EG Vulcan on the LCS's MSI tactics: "You need to be able to get sh*t on and learn from it"

LCS Champions Evil Geniuses took down reigning champions 100 Thieves in a dominant 3-0 stomp in the Spring 2022 LCS finals. In their post-match press conference, support Philippe ‘Vulcan’ Laflamme explained how the team are preparing for MSI 2021.

The Evil Geniuses playoffs run to their first LCS title was nothing short of a Cinderella story.

They were knocked into the lower bracket by Team Liquid in a heartbreaking reverse sweep in the opening round of the playoffs. What followed was an incredible lower bracket stomp all the way to the finals, dropping only a single game and beating Team Liquid 3-0 in their rematch.

EG came into the finals as the reluctant favorite, but there were still those who doubted their ability to pull off the ultimate heist against reigning champions 100 Thieves. They quickly silenced those doubters, sweeping a clean 3-0 against 100T in a mere one hour, 18 minutes, and 32 seconds of game time. They’ll represent North America at MSI 2022, in the organization’s first-ever international appearance.

Learning from a rocky regular season

It wasn’t an easy ride for EG to make it to the playoffs. They had a shaky split, something which the community (possibly unfairly) attributed to the youth of the players on their roster. They ended the regular season tied for fourth place with Golden Guardians and Flyquest, making it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth.

In their post-victory press conference, jungler Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma explained how EG managed to kick things up a notch in the playoffs, and save themselves from their regular season curse. This win marked Inspired’s first domestic title after multiple failures to secure a finals win in Europe with his former team, Rogue.

Timestamp at 2:30

“I think I always played good in the finals and in playoffs, even in EU when I was finishing second, third, stuff like that. But I always felt like my teammates were not really there with me – they were playing differently, more scared, they weren’t following my calls or they just weren’t clear. Here, I feel like everyone is listening to me and playing around what I want to do, and in stressful situations they give their thoughts and that is very helpful for me. I think I have greater teamwork here than I had in Rogue.”

With three games of Jarvan IV in the finals, Inspired was the go button his team needed for explosive engages. Coupled with control picks of Ryze and Viktor for Joseph ‘Jojopyun’ Joonpyun in the mid lane, the responsibility for damage output fell on AD Carry Kyle ‘Danny’ Sakamaki.

Don't play with your food @DannnyIoI! #LCS pic.twitter.com/qGrjAd7vRH

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) April 24, 2022

And boy, did he deliver on that responsibility. His impeccable team fighting picked up kill after kill for the Evil Geniuses, and earned him the record of the most kills by an LCS player in a postseason bracket at 111 throughout the 2022 Spring playoffs.

What’s to come at MSI 2022

With Jojopyun’s promises to “sh*t on EU” aside, it’s still a tough road ahead for the Evil Geniuses at the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational. The competition is among the strongest it’s ever been, and North America’s international record will precede this roster whether they like it or not.

"I mean I think we're going to s*** on EU but we'll see." – @jojopyunlol #LCS pic.twitter.com/fna0qg89tM

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) April 24, 2022

But support Vulcan, one of the roster’s most experienced players, had his own words of wisdom for EG’s rookies ahead of their first international appearance.

“The biggest thing you have to realize when you go to an international tournament as an NA player, is that you’re going to go and scrim T1 and RNG, and they are very good. So you might not have the same success in scrims as you do in NA. You need to be ready to take the mental damage that you suffer when you get sh*t on so hard, and you have to make sure that you stay healthy mentally to be able to get sh*t on and take learnings from that.”

And although NA do have a reputation of getting “sh*t on” internationally, this Evil Geniuses roster is in prime position to change the narrative. Not only will they come into the tournament on a 12-1 win streak, they’ll come into the tournament bringing Danny and Jojopyun, a breath of fresh air for North American fans.

They’ll have a chance to show the world what the future of North American League of Legends looks like. And right now? It’s looking downright evil.

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