Getting second place in the EU LCS playoffs, the Misfits have been an underdog of the EU LCS. People claimed that they would lose to Fnatic and Unicorns of Love, yet they trumped all those expectations and came in second. Beating Unicorns of Love 3-0 and Fnatic 3-1. Although Misfits’ final roster has only been finalized quite recently, they have shown that they have incredible talent and are a team to definitely keep an eye out for.

Coming to Korea for boot camp, Misfits has been training and doing non-stop scrims. It has been a little over 2 weeks now since they first arrived in South Korea. We luckily had the opportunity to grab Misfits for a quick interview in between their busy schedule. Let’s see what Misfits have in mind for boot camp, Worlds 2017, and the impression they want to leave on the international stage.

¤ To start things off, since you guys are not that well known in Korea, can you guys briefly introduce yourselves?

Hussain Moosvi: Hi I’m Hussain, I have been the head coach for Misfits for a year and a half now. I’ve been with them since they got Challenger and am with them for Worlds now.

H1iva: I’m H1iva also coach for Misfits. I’ve been with Misfits for a year or something like that. This is my first split doing actual coaching.

Joe Elouassi: Hi I’m Joe. I am the CGO for Misfits. I take care of everything that has to do with the players. Our team manager isn’t here right now so I am just taking over the boot camp.

Maxlore: Hi my name is Maxlore. I am the jungler for Misfits. I am pretty new to the team and I am here for Worlds 2017.

PowerofEvil: I’m PowerofEvil. I have been in Misfits for one year now and I’m also here for Worlds.

Ignar: I’m Ignar. The support for the EU LCS team, Misfits.

Hans Sama: I’m Hans Sama and I have been playing with Misfits for over a year now. My role is ADC.

Alphari: Hi i’m Alphari or Barney and I’ve been with Misfits since we started in the Challenger series qualifier. I’ve climbed from then to Worlds in a year and a half.

¤ How did you guys come up with the icon/mascot for Misfits? It is very unique.

Joe Elouassi: I’m not really sure… it was there before I joined Misfits. I know our colors used to be different before. It used to be blue and orange, but when we partnered with the Miami Heat it became black and red, just as a tribute. The logo itself I am not sure. I know the rabbit is called ‘Fidget’ but I don’t really know how it started cause I wasn't here.

¤ How long have you guys been in Korea?

Joe Elouassi: Some of the guys came before the others. The boot camp officially started on the 14th and everyone was here by the 14th, except for Ishmael our Sports Psychologist. I think Barney, H1iva, and Ignar came directly after the finals in Paris. They have been here for almost a month now.

Alphari: We came around the 6th.

Joe Elouassi: Sometime around then, and they just played solo queue. The others came a few days after and we started to scrim while trying to adjust to the jetlag.

¤ So you guys must have played a lot of solo queue then.

Ignar: Yeah we did, Barney played a lot actually. He already hit challenger.

Joe Elouassi: H1iva is our coach but he is also our sub because he is a high elo player. He is more of a positional coach.

¤ How was the first time playing in solo queue for you Maxlore?

Maxlore: It was so good (laughs). I learned so much.. In the first 10 games I learned so much. Compared to European solo queue, people open the games faster if you are losing and I had way more close 50 minute games. I would have to be more careful macro-wise compared to EU solo queue, where someone will just die in a side lane and you win the game from that.

¤ I am kind of nervous right now as well because it is the first time I interviewed a whole team at once (laughs)

Joe Elouassi: Don’t worry, we don’t bite (laughs).

¤ As you guys know, Korean cuisine is a lot different from other cuisines, especially the spiciness. How have you guys coped with the food change?

Hussain Moosvi: Some of us came to boot camp here before so we kind of got used to it.

*Everyone laughs and agrees*

PowerofEvil: I think some of us like it (spicy food) but then again some of us need to balance it with other foods.

Joe Elouassi: When I was in Dignitas, we had a Korean chef so I ate Korean food for like 3-4 months. It was fine for me.

