Against all the odds FlyQuest, formerly Cloud9 Challenger, are currently tied for second place with Phoenix1 in NA LCS. After easily winning a spot into NA LCS through the Challenger series they were purchased by the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and rebranded to FlyQuest. A lot of controversy stirred up around C9C, the “amature” team was composed of LCS Veterans in 4 of the 5 Positions. Most notably three members of the original Cloud9 starting lineup. Hai “Hai” Lam, one of the most impactful North American players ever, would be making his return to the mid lane since Spring of 2015. Along with Hai, Daerek “LemonNation” Hart and An “Balls” Lee also joined C9C in Support and Top respectively. The team retained all starting players except for Rookie Jungler Juan “Contractz” Arturo Garcia, who many believed to be the team’s strongest mechanical individual.With Galen “Moon” Hoglate in the Jungle Position to replace contractz, Flyquest is the first all NA roster since 2015 Summer CLG.

Despite being projected to finish in the bottom half of the league, FlyQuest sit firmly in second as a top 3 team. Coming into the split, Flyquest had an average rating 9th in the league by almost all preseason rankings. So, what was it that everyone was so wrong about with this team? Are FlyQuest a much better team than most predicted? Or are the teams in North America significantly worse than people expected?

Having a strong marco game is perhaps the most difficult element a team can achieve. We have seen teams that have been loaded with talent that could not function properly. These kinds of teams are what currently populate most the NA LCS. Teams like Echo Fox, Phoenix 1, Dignitas, Liquid, Immortals have more individual talent than FlyQuest, and yet FlyQuest is outperforming them in the macro game.

I personally ranked FlyQuest in terms of talent at the bottom of the NA LCS. They are a team that is largely made up of veterans who were not good enough to play on their former teams. However, in my power rankings for NA LCS I placed FlyQuest at seventh place, stating that it would not surprise me if this team made the playoffs.

My reasoning was that I had seen teams like Dignitas come and go almost ever split. Season after season NA teams acquire all the talent money can buy, but without a proper team structure, both in and out of game, talent means little. Stories of Hai’s miracle shotcalling have been so widespread at this point it should be a tip on the in-game loading screen to never underestimate what Hai can do on any team.

Hai is as relevant today as when he adorned a C9 jersey on his back. He is one of the most valuable players in the NA LCS’ history simply for his ability to maximize the potential of his teammates. From micro managing the team in team fights, to having creative macro calls which catch the enemy team off-guard. Despite all his short comings, Hai knows how to win games.

This phenomenon can basically be boiled down to “FlyQuest know how to win games.” Which sounds so shallow a conclusion, but the sad fact is these NA teams packed with veteran talent have no idea how to play the game. Though there are a couple of unique factors that certainly help FlyQuest compared to the rest of the league.

For starters FlyQuest is the only all NA roster in the league, and as such they are largely exempt from the communication problems other teams face with their Korean imports. FlyQuest also have a wealth of competitive knowledge between Lemon, Hai, and Balls. The years they have played together allows the core of this team to execute clean macro strategies. Lastly and perhaps most noticeably is FlyQuest’ ability to act. This ties back into having a strong leader in Hai, but whether the moves that FlyQuest make are the correct ones or not they act as a unit. This allows to creative movements and comebacks which have largely defined some of the more difficult match ups this team has had.

With FlyQuest’ success it begs the question of when will the brain over brawn identity this team fail? When will the skill gap between them and their opponents become too great for FlyQuest to comeback?

It starts when NA organizations begin to have strategies that extend beyond just getting strong picks and trying to outplay their opponents. It matters not how many high-profile players you acquire if you are unable to use their skill in game. That is the main difference between FlyQuest and teams like Dignitas. FlyQuest maximizes their team’s strengths, while DIG still do not know what their strengths are.

It is for this reason that I have more faith in teams such as Immortals, who can develop a working infrastructure around their players, than teams like Dignitas. Immortals understand that their road will be rough and slowly work towards improving their teamplay, working their way up to being a strong team. Rather than buying the best players and being shocked when results don’t match the amount of money that they put in.

It really is refreshing when a team such as FlyQuest appears in NA. It forces teams to elevate their game in order to win the split. The more teams like FlyQuest there are in the region the better NA will become. When teams have a good combination of talent and tactics NA will perform better internationally. FlyQuest have already surpassed my expectations for the split, and I look forward to seeing how the team’s success will shape the rest of the region in the second half of the split.

Photos Courtesy of Riot Games