Team Liquid face off against TSM this week for the LCS title in St. Louis. The matchup is chock-full of storylines: The race between Liquid star marksman Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng and veteran TSM mid laner Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg for the title of best player in North American history, whether TL can become the second team after TSM to win three titles in a row, if TSM’s own bot lane star Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen can become the first player to win a title in both Europe and NA, and more.





We caught up with Liquid’s top laner Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong after the team’s semifinal sweep over FlyQuest to discuss the upcoming series, his thoughts on the top lane meta, and what he hopes to prove at the Mid-Season Invitational if Liquid is triumphant over TSM.





Interview performed by Aaron Mickunas. Article written by Brian Chang.





Today’s series was rough for FlyQuest. It was a total blowout. Did you expect them to put up more of a fight, or did you expect to 3-0 them?





Impact: If we’re not doing stupid shit, I thought we could just 3-0 easily, because they’re a new team. Of course, I am new to this team too, kind of, but since we already had three players -- [Doublelift], [Jake “Xmithie” Puchero], and me -- and just two new people came, so we have more [time together] than FLY did in playoffs. If I thought we would 3-0, then it’s too cocky, so I just [focused] on my play and that’s what happened, a 3-0.





You assumed if you guys played up to par it would be a 3-0, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when it actually happened?





Yeah. Actually, that game was kind of boring, because I was just pushing and winning, you know? “I guess we’re winning, guys.” Just push and move, push and move, push and move, and the game’s done.





If we didn’t die we could have a clean game, but we kind of made mistakes. I think we ended the second game too slow. The third game could have ended faster too. The third game was the slowest I think. That is kind of sad, but we can fix it up. I mean it’s actually sad that FlyQuest didn’t have pressure all three games. First game we threw, but we came back because our team comp was insane. I mean I’m just sad for [FlyQuest top laner Omran "V1per" Shoura] and [FlyQuest mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park].





Photo via Riot Games





You played lots of damage today. You had Jayce, Viktor, and Kennen. Do you prefer playing that over tanks?





Tanks suck now. I mean people are just thinking about it wrong. They think someone is just a tank player, and someone is just a carry player. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter. I think you need to play both, and you know how to play both, or else you’ll fall out of meta as a player. Because people play carries, that means carries are strong.





Tank Viktor of course is not tanky now, so I think C9 tried to play tanks some more because of engage, but I don’t agree, because I think the meta top is scaling. If you have pressure, you’re really good. Scaling versus scaling, if you have pressure early, you get more and more ahead. I think that’s the problem, because tanks now, at 10 minutes and 14 minutes you have no pressure. When it’s 13 minutes and 14 minutes, people get plates. Tanks always need to get plates. I think plates are a problem for tanks. The problem with tanks is, if you win lane, you don’t necessarily get plates. I think that’s really big. With a carry, if you win lane, you get plates.





Do you think that was because of the Demolish nerf? They used to be able to get plates pretty easily.





Yeah, because you need to stay four seconds for one proc. But if your enemy isn’t stupid, they’ll hit you forever and you’ll need to go home. Tanks now, if they win lane, that means they go even. But if they lose lane, then it’s really bad, so there’s no way I can play tanks. I mean, if tanks win lane, it’s possible, but it’s so hard to.





I think [playing carries] is my weak point. I think I play carries fine, but I didn’t trust myself because my confidence went down. but in spring my mind changed. I said, “Fuck it, I’ll just play.” I think that’s why I’m getting better.





You mentioned V1per. How well do you think he did today? He was really behind, especially in game two, but what’s your overall take?





Earlier when he played Irelia, I think he did really well. He played really safe when our jungler didn’t show, and when the jungler showed, he tried to play aggressive. I think he played pretty well, but not special. I think that’s his weak point. Rookies need to always be like, “Fuck it,” and just go or just have some special thing. I like [TSM top laner Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik] because he always wants to win lane, so he really tries to win lane. Pushing waves, or just fighting as much as possible or all-in when possible. That’s his strong point.





V1per plays too much for his team. The thing about playing for your team is if your team has problems, you lose. It’s a team decision. And I’m not him, so I can’t say too much [about their situation], but I think rookies don’t need to be scared. I think V1per needs that. I think if V1per can do that, he can be better, but he did well today.





Do you think that at some point he could be one of the best tops in the league?





He needs someone to teach him. To me, I don’t know why, but everyone is kind of stupid in top lane, so if they think more, I think they can be really good too. I think especially V1per. He’s a rookie and he has a coach but I think he just needs time.





So you think he needs a mentor to help him out?





Yeah. Learn from another player and what they can do and just learn. I think his decision-making is good, but he can improve more.





We talked to [Echo Fox top laner Colin “Solo” Earnest] a couple of weeks ago, and he called you the best fundamental top laner in the league. Do you agree with that?





