FQ igNar on potential LCS final vs Cloud9: “I think we can beat them.”

FlyQuest beat Team SoloMid in a back-and-forth five match game in the Spring Split semi finals this weekend. The win knocked TSM out of the playoffs and put FlyQuest on a tough road to face Cloud9 in the finals. But first, they’ll have to face Evil Geniuses once again, a team they lost to recently.

WIN.gg spoke with Lee “igNar” Dong-geun about the win, how they plan to take down EG this time around, and if he thinks Valorant will become a popular esport. 

This was a close match. How were you feeling going into the fifth game? 

igNar: For me and as a team, we didn’t feel that much pressure, to be honest. In the first four games, I felt we were better. So we had confidence that we would win today. Everyone was pretty confident, even after the fourth game. 

What do you think made you guys have the edge over them in the end? 

I had confidence individually that I’d play very well. Everyone had that kind of feeling. We didn’t talk about it but we did feel it. 

If you had to pick one of your teammates to be MVP this season, who would you pick and why? 

I’d pick PowerOfEvil. He played really well this split. 

How do you think you’ll do against EG? 

That day wasn’t our best performance. We don’t have that much of a plan except to just play how we did today. 

You lost to them earlier. What do you have to change to beat them going forward?

Evil Geniuses’ jungler and midlaner are more aggressive than TSM. I think we should watch them. 

And how do you think you’ll do against Cloud9 if you make it to the playoffs?

I think Cloud9 is really, really strong. But I don’t think they’re unbeatable. I think we can beat them. But they’re really good, obviously. 

What do you think your team would have to work on to beat Cloud9? 

I think our top laner sometimes dies, gets ganked easily. That’s what we would have to look into if we want to beat them easily. 

Do you think C9 is that good, or do you think most of the North American teams just aren’t doing well this season? 

I think C9 is good, but at the same time other teams are not that good. Losing one game in the split is really hard to do unless the other teams are bad. 

How has it been playing in NA compared to other regions? 

NA is pretty different than EU and Korea. EU and Korea are very similar. It’s hard compared to EU because it’s so different. I have to get used to NA. For me, it’s everything. The scrim schedule is different. How they play is really different. 

NA is really huge. I need to take a taxi or Uber every time we go somewhere. Everything is different for me. 

Were you expecting to do so well this season? 

I knew we were going to be good. I thought we would be at least top four in NA. That’s what I thought before I joined FQ. 

While playing at home during lockdown, what has kept you motivated during this season? 

I really like to play on the big stage, to be honest. But we can’t go because of coronavirus. I don’t have specific motivators but I want to win the tournament. I don’t do anything special. I just want to win. 

What would winning the split mean to you? 

I never won in a region before, so it would be really great. I know it will be hard. But if it happens I’ll be really happy. 

When the lockdown is over, where are some places you want to go? 

I want to go to the gym. I want to go rock climbing. 

Were you rock climbing a lot?

Not that much, but I was going often with WildTurtle. Jason always goes. It was tough, but mechanical. I want to train my body and it’s just fun. 

Have you played Valorant at all? What are your thoughts on the game? 

I gave my wrong info so I haven’t played yet. 

Do you see it being a big esport like League of Legends? 

I don’t see it being as big of an esport as League of Legends, but I haven’t been watching too many esports. I heard CSGO is big, but I don’t know how big it is because I only focus on League of Legends. I was into StarCraft a really long time ago. It was huge in Korea. StarCraft was really big, but League of Legends is worldwide. That’s the difference. 

From what I saw, it really looks fun and looks like a new style of FPS with new mechanics. I think it will be bigger than Overwatch. I played a bit of Overwatch but it was easy to get bored, personally.