EG Impact: “I personally think [SGB] are a better team than MAD and have more potential, so I’d rather face MAD.”

On Day 3 of the 2022 LoL World Championships, Evil Geniuses defeated The Chiefs to top their playgroup. Heading into Day 4 of the seed stage, EG are tied with Fnatic with a 3-1 record and will face DetonatioN FocusMe in their final seed stage match.

The following is a one-on-one interview with EG’s top player, Jeong “Impact” Eon-young.

After your win over Chiefs just now, EG is 3-1 along with Fnatic. How do you feel about your win just now, as well as the team’s performance in the games so far?

I think LOUD played really well and won against Fnatic today so it was quite refreshing to watch. As for us winning the match just now, I think the enemy Victor died and lost his Lightning during the Herald fight when the game actually ended. After that it was easy for us to play the game; they should have dived into the top lane but couldn’t, and the GP vs. Vladimir matchup is favored by GP as the game goes on. I predicted that we would win the game quite easily and it went pretty much as we expected it to.

Vladimir is not a champion you usually see in the top lane, but you still faced Vladimir who took Aery with Ghost/Ignite. What do you think of Vladimir in the current meta?

I agree it’s not a good pick in the meta, but I always think it depends on how you play it. I think the match could have gone a lot differently if he managed to kill me at least once. If he did, then it would have led to our team taking care of our top side more, but in the end, Wladimir didn’t get to kill me, so that’s why I think the pick looked bad.

I also saw that Vladimir took Absolute Focus before Scorch, so I thought he wasn’t playing for the laning phase. So I thought, “Did he expect me to get Bone Plating? I still think he should have taken Scorch in this matchup”, and I felt the game was easier to play.

EG’s only early stage loss was against Fnatic. What was the feedback after that loss and how did you apply it in your next matches?

It felt like we were a completely different team. We weren’t playing proactively, to the point where we weren’t even trying to make the play we needed to. I told the team, ‘I’ll only go in if I see a corner. I don’t care if the game goes south,” as well as playing the vision game right as a team. I think that way of thinking has led to good results so far.

I feel like what you just talked about is basically confidence. As a veteran, what can you tell me about the importance of that confidence, especially on an international stage like the Worlds?

I think it always comes down to that level of confidence, but you have to have good reasons to back up that confidence. Player skill and confidence are always proportional. You can just “say” “Let’s play with confidence”, but you may not know what the right play is, so it’s important to understand what it is and play with confidence.

EG’s bot, Danny, decided to withdraw from the starting roster to deal with his mental health issues, with Kaori stepping in for the LCS playoffs and Worlds. First, how is Danny doing and how is Kaori integrating into the team?

On a personal level, I hope I do well. I’m sure he’s recovering at home and I think it’s going to be a big problem if he’s not. However, as a professional player, I don’t have the luxury of thinking about how he’s doing because my focus is entirely on how the team can play better at Worlds. This may sound a little heartless, but realistically, there are a lot of people with similar problems, and right now I’m busy dealing with what’s in front of me, which is performance. I really hope I do better. He has to.

The way Kaori works is he just fills the bot laner roles in the game plans that the four of us [Impact/Inspired/Jojopyun/Vulcan] do. Personally, I don’t think he played in our game against The Chiefs. He failed to properly utilize the pace we created and his visual play was poor. We shouldn’t have lost that Rift Herald, but what allowed them to even start gave them a basis to even potentially get back into the game.

Other than that, though, I think he played well.

Depending on how the matches go on Day 4, EG could go straight into the group stage, but if EG has to play extra matches to advance, is there a team you’d personally like to face from Group B?

I personally don’t want to face DRX or RNG. Our results against them are not bad, but they are still very good teams, so getting to the group stage as easily as possible is a priority. It’s do or die at this point, so either MAD Lions or Saigon Buffalos. I know the Buffaloes lost today, but I personally think they are a better team than MAD. I think they have more potential so I’d rather go against MAD.

NA vs. EU is always a rivalry that everyone talks about at international tournaments like Worlds, but compared to Asian teams, the consensus is that the gap is even greater between West and East. What are your thoughts on this and how do you think the NA vs EU matchup will go at Worlds this year?

No matter how I think about it, the western teams are much worse than the Asian ones this year. Especially MAD Lions. Also, since we lost to Fnatic in our first match, I feel like our image has been tarnished. There’s only one way to prove those doubters wrong, and that’s to win. If it comes down to playing in the playoffs/qualifiers, I want to beat the MAD Lions.

I also want to ask about Maokai. So far it’s been used mostly in the jungle, but it’s a pick that can be used in multiple roles. If played in the top lane, what are your thoughts on Maokai’s strengths/weaknesses?

As a jungler, I think his strengths lie in blocking aggressive, playmaking mid lane champions. Junglers like Lee Sin or Sejuani don’t have targeted CC, so playmaker champions like Leblanc, for example, have more freedom. Maokai can lock down these champions.

It’s only a matter of time before teams figure out how to play against Maokai jungle. For example, teams can pick junglers against him and look for a jungle shootout to bleed off his resources. When teams figure this out, then Maokai will be sent to other lanes such as top and support; I think Maokai is not bad in a tank vs tank matchup because the champion value is so high. However, Bruiser champions are very strong right now and Maokai should play the laning phase VERY well against them. In my opinion, he’s very good at reacting to enemy plays, but he can’t make plays happen very well. That’s why I don’t think he’s that good in the top lane, but we’ll have to see. I could be wrong about that.

As a veteran, do you have a specific goal you hope to achieve this year with EG?

You just win. When I won the Worlds in 2013, the goal was not specifically to win the tournament, but rather to win the matches in front of me. I think the reason I can have such a long career is because I focus on winning. That same goal hasn’t changed and I don’t think it will in the foreseeable future.

Finally, it’s Jojopyun’s birthday, so is there anything you’d like to wish him a happy birthday?

He’s playing against some really good players from the middle of the world this year, so hopefully he’ll play smarter and gain a lot of confidence from playing against them. I hope he plays a little better [laughter].