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North America has not had the best of times at Worlds 2024 so far, with 100 Thieves failing to get through play-ins and Team Liquid currently 0-2 in the Swiss stage. However, FlyQuest find themselves with a 2-1 positive win/loss scoreline, giving hope to the region.
We caught up with FlyQuest ADC Massu, after the loss to Dplus Kia (who also went 10/1/3 on Kai’Sa today in a victory over PSG), and Team Liquid mid-laner APA after their loss to Weibo Gaming.
‘You always have to push yourself to be better’ – interview with Massu of FlyQuest at Worlds 2024
Thank you for your time. I know that today did not end how you expected. I want to hear firsthand, what do you think of the game today?
Honestly, I think the game was not difficult. We kind of did not play how we usually do. We were making a lot of rushed mistakes and because we rushed into plays early on, that meant later we had to slow down even though we had a lead.
So I just feel like maybe we were a bit nervous, maybe we felt a bit of pressure to do something when we didn’t need to.
I had a Worlds 2024 interview with FLY Inspired yesterday and he said that he hoped to face Dplus Kia today. Can you tell me why?
I don’t know. They just seemed like the weakest of the Eastern teams, even though they’re still pretty strong. So I think that’s why he said that probably.
And looking forward, do you know, who would you like to get?
I would just like to rematch G2 because the last time we played them it was really close and I think we’ve gotten a lot better since then.
“I just want to make sure I play with no regrets. To go through my career without thinking back and saying, ‘oh, I should have done this or I didn’t do this’. So I really just want to try my best, see how far I can go and just try.”
Massu, FlyQuest
Your Worlds hype video motto is ‘Here we grow’. So how was your growth like for this year?
I think throughout the season and especially when we went to internationals, I learned a lot. I learned how to play the game better.
I learned how to be a better teammate or have a better mindset and I think those are the biggest things I worked on.
Do you think that’s something that everyone should strive to have in order to be a pro layer?
For sure. I mean, you always have to push yourself to be better. You have to know how to push yourself without burning out.
This year the Worlds song is ‘Heavy is the Crown’ – how did it feel seeing yourself in the music video for it?
I mean the song was great, but watching the music video, the first time I saw it, I did not believe that it was me.
I thought maybe someone that looked like me or I was just trying to convince myself it’s not me. But when I realised, I was obviously really excited and then I became a bit biased. So I liked the song more and yeah, it was just really good.
I know that every pro player strives to win the World Championship, but for you, besides winning the world championship, is there any other goal that you would like to reach?
I just want to make sure I play with no regrets. To go through my career without thinking back and saying, ‘oh, I should have done this or I didn’t do this’.
So I really just want to try my best, see how far I can go and just try.
What about what do you think of the mata right now and the fact that it’s so varied?
I dunno, the meta keeps changing. I don’t think any team has a good idea or a perfect idea of what the meta is right now
So everyone’s just testing stuff out. We’re also doing that, so it’s still being figured out.
Inspired and I were talking about rookies in NA, and how you sometimes look at him with ‘an annoyed face’ when he gives advice on dealing with Asian teams!
I mean I definitely listen and I try to apply it as much as possible. Sometimes I might be a bit stubborn, but yeah, I definitely listen to them and I value their input.
What about today do you think you need to improve the most on?
I think just maybe recognising win conditions more and yeah, just thinking what plays we have to make and what plays we don’t have to make.
Talking in general about Europe and solo queue and screams, do you feel like your team can improve faster being here and at this tournament?
Oh yeah, for sure. I think it’s just a lot better practice. It’s more intense and yeah, when you practice against better teams and players, you will improve faster.
Is there something about yourself that fans still don’t know about you that you would like them to know?
I’ve been learning Korean for a couple months, so that’s what I’m doing right now.
Part of the reason I am learning Korean is so I can watch Korean analysts or players and understand exactly what they said.
Is there anyone in particular that you would like to learn from?
Probably Viper would be up there.
You have a chance to make it to knockouts. What does the road to London for you look like in terms of personal growth and things you would like to face in order to become a better player?
I think I just need to learn how to communicate better. I need to learn how to maintain the big picture of the game, and kind of realise how we can win this game. Do I need to be doing this or do I need to be doing that?
I need to sharpen my problem solving in the game, and find our win conditions. So I think that’s what I need to work on.
