Zeyzal on EG's 1-4 start: "We’re trying to work on [selfish habits]"

Olivia Richman Published 09/02/2020

After an upsetting loss to Counter Logic Gaming, Evil Geniuses now finds itself at the bottom of the 2020 LCS Spring Split standings with a 1-4 record. The rough start is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam, but the two former Cloud9 players aren’t giving up just yet.

In fact, they told WIN.gg in a post-match interview that they are expecting some wins in the near future.

How are you feeling today after your loss to CLG?

Svenskeren: It feels pretty bad. We should have been able to win that game. I feel a bit down.

Zeyzal: It’s a trend in a lot of our games. A lot of them are so winnable but something happens and it gets worse and worse and becomes harder to recover. It’s more of a slow burn than an instantly bad feeling. We’re losing in the mid game to random mistakes.

What do you think went wrong today?

Zeyzal: There were a few instances where we already planned to do a certain play, but we made individual judgment mistakes even though the team has already agreed to something. In general, we weren’t really playing our comp as well as we could have. Our comp had a lot of AOE damage, but we weren’t able to get any big combos off to one-shot them.

It looked like you guys were having a hard time countering Ruin’s Soraka. Why do you think that is?

Svenskeren: She’s really strong right now. She is really bonkers when she groups.

Zeyzal: Soraka just heals your whole team fully. You have to split push or have a team fight that will blow up the fight instantly. You want to fight fast but we failed to blow up any fights quickly. We never had the big combos.

How do you feel about being on the same team again?

Svenskeren: Good. Zeyzal is someone I’m familiar with. We learned how to play with each other on C9. We play the game pretty well together.

Zeyzal: I agree. Personality-wise, we get along well. I think our view of the game is quite similar. We’re willing to play towards our team rather than just demanding everything. We contribute a lot to the team atmosphere and play off our teammate’s well.

How is this team’s atmosphere different than C9?

Svenskeren: The atmosphere will always be worse on a losing team. Everyone gets more stressed out. Nobody is here to be the worst team in the league. So the atmosphere could be a little better, but it’s not too bad.

Zeyzal: It’s pretty similar in the regards that we have fun with each other still. But it’s a lot more serious right now because we’re losing. If we were winning, it would be similar to how it was last split. We have three C9 members and all five of us get along well. If we weren’t in the position we were in, it’d be quite similar.

How are you feeling about the team’s synergy?

Svenskeren: It’s pretty obvious we play pretty bad together.

Zeyzal: We don’t lose games because we’re bad. It’s because we’re not playing well as a team. Over time, we’re getting better at that, because in scrims we do well. We’re good individual players. But we lose a lot of focus.

Have you been doing anything together as a team outside of scrims?

Svenskeren: We have team dinners every week. We hang out a lot. I’m on good terms with everyone and have fun with everyone. We get along pretty well.

Zeyzal: Outside of scrims, I hang out with Kumo the most. But we all go out a lot and eat together for most meals. Our day consists of League of Legends and we duo together outside of scrims. It was the same with C9, but we did play cards some nights.

What do you think has been holding the team back this Split? Is there anything you’re working on?

Zeyzal: Some players have certain habits that can be selfish for comp play. We’re trying to work on those and get rid of those. Our willingness to give up losing objectives.

There was an example today, the third dragon, where we had the chance to push two lanes and two turrets but we somewhat pushed mid, somewhat pushed top…We’re sometimes just on a different page from each other.

You’re facing FlyQuest tomorrow. How do you think it will go?

Svenskeren: I’m feeling pretty confident. We just need to clean up our game a little bit. We should be able to beat them.

Zeyzal: I agree. I don’t think we’re in a terrible spot other than our score. Our gameplay, we have games where we should definitely win. It’s just figuring out those mistakes that compound into the loss and I think we’ll start winning.

What are your personal goals for this season?

Svenskeren: Win the Splits. It’s not looking that hot, but we can still turn it around.

Zeyal: For me, my individual goal is to improve my weaknesses. A lot of people critique my laning. I’ve done pretty well this split but it’s often overlooked. I’ve been focusing a lot on that in solo queue. And the overall goal is to win the split as a team. Everyone has to come together and do what they can. So for me, it’s improving my early game.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

View full profile