It’s the end of Week 6 in the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series summer split, and FlyQuest are 7-6. They have been here before; Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black has been here many times before. After an 0-2 week against teams above them in the standings, Aphromoo and FlyQuest have to regroup and keep their focus on the road ahead. For Aphromoo, this roster isn’t a completely new concept, since he has played on many different rosters before. However, he is the oldest player on this team; he has played professional League of Legends as long as anyone in the LCS. To him, it’s important that his young team can keep their focus up to avoid a repeat of last split’s early playoff exit.
“I’m more level-headed, that’s just me in general,” Aphromoo said. “It’s very important to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
FLY started the 2022 LCS spring split with a 5-1 record which put them in first place after Week 3. But after a turbulent rest of the season, the team barely squeaked into the playoffs as the fifth seed before bowing out in the first round. This season, the team hasn’t had as hot of a start, but they have actually improved as the weeks have gone by; that is, until this week. The team finds themselves at 7-6 in the standings, the same exact place the team was in last split. However, this time around Aphromoo thinks FlyQuest is better than they were last split.
“I think we are playing very well,” Aphromoo said. “Obviously, we got some rookies so a little nervousness, this happens but for the most part playing very well in the early game and almost always coming out even or ahead and willing to take all these fights.”
The future for Flyquest and Aphromoo
Outside of Aphromoo, the roster consists of several up-and-coming players; star rookies Philip “Philip” Zeng and Loïc “toucouille” Dubois and their jungler, Brandon Joel “Josedeodo” Villegas, who is in his second year of the LCS. Aphromoo had a lot of praise when it comes to the strengths his teammates have as individuals.
“We have toucouille in the mid lane — one of the best laning mid laners I’ve played with,” Aphromoo said. “Josedeodo is an early game monster, he knows how to press advantages and he’s like a perfectionist when it comes to pathing.”
Aphromoo’s praise for the team also came in the form of their laning phase prowess. According to Oracleselixir.com, almost every member of the team is in the top half of the league in early game stats like gold, experience and CS difference at 10 minutes. But even with their high ceilings, Aphromoo knows that FlyQuest has the do the little things right in order to reach for the sky.
“It’s a lot of trial and error getting the experience on stage, when we’re in the mid game and just being in the right spot; I think every team goes through that,” Aphromoo said. “If you have more experienced side laners its a lot easier, for us it comes down to reading the map in the mid and late game that’s it.”
Aphromoo said that FLY’s morale as a team is unfazed by their recent streak of losses, and that the anger is mainly at the format. The age old debate of best of ones versus best of threes came up after their latest loss to Evil Geniuses. With the League Pro League and League Champions Korea having best of three formats, Aphromoo wishes the LCS could go back.
“Best of ones definitely suck, I think we’re better than our record shows — I would love best of threes during the split,” Aphromoo said. “But I’m just looking forward to playoffs; we definitely got to get these best of one wins out as much as we can, just gotta keep getting back to the grind.”