¤ Onto Worlds this year. How was the Journey towards Worlds? Were there any problems?

PowerofEvil: I think the start of the season was kinda rough since we had adjustments. We got a new jungler, Kakao to Maxlore, and weak communication. We had to work on the mid and jungle synergy as well. In the last few weeks of the LCS, we improved a lot and I am really happy because everyone doubted us. Everyone said we were going to lose against Unicorns of Love in the playoffs but we won against them. Everyone said we were going to lose against Fnatic and we won against them as well.

H1iva: They said we were going to lose to G2 and we lost (laughs).

PowerofEvil: So overall I am happy with how we reached Worlds and our group is fine as well. You guys know you can add something as well (talking to his teammates).

Hans Sama: Everyone didn’t expect us to reach worlds but we won against UOL (Unicorns of Love) 3-0 and Fnatic 3-1. I think this year we can actually reach far in worlds.

PowerofEvil: For Hans and Ignar, it is their first LCS and first time going into worlds. For me, I have played in the LCS for 3 years and the last 2 times I didn’t make it. I am even more happy that I made it after all the effort I put in.

Joe Elouassi: I think from a family perspective, we have been the underdogs all the way through, so people think there should be no pressure on us, but we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to win.

¤ It must have been nice to beat UOL and Fnatic while being considered the underdogs.

Joe Elouassi: We expected to beat G2 as well so we were a little disappointed with that.

¤ How do you guys feel about your group placements?

Maxlore: No Korean Teams so… prety good (laughs).

¤ So are you guys somewhat happy with how the groups turned out?

Maxlore: At least in my opinion, if you think your goal is to just make it out of groups and lose in the quarter or semi finals, you don’t really deserve to be here. If you care about winning worlds, at least I do, you should not care who you match up against in groups and just focus on beating them.

PowerofEvil: Every team at worlds deserves to be there, so I think it is going to be a tough competition regardless.

¤ We recently got word from a Korean coach that TSM is looking good this year. Does this concern you guys?

Hussain Moosvi: TSM has always claimed to be looking good every year and it is not like they are doing anything different this year round. Maybe this year, they can actually back up their words, but for us it doesn’t really matter. We have been considered the underdogs and we beat almost every team that got in our way. I don’t think TSM or any other team in our group is so far ahead of how we play, so we’re not really too concerned about TSM.

Joe Elouassi: We are not scared.

¤ Are you guys fairly confident you can make it into the quarterfinals and above?

Maxlore: I don’t think anyone will say no to that question (laughs).

Joe Elouassi: As we said, everyone wants to win the tournament so I think we definitely can.

PowerofEvil: I think we just need to adapt, especially in the group phase. It is all about adapting fast and learning what your opponents can do. Maybe not even steal but take the style of another team if the style is working really well. The group phase is all about learning and adapting fast, and since it is a best of 1 as well, you can lose to a team from cheese or win by cheesing them. It’s all about mind games, drafts, and playstyles.

¤ Moving onto a lighter topic, does anyone on the team have a rivalry with a specific team or player?

Joe Elouassi: We say in the west that, there’s a meme with POE (PowerofEvil); POE and Bjergsen, since POE always beats Bjergsen in international tournaments. So if we had to pick, it would be TSM Bjergsen.

Alphari: Ignar vs Biofrost.

*Everyone laughs*

Alphari: That was my initial thought when I saw TSM: holy crap it is Ignar vs Biofrost.

¤ Do you have any team you want to go up against Ignar?

Ignar: Hmm…. Longzhu Gaming?

¤ Continuing that topic, do you guys have any specific teams you want to go up against in order to learn from/beat?

PowerofEvil: For me, I really want to vs Maple and Bjergsen because they are two really good mid laners. I also want to face Faker or BDD. These four mid laners are probably the strongest mid laners in Worlds I want to face and hopefully I can learn a lot from them and maybe even beat them.

