C9 Vulcan: "I’m still confident that we can run the lower bracket and meet FlyQuest in the finals"

"You'd kind of want Blaber to be Loki, but Loki's already Loki. So, that's hard."

This split of the LTA North, fan expectations have risen sky-high for one of the most iconic North American teams, Cloud9. With a roster full of both seasoned NA veteran talent and skilled young Korean players, and a stellar regular season, they seemed poised for a rematch against FlyQuest in a repeat of last split’s finals. Instead, in their first series of playoffs, Cloud9 found themselves struggling in a very different last-split rematch: Shopify Rebellion, who they handily 3-0’d two months ago, overcame C9 this time in a huge five-game upset.

And while the underdogs on SR move on to face FLY, Cloud9 now has to contend with the lower bracket, with their double-elimination safety net exhausted. Following the series, Sheep Esports sat down in an exclusive interview with Cloud9’s star support, Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme, to discuss the intense five-game series, the team's chances, other NA supports, his botlane reunion, mythology, and more.

Today, Shopify Rebellion was able to claim the win in what many considered a pretty big upset. Did you have high expectations for SR going in, or did their level of play surprise you?

Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme: "Yeah, I’d say they surprised us. We’re not cocky or anything, but we were pretty confident going into today. We usually had a pretty good track record going into them."

In particular, how would you rate your lane opponent Denilson "Ceos" Oliveira Gonçalves? Do you think he’s underrated, or even one of the best supports in the league?

Vulcan: No. I don’t think he’s one of the best supports in the league. I think he’s not bad. He plays his champs pretty well. I wouldn’t say that he’s one of the best in the league though, no.

In Game 4, you had a pretty standout performance on Braum, often making it very difficult for your opponents to break through. Tell us about that game and the Braum pick.

Vulcan: We kind of got away with murder a little bit there, because the matchup that we played bot is not one that you would ever really want to play. But, with Fearless, we were kind of running out of options, and we thought there was an angle. It was Blaber's (Robert Huang) call. I think it was a good idea, but playing Braum into Ezreal Karma can be pretty rough, because your lane is never winning, and it’s not like it gets any better at any point.

But, because we also had Trundle, and we did a cheese level two gank, we got both their flashes. We didn’t kill anyone, which kind of sucked, but at least they couldn’t play as aggressively with no flash. This helped our lane a lot, and me and Zven (Jesper Svenningsen) managed to get a 2v2 kill one time. I was getting a lot of XP, because I was playing with spellbook, so I was kind of beefy, being able to TP back with a Kindlegem and Cloth Armor. We killed Karma one more time, I flashed in.

That’s kind of what you have to do when you play this Braum matchup into ranged supports. You have to try and make plays happen, and after that, once they don’t really get a snowball or advantage in lane, it’s just scaling for me. I’m comfortable on Braum. It was a bit dangerous that we picked him, but we managed to make it work.

You’ve been a potent force in the lower bracket in many NA playoffs before. How likely do you think it is for C9 to climb up to the finals and win from there?

Vulcan: Pretty likely. I think today we had a bad day. They prepped well, and there weren’t many drafts that we went into and were like “Ok, this is super good, we got what we wanted.” So, we’re gonna have to figure out exactly what we want to play and how we’re gonna make it happen. I think it’s a good wakeup call to go down to the lower bracket; we don’t have another chance anymore, we don’t have a second life. Backs against the wall.

We’re gonna practice hard, figure out how we’re gonna go about drafting the champs that we want. I think we were a bit off today as a team. And there were some moments individually where I think that normally, we would play better. So, you know, it happens sometimes. And maybe having it in the back of our minds that this is "do or die," maybe that’ll make us lock in extra hard. I’m still confident that we can run the lower bracket and meet FlyQuest in the finals.

Speaking of FlyQuest, last split, you were voted second All-Pro support, while Alan “Busio” Cwalina was voted first. These days, he’s regarded by many as the best support in NA. How do you plan to reclaim the title of ‘best in the region’ this split?

Vulcan: I think I’ve been playing pretty well recently. Last split, their whole team got first All-Pro because they won that one tiebreaker against us. I think supports, on the winning team, are most likely going to be on the All-Pro. I think it’s fair to say he’s probably been the best support, but in a world where C9 wins, and I play well, I take the title right back. I think at this point, we’re pretty close, and I don’t see him as way better than me. I think he plays really well, and he’s a challenge, but it’s not like I’m not really good as well. So I’m confident, and if we win, I’ll just be the best.

After leaving Cloud9 originally, nearly four years ago, you said you “still respect Zven, but wanted a change.” Can you tell us about the decision to reunite with him this year as your lane partner again?

Vulcan: I played with a lot of different teams, rosters, and players, after I decided to leave C9. I played with different ADCs, different people, different personalities. I guess it made me realize that every single player or person has— I want to say "pros and cons," but that sounds like I’m talking about a robot or something. But they have flaws and qualities. Obviously, Zven is not perfect. I’m not perfect. And I kind of realized that I’m fine dealing with whatever anyone has. And Zven was never so bad that it was unbearable. He’s actually a great teammate, and obviously a great player as well. So I was like, “whoever I’m playing with, they’re gonna have flaws.” We’ve shown in the past that we can play together well and work together well.

C9 Zven and Vulcan hug in 2020 (Photo by Tina Jo/Riot Games)

One other big part was that I played with a lot of Korean ADCs, in between playing with Zven and playing with Zven again. It was always a bit hard to communicate about how we wanted to play our lane. I would ask something quickly during a game, or during a fight, and it would be hard for the Korean ADCs to register what I’m saying and also reply in a foreign language, one that they’re obviously not masters of.

As I’ve shown, getting back together with Zven, it’s a lot easier for me to play the game when I can rely on Zven to feed me the info I need to hear. When I ask a question, he’s locked in, and he’s able to reply to me. That helps me guide how I want to play, and reassures me that he’s aware of what I want, or the threat that I’m calling it out, or whatever it is that I’m asking. He’s able to register that very fast, so it’s a lot easier for me to act accordingly. It’s been a lot easier for me to play well and focus on my own game when I have that rock in the botlane with me.

You’re named after the Roman god of the forge, Loki is named after the Norse god of mischief, and Thanatos is the Greek god of death. What mythological characters do you think Blaber, Zven, and coaches Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu and Nick “Inero” Smith remind you of?

Vulcan: Zven, let’s go with Zven is Zeus. Because they both start with Z, and he’s blonde. Zeus is blonde, right?

Often.

Vulcan: After that, Blaber. Blaber’s a tough one. I’m trying to think of something that fits Blaber, but, the thing is: you’d kind of want Blaber to be Loki, but Loki’s already Loki. So, that’s hard. Maybe I’ll come back to Blaber. Inero would be Hades. That’s the god of Hell, yeah? And Reapered. Who is Reapered. I don’t know, man. Can you name me some? Some gods?

I mean, maybe Kronos? Who is, like, the Titan. Or, I don’t know. Big Greek focus here. Could be Odin.

Vulcan: No, I’ll go with Kronos. I like Kronos for Reapered. He was playing pro when we were all in primary school, so he could be the OG. And coming back to Blaber. I don’t know, Blaber’s tough. He could probably just be the Minotaur, or something.

Header image credit: Photo by Robert Paul/Riot Games