; however, I can always explain my reason to my coaches and teammates"

Though the crowds have been missing for several consecutive weeks, this week’s match between

Shopify Rebellion

and

FlyQuest

filled the stage with motherly love. The latter team surprised its players by flying their families to celebrate Mother’s Day in League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) style.

The match proved to be more even than the standings showed, but FlyQuest snagged a back-and-forth 2-1 victory. Following their victory against the Rebels, Johnson “

Gryffinn

" Le spoke with Sheep Esports about winning when the families are the only attendees, a possible Shyvana appearance in the future, the important message FlyQuest hopes to share, and his champion ocean.

FlyQuest’s snacks shown between games looked like a feast compared to Shopify’s. Who suggested these snacks, and who is responsible for having them ready for the players?

Johnson “Gryffinn" Le: “It’s our manager, his name is Thanh. On our matchdays, he always prepares mangos, watermelon, strawberries, pretzels, or crackers. Our manager is the G.O.A.T. He always prepares really well for match day.

Though there was no live crowd, there were some very special attendees today. How did it feel to have your family as the only people in attendance?

Gryffinn: It was great having my family come out and watch me. I didn’t think too much about it because I wanted to make sure I was still focused on the game. Even when there is a crowd, I want to make sure I’m still focused on the game. It was great having my family watching and supporting. It’s so much nicer to play with a crowd. Technically, it felt like a little bit of a crowd, even if there were only a few people. It was great that my family was there.

During your post-match interview, the topic of growing up with Asian parents surfaced. After your description, which champion best reflects your mother?

Gryffinn: I think she would be like Vi, kind of a badass, but stern.

There’s a notorious X account pestering you about pushing you to play four specific champions: Pantheon, Xin Zhao, Jarvan IV, and Wukong. You got wins on Pantheon and Xin Zhao, yet lost on Shen, a champion not on the list. Do you have any message directed at this quote-on-quote fan?

Gryffinn: Are you talking about Forest? I mean, Forest is my boy. We met in Korea for a very expensive meal, and he paid for me. He is looking for my best interest, so I don’t mind his opinions and criticisms. Personally, I will play champions I think are strong within the draft.

One of your biggest strengths, which makes you stand out, is your wide champion pool. Where does the creativity to pick the considered off-meta champions come from?

Gryffinn: Generally speaking, I’ve always been someone more creative. There’s a list of over 150 champions, so there’s no way there are only a few champions that are strong in every draft scenario. When people do drafts, they don’t take into consideration the enemy champions and what they should pick. It’s just a cycle of what is quote-on-quote meta. People use meta as a synonym for the word popular, but meta actually means “Most Effective Tactic Available.” Usually, my more niche picks are champions that counter a specific theme in draft. For example, Shen against Vi counters the dive composition theme, right? Nasus will counter drafts that heavily rely on drafts that rely on auto attacking and movement speed. These two particular champions, even like Dr Mundo and stuff, counter a specific theme. I refuse to believe that you shouldn’t pick one of the over 150 champions in the game that counters the three champions shown during a draft. There are better alternatives to the popular champions. If I see a good champion that counters the champions shown, because it thematically counters the enemy’s draft, I will advocate for picking such an answer.

Where does this confidence to defy the status quo and expand your horizon come from?

Gryffinn: I’m usually a very open-minded person, and I want to have a strong baseline of what is popular and what is meta. Well, baseline of what is popular, because I don’t want to use the word meta because it’s not actually meta, it is what’s popular. I want to have a good baseline of what is popular, so I will pick these champions and make sure I have a good baseline of what is popular. For the quote-on-quote off-meta… Wait… Let’s say meta is popular. For the champions that aren’t as popular, I’ll have them in my repertoire because they hard counter specific themes. When I play a champion that I feel is strong and counters a specific theme, I have the confidence and trust in myself to be able to show it to my team and share why I’m so confident in this champion’s power against certain themes and scenarios. This encourages our team’s trust to grow. It’s really funny because if I suggest, for example, Shen jungle, they can be slightly hesitant; however, I can always explain my reason to my coaches and teammates. This way, they can see the angle that I’m coming from and place their trust in me to at least try it; that’s all I want. Then, they see: “Oh shit [sic], we’re trying it in scrims, it seems pretty good, let’s try it on stage.” Not only because I have plenty of confidence in the champion and how it feels in the game, but sometimes I’m inspired by something. For example, a champion that has a high win-rate in solo queue, but it’s not as popular due to a low sample size. Sometimes I try a champion, and it feels stronger than it looks, yet nobody knows about it. When I try a champion in solo queue, I have to figure out what this champion is. If I can explain what this champion is, how it counters specific themes to my coaches, and my team has confidence in the pick, because I haven’t been super troll with it, then they let me try it. If it performs well on scrims, then the next step is stage games.

Patch 26.09 brought some interesting champion and item changes. Without spilling any secrets, is there any champion you would like to pick that's not strong or popular enough for you to bring it to the stage?

Gryffinn: I’m not too sure because I saw the patch didn’t change that much for junglers. It seems that jungle stayed the same this patch. They did touch Shyvana, so I’m still experimenting with her and seeing if she is strong. She does have a pretty high win rate in solo queue, and they did touch her a bit. I’m experimenting with her, but I’m not too certain. I think there were tiny changes to the jungle in this patch. The biggest changes were the removal of Phase Rush, which really affected a lot of mid laners who relied on it. For the jungle, there was not much, I suppose.

FlyQuest repped the FlyQuest Red jerseys with their mothers’ names today. Have you had any interaction with the Red roster?

Gryffinn: No, not with the Red roster. We’re wearing the FlyQuest red jersey to represent our moms for Mother’s Day. I was able to interact with my mom because she flew out to see me.

How important is it for FlyQuest to support the women and non-binary scene with FlyQuest?

Gryffinn: The general message FlyQuest wants to share is that, wherever FlyQuest goes, they want to make gaming better. A big message FlyQuest wants to push out is that they want to support and grow the scene, so when you hear FlyQuest join, the space will grow.

Did FlyQuest prepare any special interaction or activity between players and families aside from flying to attend the LCS?

Gryffinn: I’m not too sure, maybe we will celebrate by getting food or something. It’s a special occasion because all our parents flew out, and there’s a lot of content, so it’s very exciting. I’m sure we will celebrate somehow, either chilling or getting some food with the families later. Having every family come in and meet everyone’s parents so far has been a blast. It’s been great and fun, I’m really happy FlyQuest chose to do this for their marketing or content. Everyone appreciates their parents coming to the LCS.”