Currently, Origen sits in a three way tie for fourth place. But here at Rift Rivals, Origen is showing why they are a top tier team⁠—despite their record.





Barney “Alphari” Morris has been a rock for them in the Top lane both domestically and at the event. Upcomer sat down to talk to Alphari about his thoughts on the NA teams, an honest look at their chances at making Worlds, and what’s going on with his former team Misfits.





I’m a Yorick one-trick. So yesterday, when I saw you lock in Yorick, I had to switch allegiance between regions and support EU. Yorick kind of fell off in the meta for pro play after a lot of the changes, so why did you decide to pick Yorick into TSM today?





Yorick is a really strong champion, I think, was it last patch? Or last year? (crosstalk) Yeah, okay then, last patch he was a pretty strong champion. I've played him quite a lot, and honestly he didn't change much. He just kind of fell off in pro. I don't think he even got nerfed much.





I believe his Q had some damage reduction.





Right. I mean, maybe like a very small nerf, but I still feel like it's really playable in the matchups where he used to be playable. And one of the best matchups that I think was for him was versus Jayce. So... just having a really strong frontline that can stomp together, it was a pretty good combo, and it's good vs. Jayce. So basically just because of matchup, honestly.





Was there any point where you thought that, when you guys coming over here, that there'd be an NA team you guys would lose to?





I mean, I think we felt pretty confident versus TSM, and I think vs C9, we should be pretty confident too. Versus TL we should also be, so, yeah? But I think that TL also are, like, not bad, whereas TSM and C9 are maybe like... they draft like... I mean, all teams, I think, draft not very good⁠—but at least TL have good players. So TL, I think, can beat us.





But I think it's just more so on us if we just play badly or draft badly, then we can lose. I think normally we could still beat them, but I think TL are a strong team, so they can actually win. Like they nearly beat Fnatic today. They kind of gave Fnatic their dream picks, so it wasn't going to work out, but... I think TL are fine, yeah.





Looking back at your home region, your current record is 3 and 3. Do you see yourself being one of the Worlds representatives for the LEC for this year?





Yes, for sure, I think so. That's what everyone is working towards, and it's really very realistic. I think our 3-3 record⁠—I feel like we are better than that. We just had some bad games versus G2 and Fnatic.





We were ahead and then we just threw. And versus Splyce, it was like, a monster-free win, and then we just tried to 3v5 them and lost. So that game, that feels a little bit bad, but I'm pretty confident that we'll end the season with a solid record, and have a good spot in playoffs, and be able to finish at least third. Probably second, probably first, hopefully. And if not, then... I don't see any team in Europe, other than Fnatic and G2, being a strong threat to us, honestly.





You say that you don't see a lot of teams being a strong contender, but you guys did lose to Splyce, and Splyce is right behind you as far as points go for making Worlds. Are you very confident in that just being a one-time thing or do you think that maybe they are a team that can contend with you for the Worlds spot?





I think Splyce are the next best team in contention for a Worlds spot, but I just don't feel like they should be able to beat us in a best of 5. I feel like we are just going to be favored. Even this game in the regular season that we just played, I think it was a really free win and we got way too trolly, or just bored. And we just were like, “yeah, okay, let's 3v5 them bot lane,” and the game is really won if we just play normally. I think they're not bad, but I don't think you should be able to see that they'll beat us.





I cover a lot of different esports, and in fighting games there's a player named Bonchan. And so at the end of the year, they have an event called the Capcom Cup, for Street Fighter, and that's like their Worlds. And Bonchan shared this thought in a documentary, that, as a pro player, his job was to make Worlds. Basically, if he didn't make that then he didn't do his job as a pro player.





Similarly for you, as a professional gamer, would you view your baseline for your job to make playoffs? Is it to make finals? Is it to make Worlds? Where do you see the absolute baseline: your job is to do “_____”.





I think it's a little bit different to fighting games, because it's a team game, so you can't always be in control of your results, although obviously you have a large impact. So I wouldn't say it's a specific goal, like making playoffs, or making worlds, or semis, or whatever. I wouldn't say that this is a pro player's job. I would just say that giving your best, at least for playoffs, is what's needed from a pro player.





And if you don't give your best, then... I think that's just what every pro player should be doing, or should be trying to do. And maybe if their best, at the moment, isn't good enough to win playoffs, they can learn from it and come back, and just keep trying to improve. And the next bit, maybe their best will be enough.





