EG Vulcan: “FlyQuest plays better on stage. Not to say that their players are better [than ours] or anything, I think we’re better than anyone.”

The battle for first place in the LCS spring regular season is intensifying. Three teams, FlyQuest, Evil Geniuses, and Cloud9 are all within a game of each other moving into the second round-robin. Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme, also to some known as the king of the spring, is vying for his fourth consecutive spring split title. Following Evil Geniuses' game against Team Liquid, EG Vulcan sat down with Esports.gg for an exclusive interview.

Evil Geniuses had to do it the hard way when they battled against Team Liquid last week. TL was poised to take what would have been a hard-fought victory between two strong rosters. Ultimately Liquid did not finish their dinner as EG slowly clawed out of their base to secure the victory.

It is nice to see Evil Geniuses continue to turn certain defeats into victories. With Jeong "Impact" Eon-young and Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki, it always felt as if EG would come back from a losing position. Whether that be through Impact's veteran experience or Danny's incredible teamfighting, there was always an avenue for Evil Geniuses to make the comeback happen.

EG's comeback victory over TL gives us a glimpse that it was not just Danny and Impact who were dragging Evil Geniuses over the finishing line. EG Vulcan was pleased that his side was able to hold strong and turn a defeat into a win.

"I'm happy that we can win these sorts of games. These are the kind of games that will just happen. Maybe you have a bad draft, mess something up, or sometimes find yourself in late-game situations. I feel like I don't have the greatest track record going into the late game individually with my teams in the past. I don't know if that's true, but it's the feeling I have. So it feels good to get this type of win."

We pushed Vulcan back on his final statement, given Vulcan's strong late-game performances for both Evil Geniuses and Cloud9. We asked Vulcan how does himself and Evil Geniuses remain calm in losing positions.

"It does come down to shot-calling, you need to make sure that you prepare your teammates. So first, I like to do a condition where if they do 'this', you have to try to predict what the enemy team wants to do. So that's the first part. And then with that in mind, you're like 'okay, so they're gonna go push top for the last remaining turret' as an example."

Riot Games, with every patch, is starting to find the perfect balance between ranged supports and melee supports. At the start of the season, support players would often be seen playing a ranged ADC as opposed to traditional support.

EG's Vulcan historically has performed when he is on champions that can engage and have a strong effect across the map. During his Cloud9 days, the three-time LCS champion was known for his exceptional melee support gameplay. Champions like Alistar and Leona helped C9 find both domestic and international success.

"I prefer the melee supports definitely. I'm patiently waiting for the melee champions to come back. But also I felt like I've been performing pretty well on the range supports so far. I don't prefer playing the range supports but I think I'm competent on them. I'm much better at Rakan and Leona etc. I'm the kind of guy that always look for opportunities to go in. And if I play Karma, I can't do much about someone stepping out of place. If I am playing those melee champions I mentioned I can do something about it."

Evil Geniuses and its players are facing different challenges from the ones they faced in 2022. The roster is finding its footing after bringing in two new players in the form of Ssumday and FBI. Although skill wise these are like-for-like changes, the way they will play is a hurdle EG will have to overcome.

With that in mind, there are steep expectations for Evil Geniuses. EG saw steady progression throughout 2022. They started off very slow in the 2022 spring regular season before bursting into life in the playoffs - EG ended up winning the spring split and advanced to MSI.

From there, we saw the evolution of EG as their young guns soaked up their first international experience like a sponge - the NA squad took down the LEC's MAD Lions in a best-of-five. And yes while there were some internal factors that plagued their Worlds campaign, this was an incredible year for EG.

With the roster stability finally coming in, EG is expected to pick up right where they left off. We asked Vulcan what would be seen as progression in his eyes.

"I kind of don't want to think about international competition too much yet, because we are not the best in NA. And as of right now, I would say FlyQuest plays better on stage. Not to say that their players are better or anything, I think we're better than anyone. I believe that we can beat anyone, it's just a question of how we're able to improve.

I think right now we are pretty disgusting in the mid-game. That would be the biggest point to improve on. I think our mid-game and how we want to play the map, we have to get on the same page there. I think with Ssumday coming in, he plays side lane differently than Impact would, he is not as communicative as Impact would be with Jojo specifically.

So it's kind of on JoJo to take on more of a role, but he kind of has to do it more individually. He doesn't have the assistance that impact gave as much anymore. So we just need to progress. I think the mid-game is a big thing. And yeah, just taking it one game at a time."

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