FLY VicLa: “The first reason I joined FlyQuest is Impact”

FlyQuest came into the 2023 League Championship Series season considered one of the strongest teams in North America after a flurry of off-season maneuvers that saw a complete shift in the organization’s approach to LoL esports.

FLY was the only organization to sign a full new starting roster in the off-season, opting for a South Korean core comprised of veteran (and bilingual) top laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-young and two young talents from League of Legends Champions Korea: AD carry Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan and mid laner Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang.

Fresh off of the best season of his career with Liiv SANDBOX, Prince was unsure of whether he wanted to join FlyQuest until he found out VicLa was joining — and for good reason. The 19-year old mid laner was awarded Rookie of the Year for the LCK 2022 season due to his stellar individual performance on KT Rolster, and even before his arrival in the United States for the 2023 LCS Spring Split, he was already considered one of the best mid laners in the region — and to some, the definitive best due to the relatively weak mid lane pool present in the 2022 LCS season.

FlyQuest’s proficiency in player care is well-documented, and in their approach to the off-season, they were able to create an environment that would make VicLa, a 19-year old rookie, feel comfortable crossing the Pacific Ocean to play in a new region after resounding success in his freshman LCK effort.

“The first reason I joined FlyQuest is Impact,” said VicLa. “The second reason is that they showed a lot of desire when it came to wanting to sign me. FlyQuest really seemed they wanted me to play for them, so I joined.”

FLYing high to start the Spring Split

In week 1 of the 2023 LCS Spring Split, Impact, Prince, and VicLa took to Summoner’s Rift with Mingyi “Spica” Lu — a jungler with experience playing on mixed language rosters — and FLY Challenger support Kim “Winsome” Dong-keon, who started in lieu of visa issues delaying the arrival of starting support Bill “Eyla” Nguyen. Despite competing without their starting support, FlyQuest took a pair of convincing wins against Team Liquid and Dignitas. On an individual level, however, VicLa felt he could have made a more impressive LCS debut.

“I feel good about winning,” said VicLa, who then took a pause to check his English with Impact, who was present for translation when needed. “But I’m kind of sad about some of the mistakes in decision making on my part. I’ll fix those mistakes so I can be even stronger.”

Despite VicLa’s desire for improvement, he’s not allowing the pressure of already being considered one of the best mid laners in the LCS to spoil the fact that FLY has started off strong in 2023: “I don’t care about being the best mid. I just care about the team winning. I’m just focused on how our team can win.”