I agree with the basics part, but I think I need to improve more. When I play carries, I sometimes make mistakes during teamfights. I just need to make my play perfect. I mean everyone makes mistakes, but everyone can improve, so I just need to improve myself. It’s nice for him to say to me, but we haven’t won finals so I cannot say I’m the best top. Also, if we win finals, I think I need to show it in MSI. I think that’s more important.

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So you think you need more time to improve, and you need to show your stuff at MSI before you can claim that title?





Yeah. Also I lost to Broken Blade. I mean, it was a bad matchup and I was very nervous that time, so it’s revenge time in finals. I’m looking for that.





Why do you think you were nervous when you played against him last time?





I don’t know. That time it was just nerves I think. I lost to Solo too in lane last time.





Do you think Broken Blade is a more intimidating opponent than V1per?





I think so, because last year he played in Turkey and everyone says he’s really good. He sometimes makes mistakes during teamfights too, but I think he’s really good at 1v1. If I can go even, then I can show I’m the better top, but I just need to be careful in the 1v1 if he tries something. I need to just sit there and I need to dodge or be careful, and I think I’m fine.

Photo via Riot Games





Do you think that Liquid, as you’re playing right now, you’d be able to take on TSM or that you guys need to work on something before you guys face them next week?





I mean both of us showed our cards today and yesterday, so I think who is the most ready to fight—more champions, more secret picks, something—I think that’s really important in the finals. Of course play is important too, but always pick and ban is the most important to me. Yesterday and today, C9 and us both played Sona and Taric, and [TSM and FlyQuest] lost a ban. That’s why second game and third game, they won’t ban Jayce, they want to ban Taric. That’s why Tahm Kench was open, so that’s what I’m talking about. You need a really good joker and strong pick to waste their ban, so you can play the really good champions.





Do you think that both teams are going to try to ban out Sona-Taric, or do you think that it will slip through in the finals?





TSM always banned it, so I’m not sure. They can learn it too, so that’s what I’m talking about. We need to see.





Do you think the fact that TSM beat you guys twice now. Do you think that’s going to matter when you guys play next week?





I think it doesn’t matter. Playoffs and the regular season are different. I think we are really good and we showed that in game two. We aren’t trying to choke them anymore. Now we’re just trying to brute force, and we can end faster now.





We had an interview with [FlyQuest ADC Jason “WildTurtle” Tran] last week where he said that Liquid is slower-paced than TSM and Cloud9. Do you think that’s true, and do you think you guys will play at a faster pace now that you’re feeling it again?





I think now we’re faster than they are. We get second turret really fast now. I agree playing slowly is no good, but now I think we try to end it as fast as possible. We get objectives, we try getting the enemy jungle, and getting rotations. That’s why we get second turret really fast, so I think he cannot say that anymore.





Photo via Riot Games





If you guys do make it to MSI, do you believe that the new roster with [mid laner Nicolaj Jensen] and [support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in] has what it takes to do better than last year?





Of course, but we don’t know what’s going on. We need to scrim [international teams], we need to try that, but I trust my teammates. I want to not show bad play. At MSI [last year], we panicked when we were losing. Because we were panicking, we didn’t show good play, and at Worlds too. I think if you guys saw our play versus EDG last Worlds, we played really well. We played macro, we played to just team things only. Someone died, but we did really well as a team. I think if we get pressured too much, we play really bad. I think that’s why Cloud9 went to semifinals at Worlds, because they weren’t scared. I think they didn’t care too much about meta, they just went in and worked.





What do you think that you guys need to do to get to the point where the international stage doesn’t cause as much pressure?





That’s what we learned last year. Looking at Cloud9, we learned from them we don’t need to be scared to do our own thing and don’t scream if we play against strong teams. People say you can learn from strong teams, but you can’t learn from them because you fucked up in lane and them lose game. We happened to play IG first, so after that we just tried to get confident. We scrimmed teams at our level because we cannot improve our mid and late game if we play against the really strong teams. I think we tried that one too, and I hope we can get out of groups.





Was there anything specific that you felt like Liquid had to improve on to beat FlyQuest today? Do you have any specifics that you guys felt like you were lacking before today?





I think we lost trust kind of in the last week before playoffs started, so we tried to just play together and get better. We had a solo queue rest week, but coach told us not to anymore because everyone was getting pressured to solo queue. I mean, I play solo queue anyways so I don’t mind it. So we’re just getting better and getting better, and we trust each other too.





Do you think that helps you guys focus on scrims a little more?





I think so. I agree that you need to play solo queue but I don’t agree that you need to play all day. I know you can practice hard, but if you practice hard and are losing, then if you go to practice after then it’s really bad because you’re getting a losing mindset and you’re not improving too. I don’t think we had a play problem but a mind problem, so we needed to change that first and I think it’s gotten better.