On the 11th, Fnatic started their first game of the World Championships with a win against 100 Thieves.

Many questions were raised during picks&bans. Leaving open Irelia to be grabbed by Caps, Caps dictated the pace of the game starting from the solo kill against Ryu. Kill after kill, Fnatic gained massive momentum in the game and took down 100 Thieves in quick succession.

After the game, we got to meet and talk with Fnatic’s sub top laner, Bwipo. Below are the interview responses.

¤ What are your thoughts on today’s game?

I was really satisfied with how we played as a team. We were a little disrespectful in the draft, but we knew what we were doing. We knew Anda was a Graves and Kindred player, so we banned one of the two. After, we picked Olaf blind which is disrespectful as it is a good matchup for Graves. Regardless of the bad matchup, we had a very good early game after we gave away crab priority.

Other than that, I think all the other lanes were calculated in matchups. These were all champions that we were comfortable playing.


¤ At what point in the game did you know “Oh this game is over.”?

I’m not sure in what minute it was, but it was around level 10 when Caps hit his E on Syndra. I called that Caps was going to solo kill Ryu. I was like “He get solo kill here.” From that point onwards, I knew the game was over.


¤ There is always competition of NA vs EU. After this game, is it safe to say that EU is better this Worlds?

Before we can talk ourselves up, I think our whole team wants to prove ourselves against IG first. I believe everyone is looking forward to seeing Caps laning against Rookie. Personally, we are not sure who is going to be playing in the top lane. Me and sOAZ are excited to play against Duke or TheShy.

If I get the opportunity, I would love to show that. Based on the result of that game, I think that we can actually safely say that we are better. Or at least have had a better performance. NA, right now, is struggling to play their own style. While on the other hand, EU is playing really well by going with their own style. G2 did really well against Afreeca yesterday but failed to replicate it today.

When we see the EU teams play, we think “They are doing the things that we play which won them the games against us.” The type of crazy tp plays and hyper aggressive side lane calls that Vitality made are what we expect to see as second nature. What Vitality needs to do to win again is replicating this exact style. This type of style will bring them to new heights, but I feel like it will also bite them in the ass later. It will be difficult for Vitality to pull off the same tactics against different teams, even in a rematch against Gen.G. I don’t expect the result to be the same.


¤ As said in a previous interview, you guys call Caps by different names according to how he plays. Claps played extremely well today. Did you know from the draft that he would pop off like this?

In terms of team composition, Caps had to navigate pretty well. When it comes to laning, it was supposed to be very difficult for Caps. Usually, Irelia loses very hard against Syndra. However, Caps was ahead of Ryu by 3 CS at level 6. This is the point when the matchup shifts into Irelia’s favor. After level 6, Irelia can fish for the all in.

Once I saw Caps keeping up even in CS against Syndra, I knew the game was going to be worth playing for us.


¤ Usually, a player watching would be a bit sad that they are not out on the stage. But even if you went out, you would have played a tonk. Are you glad you sat back and not get tortured by playing tonks?

Obviously, the top lane meta right now is defined by who can play Aatrox or Urgot better right? Of course, we want the opportunity to play these champions and prove that. But more importantly, we want to have a draft that we feel advantaged.

Against 100 Thieves for example, we consider Ssumday their best player. Hence, taking this matchup on both sides makes no sense. We don’t need to. We don’t need to give them that much of a power pick. This is why we decided to take Ssumday out of the draft.

This time around, sOAZ was given the honor of playing the first game. It was also a little bit of a consideration for me to watch our team play for a tiny bit more. On top of all this, it is my first time at Worlds and sOAZ has been here 6 times already. It just felt right to open our appearance with sOAZ since he does have more experience.


¤ This year, Korean teams have had a difficult time during groups. What are your predictions moving forward?

I think for our group, everything will be dependent on how well we do against IG tomorrow (laughs). I believe that game will be the most important game of our group stage. If we get the first win against IG, it will dictate how the rest of our group stage will be. In the sense that we will be able to keep the momentum.

If we lost to IG and our weaknesses get exposed, I think other teams can pick up on this and prove a threat. Despite all this, as long as we can ride this high and take down IG, we should be considered the favorites. So yeah... it is going to be a very exciting game (laughs).

The real question is who is going to play for top. We have a deadline in 1 hour, so I am patiently waiting for the news. It is good news if I play, but I also think it will be good news if sOAZ plays. I trust sOAZ 100% to play just as good as me if not better. At the end of the day, I still myself a substitute player. I should be receiving our players with a smile and sending them off to the stage.


¤ Last words for the fans or your teammates?

To my teammates, I think they are all incredible players. I am very happy that I get to be here at Worlds. Last year, I was a free agent solo q player who didn’t have any experience in LCS. Walking around, I am really enjoying myself. I am hyped for the opportunity to play. If I do play, I hope I can prove to our fans that I deserve to play here too. That I can keep up at an international level. I want to thank all the fans for supporting us. We can make a deep run as long as we keep the momentum off this game going.