Evil Geniuses started off the Summer Split with disappointing 0-3 record. After their final game of the weekend versus Flyquest, TGH got the opportunity to sit down with Head Coach Peter Dun and ask him some questions about the weekend and more.
This was Danny’s first week in the LCS. How do you think he performed despite the 0-3 start to the Summer Split?
Yeah, I’ve been pretty happy with Shiro’s performance so far. I think you can argue that he has been either our best or second-best player over the first three days. Of the games that we played this week, I feel that we should have been comfortably able to close two of them (TSM and Dignitas) and today was a bit of a clown fiesta (FlyQuest) *laughs*. You can’t really scrim for those kind of situations, but I have been very happy with his performance so far.
He’s not afraid to go in on stage. He plays very very aggressively in scrims and I’m glad that he was willing to play the same way on stage. Often with rookies you see them play really aggressive and come to stage, it’s different. So I’m happy with him in that regard.
That FlyQuest game was quite, well, interesting to put it nicely. What do you think caused both teams to struggle to close it despite numerous game-ending buffs?
The main issue with this game is that we win before two items, but if they hit 2-3 they win, but we win again at 4-6. The main problem is that after what happened at level 1, they were able to secure enough early drakes to get soul. When you give a poke composition that has Karma, the soul, they can always disengage from any kind of fight.
We had a couple of situations where we outscale them this game, but soul kept them in it until we hit our item spike. The problem we had is that on the final push we decided to kill them instead of hitting their towers. If we hit their towers, the game is won, but we went for the kills instead and I’m not entirely sure why. They turned and killed our base, unfortunate.
One thing I and a few others noticed is that no one built Serpent’s Fang that last game despite there being a Karma and Lee Sin. Do you think it would have been good this game?
I think Serpent’s Fang is a really strong item. The thing is we win at 4-5 items anyway. It doesn’t really matter what happens. The problem is that building Serpent’s Fang early delays our spike. We were rapidly trying to scramble to get back into the game and complete items whenever we could. I do agree that it’s a strong item especially into Karma and Lee Sin, but it was more important that we get Lord Dominick’s cause we have zero threat on Ezreal if we don’t cause he built Frozen Heart. That means that when you have double AD Carry into Frozen Heart you need your armor pen.
With the recent changes to Academy switching over to a BO2 format, I was wondering if you think BO1 or BO2 is a better format and if you would like to see it in the LCS?
I am a big fan of BO2. I know a lot of people like BO3 in regular season, but there are problems with BO3. You can’t easily schedule around it. I like BO2 cause in certain patches Red Side is stronger. Certain patches Blue Side is stronger. BO2 equalizes that so both teams get the chance to play one game. I think The bonus in the Academy this season for getting a 2-0 is too much. You get 3 wins for a 2-0 and only 1 win for a 1-1. So maybe it should be a half point, I’m not sure exactly how you do it. I’m a huge fan of BO2 for that.
Also, I think it adds a lot for the storyline you know? A 1-0, despite the result, can be sometimes unsatisfying. Maybe you lost something level 1 or they drafted cheese you didn’t expect. A 2-0 is a much more definitive result for one team and a 1-1 builds more hype for the next time these two teams play. I think that is something that shouldn’t be understated. Give people a reason to come and watch next time. I think 1-0 can be a bit hollow, even if you are on the winning team.
Let’s talk about the changes made to EGP and EGA in the offseason. Due to visa issues, Shoryu went down to Prodigies and TeamLuke got recruited for Academy. What do you think TeamLuke brings to the dynamic of EGA?
The big thing about TeamLuke is that he is a leader. This is something that may surprise people, but I think he is someone who has come in as the rookie of the team, but isn’t afraid to state his opinion in meetings. He is someone who looks out for his teammates outside the game and he brings a lot to the team outside the game as well.
I think mechanically he was fantastic in amateur. He played for Wildcard. They had arguably the strongest Bot Line in amateur, maybe except for us. Daption and TeamLuke were a really really strong Bot Lane duo. When we knew we had a slot in Academy there was no question. We had an in-house scouting grounds and he was invited immediately. We expected him to gap the rest of the opposition that was there and he did.
The big thing to say about TeamLuke is that he is very aggressive. That doesn’t say much, but he conducts team fights in a very switch-like mentality. While you look at someone like Danny who loves being on Samira. Going into the fight, assassinating somebody, dodge the counter fight and then we fight. Meanwhile, TeamLuke is somebody who has a very good switch mentality. He will skirt around the outside of the fight and he knows his moment to go in. He is very good at counting cooldowns. Once he knows they are down he just goes and he doesn’t hesitate.
He is lacking a bit in macro so far, but that is expected when someone steps up to academy. The reason Shiro is ahead is that he has had that extra work done on EGP. I am excited for TeamLuke. Again, the big thing is thst fans don’t know him very well your going to watch out for is his teamfight. There was a series versus TSM and EGA where we lost the first game. The second game we were losing and he saw the opportunity cause the enemy ADC was out of position and we were able to win the game because of it. TeamLuke, team fighting. We will work on his macro over the split.
Final Question: Will we get to see more of that sweet Danny Samira? Cause I think I speak for everyone when I say that was fun to watch.
Danny has a REALLY good Samira. Never afraid to go in. When they went for the 2 V 2 bot this game, we knew Lee Sin was bot. They said, okay, we are going to fight this 2 v 3 and we are going to get out. Unfortunately, they traded 1 for 1. Maybe it wasn’t the best trade, but IgNar and Danny know the limits on these champions and they and they are always happy to go in. I hope we get more opportunities to draft this champion more as the split goes on cause Danny Samira is really something.
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