The first international tournament of the 2015 season was Intel Extreme Masters Taipei, and it was an entertaining affair, having teams from Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Taiwan battle it out for $25,000 and an invite to the World Championships in Katowice, Poland. The winners of that event were the yoe Flash Wolves, which shouldn't be a surprise to those familiar with the Southeast Asian scene.

Since late 2014, the Wolves have won tournament after tournament and currently sit second in the LoL Masters Series (the new Taiwanese regional league), only behind blue-blood Taipei Assassins. Quite a bit of this success is due to their mid-laner Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang. I had a chance to talk to Maple about the team's performance at IEM Taipei and their expectations for Katowice.

Images courtesy of yoe Flash Wolves.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Let's start with the big competitive changes in Season 5 - Southeast Asia and Taiwan are no longer the same region, with Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau taking the region's "major" status. Do you think this is a positive change for the Taiwanese competitive scene?

Maple: I think it is a positive change. Last year, there were only two pro teams, AHQ and TPA were obviously better than the other teams in the GPL and they could only fight against each other in the GPL Finals, so (there was) a lack of highly competitive matches. Now in the LMS we can fight against HKES, TPA, AHQ for three times each split. I think a highly competitive league can prove the skill of players and test the limit of their coach and analyst.



Deathfire Grasp was just removed from the game. What's your opinion on the change?

Maple: I think this change only affects some LeBlanc/Ahri players and AP nuke heroes like Veigar.



The LoL Master Series (LMS) is the new regional tournament, with eight Taiwanese (or in the case of one squad, Hongkonger) squads playing in a round-robin format. The teams are mostly the usual suspects (yourselves, TPA, Snipers, and AHQ). Were you surprised by any of the teams that qualified, or didn't, for the spring split?

Maple: I don't really pay attention to teams besides TPA, HKES, and AHQ.



You guys qualified for IEM Taipei as the third seed from Taiwan, after losing to both TPA and AHQ in the qualifiers. Going into the main event, were you guys expecting to come out on top?

Maple: Of course. We found out some of the problems in the team in the qualifier, then we solved them so we could win IEM Taipei. This time we would show our best and try as hard as we could to come out on top.



In you first quarterfinal game against the Bangkok Titans, BKT were holding their own against you until their attempt to catch SwordArt neear their own blue ended in a four for one. Were you guys trying to catch them out with a bait, or was that just a nice break?

Maple: I think it was just a nice break.



In game two, you picked Lulu into Kassadin mid, after BKT went with an unconventional LeBlanc top pick. I expect you assumed the Kassadin was going top, so how did their swap change your guys' gameplan?

Maple: We thought our mid lane was going to have some disadvantage in the laning phase, but Leb top is not a good choice so we were going to take the lead in team fights.

In the semifinals, you played against AHQ and let them pick up the "Gnarvan" combination in the first game. You guys shut down the Gnar very early, and AHQ was never really able to use that combo to its full effect. How confident are you guys playing against that duo?

Maple: We think that Rek'Sai is way more OP than the Gnarvan combo, and AHQ's lane swap is not that strong, so we beat them easily this game.



In the second game, you picked up Cleanse on Xerath against westdoor's Twisted Fate. At what point do you decide Cleanse is necessary - was it due to simply TF, or did the Lissandra/TF convince you it was necessary?

Maple: I think their team composition was full engage champions, so if I want to live in the teamfight, I need the Cleanse, and I think once I live in the team fight that we will never lose.



In the finals, you faced TPA in an incredibly entertaining series. You guys lost the first game after a long affair that was close. What was the mood of the team after the first loss of the tournament?

Maple: After the first match, I thought "We can win the game without those misplays", so we were still confident for this series.



In the end, you won IEM Taipei. What are your expectations for the IEM World Championships in Katowice, Poland?

Maple: We want to win the IEM Championship in Katowice.



When I talked to Hong Kong Esports, they said that you were the player to look out for in the LMS. Who do you think is the player that other regions should pay attention to in Taiwan?

Maple: Taipei Assassins' Lupin. His Sivir and Corki are really good.



If you guys had the chance to schedule any other team in the world for a scrimmage, what team would you choose?

Maple: CJ Entus.



Thanks again for taking the time out of your practice schedule to do this interview! Do you have any shoutouts?

Maple: Thanks to our headquarter company WaninBank for giving us the best support. Also thanks to the fans that support us. See you guys at the 2015 IEM (World Championship) Finals!



I'd like to thank Maple one last time for taking the time out of his day to do this interview, and yoe Flash Wolves for translating this interview. Follow Maple on Facebook (in Chinese) and on Twitch, and follow the team on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter @Rampant_Idiocy for more Southeast Asia coverage, and Team Dignitas for all sorts of gaming content.

This interview was translated and edited for grammar but not content.