Interview with Yoe Flash Wolves' Support SwordArt about IEM Katowice, the LMS, and the Mid-Season Invitational

The Yoe Flash Wolves' performance at IEM Katowice might have surprised those unfamiliar with the LMS, but the Wolves' performance at the World Championships was the just the latest strong performance by a team going through a renaissance. They've surprised the Taiwanese scene by dominating the LMS and look different from the Yoe and Gama Bears teams of Season 3 and 4.

Hu "SwordArt" Shou-Jie is one of the prime reasons for the Flash Wolves' renewal, as his support play has ensured that Yoe has one of the top bottom lanes in Taiwan. I got a chance to sit down and talk to him about the team's performance at IEM Katowice and the team's expectations looking ahead to the Mid-Season Invitational. 

Let's start by talking about IEM Katowice. You guys came into the tournament into a group with Cloud 9, SK Gaming, and (the favorites of the tournament) the GE Tigers. Not a lot of people were picking you to get out of your group - what were your expectations for Poland?

SwordArt: We've done our research and I personally think that we were pretty even against SK and C9 during the laning phase, but better at vision control and team fights. Yeah, we pretty much expected to pass the elimination match and enter the semis.

 

Your first game of the tournament was against SK Gaming. SK initiated the standard lane swap against Gnar which shut out Steak early, but the game was relatively even going into the extended pause. What went wrong and how was SK able to leverage their advantage so quickly?

SwordArt: I personally thought that we did great on the lane swap, cause once they got the first top turret down, Gnar can freeze lane, preventing Freddy from farming. The main problem of the game was mainly because we didn't do well in the first few team fights.

 

Your second game was against Cloud 9, and it was a close game throughout. In the late game, Balls' Gnar became less and less useful. You guys have a good track record against Gnar, beating AHQ on it as well. What is your team's opinion on Gnar and how are you so good at mitigating his impact?

SwordArt: Just don't go hard on Gnar. Choose champs who can easily disengage or able to poke at distance to lower Gnar's crowd control ability.

 

You guys would face SK again during the tournament in the group decider match. What did you take out of the first game against them?

SwordArt: We banned out Forg1ven's favorite champs and we got Rek'Sai, the strongest jungler at the moment. Also, we had a very strong disengage team comp, which could easily get rid of Rengar when initiating team fights. Yeah, we got a good comp.

 

You faced TSM in the semi-finals. Going into the series, what was your plan to beat them?

SwordArt: We did some research about their most-used tactics.

 

Were you guys satisfied with the third-place finish?

SwordArt: Not really, I think we could've gone further.

 

There was a small bit of a dust-up when you guys returned to Taiwan and you guys had a 'showmatch' against AHQ. What exactly happened there and are you happy with the decision?

SwordArt: As players, we fully understand and support our management's decision. We didn't think about it too much at the time, nor did the incident affect us. We are still very focused on winning the Spring Split. 

You guys are the first place squad in the LMS and just need to win one series to get into the Mid-Season Invitational. Should we expect to see you in Florida?

SwordArt: Of course. We are very looking forward to playing in the MSI. We will show people once again that our region is one of the best. 

 

If you had the option to pick the winner of each region, what teams would you like to face there?

SwordArt: I would say: EDG, TSM, SKT T1, and SK Gaming.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview - do you have any shout-outs?

SwordArt: I want to thank our fans and Wanin for the big support.

 

Thanks again to SwordArt and Yoe for taking the time out of their preperation to do this interview. Yoe will face a challenger in the Grand Finals of the LMS Spring Split on Sunday, April 12th, at 6:00 EST. Follow Yoe on Facebook and follow me on Twitter for more Southeast Asia and Wildcard region coverage.