S3WC Placement: 3rd/4th

Paul 'sOAZ' Boyer is one of few remaining veterans in the LoL eSports world continuing to thrive on the world stage. With strong performances hailing all the way back to his 2nd place win during the Season 1 World Championships against his current organization while on Against All Authority, sOAZ continues to dominate on the world stage. Bolstering one of the largest champion pools in the game for a top laner while also capable of occasionally role swapping with his teammate and support Bora 'YellOwStaR' Kim, sOAZ's large repertoire and skill set allowed him to be the only European to win an all-star award, defeating CJ Frost's Shy in a showdown for 1st place top laner at All-Stars in Shanghai.

Read on to view Paul 'sOAZ' Boyer's take on how Worlds went for his team, his opinion on Cloud 9, his thoughts on preparation, and where the team may be headed in the future.

​Photo - Fnatic

These questions were sent after semi-finals and conducted on October 11th by Michale "Drexxin" Lalor.

Did you think you would get as far as you did in Worlds based on your performance in the EU LCS?

It's really hard to say. I think our performance during LCS was messy because we swapped players and Yellowstar went from ADC to support, so the LCS season was quite hard for us but we did well overall.

So what changed in your practice routine from LCS preparation to Worlds preparation? Did you do more studying, more scrimming time, etc?

Absolutely nothing, we couldn't play that much because everyone was on "vacation" etc...

How did you guage Cloud 9 as an opponent before facing them? Did they meet your expectations or fall short / exceed them?

We prepared our match against Cloud 9 like any other match. I think that if Cloud 9 were more used to "losing" or playing against better teams, they would probably be a top 3 team in the world.

​

"If Cloud 9 were used to losing or playing against better teams, they would probably be a top 3 team in the world."

How were the results of your scrims compared to your performance in the actual matches?

During LCS or Worlds, our results during scrims were really bad no matter what. We play very differently in scrims and I believe if we can change that, we can become even stronger.

In three of your four games against Royal Club, you picked Zac. Is there any reason you picked this champion over trying double assassination compositions with xPeke?

Because it was the best option against what they had and for what we had. We needed a tank and there aren't 50 options, especially against Renekton.

What was your initial reaction after beginning to struggle in lane against Royal Club? Do you think you guys played your best or close to your best in that set?

I think we played really, really poorly against Royal Club and we could have done much better. Our preparation for the match was also lackluster.

What's life like for a player on Fnatic with the downtime now after Worlds? Will you have a vacation, and when will you start practicing again for Season 4?

Right now, everyone is on "vacation" but some of us still have to go to some events for sponsors, etc., so we'll see.

Is there anything significant you learned from playing in an international tournament after it having been awhile since the last one you've played?

You always learn a lot during international events because every team have their "own" play style.

Out of all the teams, who would you say is the strongest top laner at Worlds over the course of the entire tournament?

I don't think the best top laner in the world was at Worlds or at least I didn't see him -- no one really surprised me.

Can we expect to see more role swaps in the future between you and Yellowstar or are those exclusively reserved for the "not super important" games?

I don't think so unless if we have a real strategy behind it, maybe!

Thank you for taking the time out to do this interview. Are there any shoutouts you'd like to mention to close this out?

Thank you for the interview :). And thanks to all the fans for supporting us!





PHOTO - Fnatic

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

-Favorite Food: Spicy food!

-Biggest Fear: Never really thought about that, dunno what to say XD

-Childhood dream job: Chef

-Favorite game before LoL: DotA

-Most annoying Hero: Thresh

-Favorite Hero: Blitz