I understand that, you know, team games are different. You can't just 1v9 every single game. I mean, there are times that we've seen you 1v9 people, but you can't do that every game. So you don't think that, as a pro player, your job is, at minimum, to make playoffs?

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No. I mean, obviously, every pro player wants to make playoffs, and from there, wants to make Worlds. But there's times, like, you can be a really good player and be on a bad team. That just happens sometimes. I'm trying to think of examples, but... it's just hard. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of really good pro players being stuck on bad teams...





Patrick.





Yeah, Patrick. That's a good example. He went like, I think, 2-16, they went? And he's obviously a really good player. And like 2-16 one split, and the second place next split. It's obvious that he was better than the 2-16 record, he just wasn't able to achieve his potential last split. And that's not his fault⁠—I mean, it could have been, a little bit. I'm sure he improved as well. But there are lots of things like this.





During the off-season, you were no longer on Misfits. Was there a point where you were worried about making it into the LEC? Or did you already have, sort of, the Origen position lined up in the interim?





I was never really worried about my job security. I considered myself a really strong player, and I still do. So I knew that... at least, I thought that I'd have a good amount of options, and the possibility to continue trying to win. Origen was the one, for me, that... I didn't know it was going to come, but when I saw it, I knew this would be the best chance I had to try to win.





I had other options, which had more money, or other good things going for them, but Origen was just the one that looked to me like the best chance to win. And after failing with Misfits, honestly, two splits in a row, I just wanted to kind of redeem myself, and just still prove that, even to myself. Because I haven't won a split yet, which I really want to⁠—that, you know, I just want to win. So that's like, priority for me.





You know, it's interesting you say that, because when you guys debuted in the LEC last spring, you guys had a pretty rough start to the season. You're having a better start this time. With those two starts in context, what do you think it is about your team that you sort of have these lukewarm starts to the splits?





Last split, I think we... like, the slow start was mainly just because individual mistakes, and just being rusty. And also being due to not being on the same page as to what champions we want to play, which is something that we really fast realized was a big problem and fixed, so everyone can just like be comfortable with the drafts. Whereas before, people were kind of sacrificing themselves, but it wasn't necessary. Or just like going with someone else's idea when they had different thoughts.





So that's something that got fixed. As for this split, I wouldn't say our start is bad. I think it's fine. Obviously we lost three games, to Fnatic, G2, and Splyce, which sucks. But I think it's clear: good things and bad things from all games, and we're just taking it a game at a time. It's not like we're coming in expecting to just smash everyone and be an elite-tier team. We don't consider ourselves to be mega strong. we're happy just improving, week to week, so that when playoffs comes around, we'll reach goals. So we're okay with the start and just want to improve.





And I know that they've made a lot of changes since you left the org, but a lot of people keep saying, even now, saying “Misfits is the super team, you know, they've got all these-”





[laughs]





Don't laugh. I'm just quoting the desk here. On paper, you could say they're a super team: sOAZ, you know, made it to the world finals; Febiven, uh...





He was good once, yeah.





Yeah. You know, Hans Sama, Gorilla... What do you think is going on there, and is preventing them from reaching everyone's expectations? Because it's not just mine; everyone on the desk seems to say it, there are a lot of other journalists that think they should be doing much better than, what is it?





2-4 right now.





2-4? So like, I'm not expecting them to be 5-1, but 2-4 seems a pretty low, low ranking for a team with that much talent on it.





Yeah. So I think, the problem I see with them is that they seem, based on the players, really restricted to certain metas. So I think, in a very slow-paced, tank meta, where they can just have a tank top, play him on bot, the game is kind of just really set in stone how it's supposed to be played. So then you just go through the movements⁠—then I think they can be a strong team.





But that's not how the game has been at all this year. I think this is like the fastest League has been played, at least since I've been a pro. And there's so much chaos in a lot of games. You see people, like, double-flexing, even triple-flexing, champions in draft, like role swapping in game. And you see, like G2, just ending games in fifteen minutes, eighteen minutes, in MSI finals.





So the game is way too fast for Misfits, who are maybe just not that great in a fast-paced meta. So if I had to speculate, I would say that they're a little more meta-dependent than some other teams in the league right now. So that's probably holding them back right now. But if the meta changes, then maybe they could live up to their potential.