VIT Pad: "My Message for the Players Today Was: Please Play Well Enough So We Can Start Flaming Drafts Again"
Photo Credit: Riot Games
It wasn't the weekend Team Vitality wanted, but they ended it on the right note. After two 2-0 losses on the Road Trip, a win over MKOI offered some relief. Head coach Patrick "Pad" Suckow-Breum sat down with RFT.GG right after to talk about new mid laner An "FIESTA" Hyeon-seo's debut against the top three, the lengthy recruitment process behind him, and why he told his players he just wants to be able to flame drafts again.
How are you feeling after today's series?
Happy and relieved. There were a lot of doubts from online presences coming into this weekend, and about where our current level was. While I'm not overall happy , I'm happy that we ended on a good note.
What mindset are you heading back to Berlin with — happy or disappointed?
I'm going back with a lot of evidence of errors we knew coming into the weekend were there, plus new errors. I think our next steps are super obvious, and we have a long time now, because we played three games this weekend — we get to play 1-1-1-1-2. So now we just have a lot of time to scale FIESTA into the team and keep doing better.
You come back with a win against MKOI, and losses that could be considered logical against the top 2 of the previous splits. Has the job been done, in a way?
No. We made these changes because we stagnated on the last roster. The change to FIESTA was to make sure we brought in a profile similar to Humanoidso we could contest for that top 3 spot. Obviously us beating MKOI doesn't automatically qualify us for top 3, but it's a good beginning.
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The ambition is Worlds, and beating MKOI is probably what it'll come down to. Was it mentally important to win today, since they're likely the team you'll have to take out?
I think it's really, really important. Because while I'm happy and relieved right now, if you look at KC game one, G2 game two, MKOI game one — all three of those games were too easy for the enemy team to win.
But one of the things that's really important for me to see is that in those games whenever he dies or has a bad game or misreads the tempo of the map, my guy just keeps playing. He keeps showing up, keeps looking for opportunities. Even on his worst games, he always comes into the next game with a completely fresh mindset. So I was happy.
The "silly deaths" in the laning phase — it happened on the other days too. Do you think it's because he starts with a lower baseline in terms of laning than the other top LEC mids, or is it more about stage jitters?
This was one of the things we scouted when we looked at him. It used to be very much 'oh, enemy support is on the map, holy moly, my mid laner is dead.' So it's something we've been working on a lot.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
It used to be, 'oh no, the enemy jungle or support, one of them is missing — my midlaner is dead.' Now we're down to just the jungler. So he's making steady improvement. It's something we're aware of, and we have a good plan for how to help him develop through his deaths in laning phase.
What was the recruitment process with him? Why did it take so long, and why did FIESTA look like the better option in the end?
We always start with stats first. We find stats that we like, and our lovely analyst Milan pulls up a bunch of stats we've decided are important for the midlaner we're looking for. Once we have players that fit that category, we do the eyeball test, then interviews, and then we decide. So it's a lengthy process.
The most important thing for me was to find a player who could mimic Humanoid in-game — and our ERL choices weren't ready with just one split of practice.
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Do you understand that from the outside the announcement looked weird? FIESTA's last showing was in the TCL, where he got seventh place...
Yeah, I understand it. But I also think that he went to the TCL and won two splits in a row, playing some lovely League of Legends. I get the question marks. But at the end of the day, I have to trust myself, my coaching staff, and the people looking at the players. We have to see who fits into our team in a way that both allows us to replace Humanoid in-game and be an upgrade outside of the game.
Last question — are you happy with your individual progress in your first year as head coach? Do you feel you and the team are going in the right direction?
So far, I think the team is going in the right direction. For me, I've learned so much about myself, because head coaching is a completely different role from strategic coaching.
My biggest takeaway — and it reflects in our coaching staff choices, bringing in Hansen as well — has been understanding what people I need around me to be a successful head coach.
And so far, I can tell you that Hansen is doing an amazing job at that.