‘Don’t lose hope, we’re not out yet’ – interview with APA of Team Liquid at Worlds 2024
Thank you so much APA for the interview. I generally want to ask your opinion on the game and if you could run us through what went wrong in the game.
I’m not totally sure what wrong. We got off to a very good start. We killed Xiaohu mid. We got dragon stacking going. I think we got second grubs, I believe I kind of trolled a little bit, died mid-lane and then honestly we just had some really good fights from 10 to 15 minutes and then to be honest, I just need to look back at the game because it was a very long and tiring game.
So yeah, I’m sure there are some mistakes. Like the immediate one that comes to mind is when I tried to solo Xiaohu on the side and I tried to flash over his ulti and I didn’t, yeah, I’m not totally sure what we got wrong, but that game was definitely ours as I would describe it.
Is there anything about today that you would like to improve on either personally or as a team?
I think just the immediate thing is there are a few points in this game today and yesterday’s games where I had the game in my hands, pretty much. And then I would not commit, so I would look at to improving those plays.
I know that coming into Worlds there were a lot of negative comments from fans about the final games of the LCS season. How do you and your team navigate through that in preparation for Worlds?
I just don’t look at it. Yeah, I didn’t look at anything yesterday. I’m probably not going to look at anything today, so I just don’t look at it.
What about the preparation for the next match?
“I don’t want to cope here, we did lose twice, but I do think we’ve had two tough opponents. I think we’ve had competitive games with two tough opponents, so going into any of the 0-2 teams, I would be very confident that we can win – but as a team we still have some weaknesses.”
APA, Team Liquid
I had an interview with Inspired yesterday and he said that it’s really tough for NA teams to prepare for Worlds, because there are fewer top/competitive teams to scrim against in NA compared to other regions. Is that also your opinion?
Of course. We had a big discussion as a team yesterday about some of our gameplay and CoreJJ our shotcaller was describing it as when you face the really weak teams in NA, the Dignitas, the Immortals, you have 30 seconds to plan out a play and decide what you’re going to do, see if you’re going to fight, if not fight, trade or whatever.
But then on the international stage you generally just have three seconds because no one shows on vision. All these teams are super quick at engaging. Yeah, so I would agree with the sentiment. It is pretty hard to prepare because you face so much better opponents and then they have just better game plans [at Worlds]. They’re a lot more decisive.
What about the meta – how is that affecting drafts?
Honestly, I think our drafts are fun, to be honest. I’m not sure if anyone knows the meta right now. I think there were very clearly three different scrim bubbles, the Korean scrim bubble, the Chinese scrim bubble, and then just everyone who everyone bootcamps in Europe. So all those scrim metas are just clashing. So I’m not sure if anyone even knows the meta, everyone can feel what’s strong. We just dunno what’s necessarily the best and what beats the best.
I know that moving forward you cannot reveal secret picks or stuff like that, but do you have a game plan that you maybe want to implement with the team for the next match?
I mean, off the top of my head, no. I still need to look back at the games and I’m sure all of us are going to look back at the games 50 times and see, hey we fucked up here. Hey we did this really good here, etc etc. So no black and white game plan. But I’m sure we’ll all would give each other feedback as the day goes on.
And I’m not totally sure when we play next, but up until now and then I’m sure we’ll give each other a lot of feedback. And in tournaments like these, it’s very hard to change players or teams. So it’s mostly just you just have to genuinely straight up put bandaids on whatever issue you might have.
So if I’m lacking in someplace, Impact or UmTi or whoever will be like, ‘hey, APA sucks at this, you guys need to do this better’. Or if someone else sucks at something, I can do something better.
You seem very confident – it feels like you have a mental resilience to move forward into the competition without really looking negatively. Is there anything that either your teammates or your staff helps you with to improve that kind of mentality?
I mean, to be honest, I can’t speak for my teammates, but at least from my mental resilience, I think it just comes down to my past experiences. My previous Worlds experience was not that good. But to be honest, I think it’s literally just experience.
Is there anything about yourself that fans don’t know about that you would like to share?
I mean, I’m not really that interesting of a person. I kind of just play League all day, for example. I just play League 24/7. That’s all I do. I think the only real message I can have to the fans is don’t lose hope. We’re definitely not out yet. So going forward I think we’ll be okay.
Hi, I’m Cecilia! A freelance writer mainly focusing on League of Legends and its esports scenes. Find me at events interviewing anyone who has a story to tell, from players to the talented people working behind the scenes. Do you also have a story to share? Reach out to me via Twitter.
