EG IgNar on Schalke 04 Esports' LEC sale: "It's sad that one of my 'fondest memory' teams is gone."

 

After a 3-0 week 5 of the 2021 League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split, Evil Geniuses has won its last five games in a row. EG is now 19-14 throughout the 2021 LCS season, good for sole possession of 5th place.

 

 

After Evil Geniuses' perfect weekend, support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun spoke about his team's improvements that led to its recent win streak, his AD carry Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki's debut LCS split thus far, and his former team FC Schalke 04 Esports' sale of its spot in the League of Legends European Championship. 

 


 

Thanks for joining me, IgNar. How do you feel about today's win over Golden Guardians?

 

I don't think I played that well, to be honest. I just did what I did as Nautilus, so I wasn't that impressed with my play, but what felt good was that we were really behind early game and then found individual good plays to come back. That was pretty good, especially because, in my opinion, Golden Guardians isn't that weak. Sometimes GG can be really strong because they don't hesitate to take a teamfight, so it felt good to win.

 

 

EG is now on a five-game winning streak. What was the team improved upon that has led to this recent success?

 

We focused on lane assignments recently and on not being greedy while pressuring lanes. We are trying to play as a team by using one lane and then grouping to look for a potential teamfight. In my opinion, focusing on more fights is how we've gotten better. If the enemy wants to fight, we just fight. That's what we've focused on and I think it works.

 

 

How do you think your AD carry Danny has done so far in his first LCS split, and as a veteran, what have you been doing to help him?

 

First of all, I think Danny's playing well. I think he's learning really fast and his mechanics are good, but he needs to learn more about things related to game sense like maximizing the situation. For example, when one side of the map is playing strongly, the other side has to play weakly. He needs to learn a little bit more about this, but overall, he's doing really great compared to what's expected from a rookie.

 

When it comes what I can do to help develop a rookie player like him, I don't try to do anything special. I just always do what I think is the best in bot lane, and I teach that way. I accept what I think is good from ADCs, so all I really do to help my ADC is share information.

 

 

How do you feel your role on Evil Geniuses differs from your role on FlyQuest?

 

FlyQuest had more players that spoke about games in terms of what we were going to do in game. On EG, I feel like I'm more of the main person who is talking about what we are going to do in game. I'm more proactive for our team in terms of macro compared to my time on FlyQuest. On FlyQuest, I was only looking for engages. I still said things about macro, but my biggest job on FlyQuest was looking for engages. On EG, other things have been added to my job.

 

 

Did you fulfill this type of role on any of your previous teams?

Many times, I was lucky because I had smart teammates like Trick. In every team, I had other good shotcallers, so I've never been this heavily shotcalling, but obviously, I was helping others in the past, so I know how to do it. It's not a big deal for me to shotcall.

 

Evil Geniuses has been splitting scrim time with EG Academy jungler Juan "Contractz" Garcia and starting jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen this split, and we've seen Contractz play a game against TSM where EG won in impressive fashion. Do you have to change the way you play depending on which jungler is starting for your team?

 

I don't think it's that different for me when the jungle changes because I'm mostly working with Danny in the bot lane. I think it's more up to the mid laner in those kinds of situations because mid laners have 2v2 with the jungler a lot and use that pressure. It's most likely the most different for the mid laner, if anyone. I know that both junglers have different strengths and weaknesses, but it isn't very different for me as a support.

 

 

Your former team FC Schalke 04 Esports announced earlier this week that it would be selling its spot in the LEC. Did you have any thoughts or feelings on this upon hearing the news?

 

It's sad that one of my 'fondest memory' teams is gone. I still remember the house, the office, and the people who were so nice, fun, and motivated. It's just sad. I'm still watching the LEC nowadays. It's fun to watch my old teams like Misfits and my old teammates like Steven "Hans Sama" Liv and Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu on Rogue. There's nothing much I have to say, it's just kind of sad.

 

 

Is there anything you want to say to the EG fans?

 

We'll try our best and we will bring EG to Worlds this year. Keep cheering for us, thank you.

 


 

All images by: Tina Jo/Riot Games via ESPAT

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