Not an easy split for GiantX: the team had only brought in two new players, Flakked and Oscarinin, at the end of June. The price came in the form of shaky performances – including on today's match day, where things didn't click at first either.
In the end, GiantX took the series 2:1 – largely thanks to top laner Oscarinin, who brought out a slightly unusual pick on Warwick in game three and was named series MVP for it.
After the match, head coach Guilhoto talked about the rocky transition, the Warwick pick, his stance on Riot's changes to the bot lane meta – and, right at the end, about something far bigger than results.
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"That's the definition of a gamble"
RunItDown: Your games last week haven't been too clean, and the first two games today haven't been too clean either. How would you explain the messiness that's going on?
GX Guilhoto: We changed two players overall [Ed. note: Flakked and Oscarinin in for Noah and Lot].
We intended to shake things up a bit, and we felt that keeping the roster wouldn't help us go to Worlds. That was obviously a risk, and we were expecting a slow start – I don't think we expected it to be this slow.
I think the explanation comes from there: it was a completely new meta, and we had to get on the same page with all five members, which takes some time. We're getting better and better at it, just at a slower pace than I'd like. That's kind of the definition of a gamble, I guess – we'll draw our conclusions from that change and see how it goes.
"You Have to Be a Really Good Warwick to Make It Work"
RunItDown: Game three was a lot cleaner, and I'd argue Oscarinin's Warwick pick was pivotal for that – he also got MVP for the series afterwards. I actually checked his SoloQ account during the draft: that pick looked surprising at first, but clearly it's not coming out of nowhere. How did it come to be?
GX Guilhoto: He already played it before, in official games as well – I don't think it should be that much of a surprise.
And in scrims against us, when we scrimmed Fnatic while he was there, he'd usually play it into Ambessa, and he did it with us too. You have to be a really good Warwick to make it work, and I think Oscar is really good on it.
I'd argue it wasn't just the Warwick, though – he was pivotal throughout the series, individually he's playing really well, same as last week already.
Even though I mentioned the changes, I don't want that to be misinterpreted: it's not their fault, it's mainly on us as staff, and especially me, to adapt more to them and find more middle ground.
"They Fit Better With Each Other"
RunItDown: What's the biggest difference in your approach to games now that Oscar and Flakked have joined?
GX Guilhoto: The approach to the game doesn't really change with the two players themselves – it changed more with the meta, with a lot more mages being possible, and Flakked is a player who fits that.
We haven't found the best way yet of how we want to approach it – we'll need to see next patch whether it's going to work, depending on where Riot pushes things.
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I don't think Flakked is better than Noah or Oscar is better than Lot. But for what we needed and how we function, I think they fit better with how the other three want to play – they fit better with each other. I think both are more versatile than their counterparts, and that's mainly what changed: we're looking more at some of Flakked's picks and different types of compositions we're able to play now.
"What Riot's Doing Right Now Just Makes No Sense to Me"
RunItDown: You've already said Riot has announced their intention to change the bot meta, at least next patch. Do you think that's the right call, or would you rather see them add even more diversity?
GX Guilhoto: I think they should add more diversity, I like that. I think they're trying to brute-force too many things into the game.
Usually items and champion numbers dictate a lot of what gets played – if they're not scared of overtuning what they want to see played, that's fine by me. I'd rather they overtune something, enchanters for example, and then after three months decide they're nerfing enchanters, the item isn't as good anymore, and they keep rotating it.
But I don't like it when changes brute-force things by denying stats, like what they did with the lane swap, for example, or what they're doing now, forcing supports – and other roles – to stay in their lane.
That's something I've always liked: sometimes having a midlaner play top, or my top laner play mid. Now it's basically impossible because Riot is forcing things, and that's the part I don't like.
It's almost like playing football, and then at the World Cup final someone says: okay guys, throw-ins from the side aren't allowed anymore, only the left winger can use his left foot.
That's kind of what Riot is trying to do, and to me it just makes no sense.
RunItDown: So if you could, you'd do away with role quests completely – no replacement, nothing, just get rid of them?
GX Guilhoto: Yes. Or at least make it more versatile – I'm fine with role quests, but let them be interchangeable instead of brute-forcing the role into the game. At least for competitive – I know that in SoloQ people would grief and steal others' roles, but in competitive, people wouldn't.
"Nobody Should Ever Be Completely Satisfied"
RunItDown: During LEC Versus, you made a now-infamous statement saying that outside of KC, no team really had reason to be satisfied with how they played. KC is once again the only undefeated team in the LEC so far – is that a statement you'd repeat today?
GX Guilhoto: I think a lot of teams are in a weird state. G2, obviously, changed their coaching staff and Perkz just joined – but I think they're still playing pretty well, though of course they're going to have a slow start. MKOI apparently also have some internal situations going on that might make them play a bit worse. Vitality had a change too. I guess KC are more than happy with how they're playing – I think they're the most stable and reliable team right now.
But honestly, when I made that statement, I think I was also a bit annoyed. To be fair, though, I don't think anyone should ever be completely satisfied with how they play – and I'm sure if you asked KC, they'd tell you something similar.
"These Last Two Years Really Changed My Life"
RunItDown: For the last question – as far as I know, your contract with GiantX is running out this year. Let's assume this really will be your last split with GiantX – setting results aside, what do you consider your biggest success over the past two years?
GX Guilhoto: I think making sure that Giants – an org I have a big affinity with – is consistently knocking on the door of a top-three finish. Over these two years we got three fifth places in the first year, then two fourth places this split. That's both a good achievement, but also a bit of a sour taste.
RunItDown: It could have been more, right?
GX Guilhoto: Yeah. Honestly, I think my best achievement has nothing to do with League of Legends these past years.
If I'm being completely honest, I think these last two years really changed my life a lot, by need. And my biggest achievement was learning how to deal with that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.