appear to have been the most dominant ERL team over the past few months. After winning the second EMEA Masters of the season, the French team was also selected to compete in the World Star Challengers Invitational, the first international competition for Tier 2 teams to adopt a Worlds-style format.
Before taking part in the competition, Galions midlaner
spoke to Sheep Esports. He discussed the team's progress throughout the season and his personal ambitions.
First, how did you feel after winning your second LFL title a few days ago?
Šimon "OMON" Říháček: “Winning EMEA Masters was for sure better, even if winning the first LFL title with Galions was pretty nice. I thought it would have been more hype, but I think that was mainly because we didn't play Solary, like our nemesis. So yeah, it would have felt much better if we had won against Solary.
At the beginning of the year, you were kind of behind Solary, as you said, but it feels like the momentum kind of changed since the EMEA Masters. So how do you explain it?
OMON: Yeah, at the beginning of the year, they were just better than us, to be fair. They were better, both during the LFL Invitational and EMEA Masters finals. I think they deserved to win. But after that, I think the gap started closing, and then we just outpaced them. I don't know if it was because of us working harder or them just working less. I don't really know what's going on in their team. So I cannot make assumptions about why they became shit, but it's like we became better.
How do you feel ahead of the new competition that just got announced yesterday, the World Stars Challengers Invitational?
OMON: It feels good. It's the first time they're doing something like this. I think this year they've been making really proactive tournaments for us, starting with the Esports World Cup Qualifier, where we got invited and could play against LEC teams. For the first time in a while, tier 2 gets to play tier 1. So it feels very good, especially traveling to Korea. Now we will actually get to know how big or small the gap is between us, Korean and Chinese second division teams.
How do you think the gap is between you two? Do you think it's the same as LEC and LCK?
OMON: It's really hard to judge, to be fair. I don't really think so. Like, even looking at some of the LCK Challengers matches, it feels like they're more mechanically game-oriented teams, where they just try to really play mechanically on lane, and then it feels like they're not as sharp on map rotations as us or Solary, for example.
What do you expect personally from this tournament and this journey in Korea?
OMON: I'm not really setting any expectations. I just want to try my best and see. Because if we come in and we expect a lot of ourselves and then the full competition is just better than us, it could happen. We cannot go in with really high hopes and just get crushed after the pressure because then when we come back for EMEA Masters and we need to be ready for that as well.
Is there any team you'll be actually excited to play against even if they are not ones we usually get to see really often?
OMON: I'm kind of down to play Brazil, but this is because I enjoy the fan base that they have over there. Even playing any LDL Challengers team, it's really hype. It's going to be a really good experience.
Will you call yourself a world champion if you win the tournament?
OMON: I think that's kind of a bit too much [Laughs]. I guess you are the world champion of Tier 2. You cannot forget Tier 2, right? I think it's hard to judge whether you could call yourself a world champion even if you win this.
You will play EMEA Masters after this tournament, but then do you feel like you have the same motivation for it?
OMON: It's still really hype. You need to take it step by step, and this is Korea first. I'm looking forward to Korea the most. But then when we come back, it's time to lock in for EMEA. Like, we cannot just say, “Oh, this shit doesn't matter just because we're playing a new tournament”. Everything that you play matters, especially for us. Everyone is trying to get back to LEC. So we need to win everything, even domestically, and just be the best team.
A lot of people have been mentioning your name among the potential candidates for the LEC next year. How do you feel about it?
OMON: Well, it's not my choice in the end. The only thing I can do is try my best, play my best, and then kind of hope someone picks me up. But I think amongst any other candidate right now, I'm by far the best in gameplay. So yeah, I'm pretty confident.
How do you judge your own level compared to LEC midlaners?
OMON: I think even from scrims, I think I'm doing very well compared to any other midlaners. So I am rating myself pretty high, let's say like above middle.
Some LEC teams have already started their offseason — or will soon start it — while your season is still not over. You’ll even be in Korea soon, so are you not afraid this will impact your own offseason?
OMON: Not really. I don't think it's that big of an issue, especially for me, just because I have my agent and I trust him a lot, let's say. I know he's gonna do his best and try to represent me while I'm not able to be reached. So I still think it shouldn't be a deciding factor with me entering late or not.”
