G2 Flakked: “I think if we beat Fnatic, in a solid and consistent way, we might win LEC”

G2 Esports and Victor "Flakked" Lirola clutched the upper bracket of Playoffs in the final week of the LEC, leaving Excel and Team Vitality in the dust. And a large part of their success came from the team’s versatile and reliable bot laner.

G2's Flakked sat down with us during his off-season to talk about how the team is preparing and evaluated the season. We also talked about Renata, the LEC format, and Flakked’s hopes for a future trip to Korea.

Thanks for agreeing to an interview today Flakked. And congrats on reaching the playoffs by the way!

Flakked: Thank you!

I thought I'd start off quite generally, so the split ended about a week ago. Have you guys had much time to relax? Or is it straight into playoff preparations?

Flakked: I mean, we had like three days of free-days. Some of us, like me and Jankos, went back home to chill with the family and stuff. And the rest just stayed here. But yeah, we had some days to relax a bit.

That's good then. And then now you've got, I guess, two solid weeks of prep? Or even less than that now?

Flakked: Yeah, we scrimmed for two days, then we had some rest. And then we are starting to scrim again.

Overall, if you had to say how the Spring Split had gone for you guys, how do you think you did? How would you evaluate it?

Flakked: Like one to ten?

Yeah! That would be a really good way. How did you guys do?

Flakked: Man. I think we're, I would say 7/10. I think we're a way better team in scrims than we show in official matches. Especially me and Targamas. But I mean, overall, I'm pretty happy. I'm like, seven. Seven is like, pretty decent. But I think I think we should have, I don't know, ended up first or second. 7/10.

That 7/10, there was some inconsistency in the results of this split. And there were a lot of cases where, say, you beat a team earlier in the split, and then you face them again and it's a loss. Do you think that's due to teams improving? Or do you think that's just a symptom of best-of-ones?

Flakked: I think both, right? I think everyone improved. Pretty much every single team I feel like. But as well, it’s best-of-ones. It is what it is, right? Like some games, you can get cheesed. Or some games, you know, you throw. The throw game [against Misfits] where we got isolated top. And the game is just completely lost from that point. So I think it's a mix of both.

Do you think you’ll do better in best-of-fives? Is that a more comfortable format?

Flakked: Yeah, I think so. I think we're a really good best-of-five team, for sure. And I think in best-of-fives everyone is going to play way better I think.

So do you think your opponents will get better in best-of-fives as well?

Flakked: Yeah, for sure. For sure.

On that point then, would you prefer a broader format in the LEC as well? So maybe best-of-threes, maybe best-of-two, something like that, like they’ve had in the past or in other leagues?

Flakked: I mean, for me, the more games you play, the better, from a player perspective. But of course, I understand best-of-five it's just way better for the viewer too. But I also feel like if we do it like, for example, the LCK. That’s like three games. I think it's too much League. And maybe a lot of people get tired of it or something.

But yeah, I mean, from a player perspective, the more games you get, the better. It’s more experience, you improve a lot because stage games are really good for improving. But I also understand that for our viewers, from the viewer perspective, I really wouldn't want to watch like 20 games a week really.

Yeah, there’s only so much League you can watch in one day. But going on to champions a bit. Renata got a quite surprising inclusion in Week 8. But didn’t make too much of an impact. Do you think the champion is going to have more importance in the playoffs?

Flakked: I think with Renata, I think it usually happens with new champions. Different teams have different opinions or points of view of the champion. Some of the teams played it for like two days in scrims, and if they have bad results they just dump the champ. Or if they have a good result they keep practising. 

But I think this last week especially, there was a bug with Renata and Xin Zhao. So in competitive, you couldn’t pick both at the same time. So it was kinda shit. Because Xin this last patch was like one of the most broken junglers Yeah, so it was kinda like pick your poison, right? It's like if your first pick Xin, you cannot pick Renata. But if you don't first pick Xin, and you get another jungler, enemies will have Xin. So it's like I think the champion is completely fine and I think it's really, really fun to watch. It’s really fun to play with and really fun to watch it being played

You yourself are known for having quite a wide champion pool. You break out the Ezrael that not many people seem to want to play at the moment, and pick a lot of other champions. Do you think that’s something other ADC should be doing? Widening their champion pool? Or do you think it's fine for someone to just pick meta?

Flakked: I mean, I think the more champions you can play the better. Especially for best-of-fives because you can just like cheese opponents or flex champions. And you can do a lot of stuff in draft. But as well, I understand not every single AD can play a lot of champions. And some players, for example, Upset, are really good on carries. So like, it wouldn't really make any sense just for like Upset or like Comp two years ago, to play Seraphine ADC, you know. Because they’re the main carries of their team. 

Kind of a random question, but you guys always had your games at the end of the day, or close to it this season. Is that something you guys like? Or you’ve asked for? Or is that just the LEC trying to please the North American G2 fans?

Flakked: I think with this schedule, I think LEC schedules everything and I don't think we have much power to say the opposite. I mean, I don't really mind playing late, but I don't really like it as well. I'd prefer playing at five or six. 

But I understand as well probably, the peak viewership is around eight, nine. So it makes sense, you know. It’s G2, and we have a lot of fans. So it makes complete sense. But like, yeah, I would like to play at five or six.

It would be nice to be first on the schedule and have an early day?

Flakked: Yeah, yeah! Legit.

You guys have Fnatic in the first match of the Playoffs. They've looked incredibly good recently. Any special preparations you're making to face them? Or is it just all under wraps?

Flakked: I mean, we’re not going to practise differently just because it's Fnatic. We know their playstyle, we know their players, we can know everything about them. Like we watched them play throughout the entire league. 

I like that spirit!

Flakked: Yeah! I think if we beat Fnatic, in a solid and consistent way, we might win LEC. Because I think right now, they’re like one of the best teams, if not the best.

Definitely. And then finally, so you say if you can beat Fnatic you can win the whole LEC. Does that mean you guys are thinking about MSI? Is that something you're even considering at the moment?

Flakked: I’d be really happy if we can go to MSI. I mean, not only because it’s MSI, but as well, I really always wanted to go to Korea but never could. So it would be really exciting! But yeah, like Anything can happen. Like maybe we just go out! We suck and we just grief it! Or maybe we just run it in and win LEC, really chill and really clean?

Well thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it, and good luck in playoffs!

Flakked: Thank you!

Flakked and the rest of G2 will be back in action on Saturday, March 26th, against Fnatic, at 16:00 CET. Watch it live on the LEC’s official Twitch channel.