After an incredibly close series between BLG and G2, I spoke with Yike to share more insights on the heartbreaking loss.
Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
G2 Yike – still made the EU fans proud
Despite the loss, G2 was able to put up a great show against one of the top teams in the world. While the LEC is without a team in the top 8 yet again, EU fans should be proud as the team was likely much closer to the top Eastern teams.
Q: Hey Yike, I know it must not feel good to lose the series but what’s currently going on in your mind and what kind of feelings do you have?
Yike: “Yeah, I mean, first of all, I’m very disappointed. I think we could have for sure won this series, like, much better than last time we played them last worlds. We had, like, pretty hard game in game 1, but then we kind of stomped on game 2, and I think game 3 also, we had, like, much better drafts than them. We did a lot of misplays and yeah, it’s very disappointing to lose like this.”
Q: Before we talk a little bit more about the series, I would like to jump on the approach coming to the series. Considering BLG has two junglers, were you preparing for both of them or were you expecting more one than the other?
Yike: “Yeah, I mean, first of all, I thought there was gonna be Xun that I would play against because he has played the last series and went 2-0, so it makes sense. And, yeah, I guess I prepared more mostly for him, but I think if I had played with Wei, I don’t know how the game would have gone right, but it would have probably been similar, but yeah, it went how it went.”
The series
Q: In Game 1, we saw a similar draft to the one played against T1 with the Gnar-Nocturne-Orianna combo. Can we consider this one as the combination that you have found success with in scrims? Why did you re-propose that draft considering it didn’t work out as well previously?
Yike: “Yeah, I mean, it didn’t really work out against T1, but I think we could have won one of the games against them, the second game. So we thought it was strong, I think maybe from scrims as well. We thought it was super strong, but I think BLG’s drafting was pretty good and they just counterpicked. They got a good mid and good ADC into Nocturne-Ori, and we can’t really do the combo on them. We couldn’t really do much in the game because all of their champs were kind of good into Nocturne, so that was a bit sad for me. But I think we realized this quickly and we made another draft for the second game and third game.”
Q: I want to also go over the second draft, what did you discuss after the first game? Why did you bring out Skarner considering it’s the first time you played it on stage this tournament and in such a crucial moment?
Yike: “I think Skarner was just a strong jungler and they played it game 1 and he (Xun) did good. This champion is strong and very tanky and I think we didn’t want to play Nocturne again, obviously like I didn’t want to play as well, and Skarner is probably the best champ to play after that. It was a good game for Skaner and I think we played well.”
Looking back at Worlds 2024
Q: While there’s always stuff to improve and work on in a game like League, can we say that G2 has shown something close to their best gameplay or is there anything you think the team could’ve done better in particular?
Yike: “For sure in the last game, we could have just had better decision making, I think me and the rest we just had some moments like after we had a good fight mid, I died right after for no reason and there are other moments like when we did Nash – we thought they didn’t have TP and I think we did use a lot of misplace, we had a bit of miscommunication sometimes and we can’t have that when it’s like game-deciding fight.”
Q: This is the fourth time I’ve talked to you after a couple of times last year and this year at MSI. Last time I asked you what changed the most in yourself and you mentioned it was mainly your mentality and the way you practice SoloQ. Now that another half year has passed by, what kind of evolution is Yike going through as a player?
Yike: “For me, it gets better so that’s nice like with how I mentally prepare with that and just focus on improving in that way. But otherwise, I think just getting good on the strong champions and just focusing on a lot on more like micro stuff together with the team and having like personal help from, for example, my mentor as I said like in the season finals. He was helping me a lot and for Worlds also, he was helping me a lot and I learned a lot from him as well.”
Q: Even though you’re out of the top 8, are there any positive takeaways you have picked this Worlds, considering you have faced some of the strongest teams in this tournament such as T1, BLG, and HLE?
Yike: “We learned a lot, we had good games against these games so we could’ve beaten any of them and that is still a good sign for Europe. I think we should’ve won this series today and I think we played very good. Swiss stage can be punishing sometimes – you can get these teams or you can get like easier teams but either way, you just have to win against any team if you wanna go far.”
Yike’s prediction for Worlds
Q: If you were to pick a team to win this year’s world championship, who would it be and why?
Yike: “I would say maybe Gen.G. I think they probably looked the strongest even though they lost LCK finals, they were still very strong and I think they probably have the best players right now. It will be interesting to see who’s going to win because I think all the teams are pretty good right now. But yeah, I want to give it to Gen.G.
Q: Before we wrap up, do you have any last message you want to tell your teammates, your fans or anyone supporting you?
Yike: “Thank you for following us through this crazy Swiss stage, extremely sorry we couldn’t qualify for quarters this time again and I’m very disappointed in myself and I think we probably all are and that’s very sad for sure. But year, thank you for supporting us.”