Maxlore: I want to play against G2 again cause they smashed us in the playoffs. Hopefully, we can beat them in the finals if they can beat the rest. EU vs EU finals (laughs). Probably not going to happen. The junglers this year coming into worlds, none of them really stand out. Maybe Blank or Ambition but I think everyone else, even those two, don’t really worry me. Basically it won’t be as fun for me as a jungler this year compared to if I went to worlds last year. It is going to be boring for me.

¤ Which player would be the mood setter/hype man in the team?

Joe Elouassi: I think everyone has their moments.

Maxlore: Everyone is funny in their own way. Some players are funny because they have really stupid moments and some players like me are funny because they are comedians.

¤ Other than playing league and training, what other activities do you guys do?

Maxlore: ‘mast------’ (laughs)

Joe Elouassi: We actually play Warcraft 3 together as a team. We have actually done some 4v4s.

PowerofEvil: Some of us play PUBG as well and outside activities like socce- I mean football. We went Go-karting as well. What other games do you play again Ingar?

Ignar: PUBG?

PowerofEvil: No the other game… I forgot what it was…

Ignar: oh, Tekken!

PowerofEvil: Everyone just has their own games.

Alphari: and card games.

PowerofEvil: Oh yeah and card games. Ignar is addicted to card games.

Joe Elouassi: He plays the Piano a lot and Hans does animation.

Ignar: and Barney….

Misfits: He is a machine

Ignar: Always dresses the same and only spams solo queue.

PowerofEvil: Never leaves the house you know?

Joe Elouassi: H1iva and Barney play chess as well. H1iva is really good.

Alphari: Obviously he hasn't played against me.

Joe Elouassi: He is really good though…

Alphari: Is it going to be one sided?

Joe Elouassi: Yeah.. I guess you’re pretty ‘special’ too so…

¤ In Korean solo queue, there are a plentiful amount of flamers. Which member in the team would flame the most in solo queue games?

*Everyone points at Alphari*

Alphari: I don’t flame…

Ignar: He doesn’t chat but he talks to the screen.

Alphari: I don’t say anything…

Joe Elouassi: Wait hold up.. He won’t flame in chat but he will just flame to the screen. But, EU is considered one of the most toxic regions, even more toxic than KR.

PowerofEvil: Even when people flame in Korean solo queue, I don’t know what they are saying so I don’t get tilted at all.

Alphari: I think Koreans are the most toxic. They are toxic by never ‘ff-ing’ for the ‘inter’ so the game won’t end. Tristan (POE) will do this by never ff-ing and make his team play the game out… that’s how toxic he is.

*Everyone laughs*

Maxlore: I’m just sarcastic. I just comment in chat like “oh wow you’re really good!”.

Joe Elouassi: POE actually changed his name.

PowerofEvil: You know how Korean people say “if you buy Nashor’s tooth I go afk”? I changed my name to Nashor’s Tooth Mid Lane and plus the build is really fun you know? Everyone says I make troll builds but it is actually not bad.

Ignar: You think the build is really good right?...

PowerofEvil: It is good!

Ignar: This is how troll he is… he goes Nashor’s not only on Orianna but also on every other mid laner like lux. Always comments “damn my auto attacks are so fast.. This is so nice!”

PowerofEvil: It is not like I build it every game, like on Syndra I would never go Nashor’s. Against some mid laners like Corki, I would go Nashor’s cause it does more damage.

Maxlore: I think his wallpaper on his phone is Nashor’s tooth….

PowerofEvil: wait what really?

Maxlore: I think so.

¤ You won’t use that build in worlds right?

Ignar: I think he actually might…

PowerofEvil: I think it actually might be really good.

Alphari: *sighs*

*Everyone laughs*

PowerofEvil: Who knows.. I can’t say, it is a secret. I honestly think it might be better at worlds because no one really expects the damage from Nashor’s. They are going to be like “oh wtf?”

Alphari: I don’t think they will be surprised by the damage, more so the item itself.

Maxlore: I’m never pressing tab in our games now…

Alphari: They’re going to say “oh no enemy Orianna is troll get me out”.

¤ Were there any moments when you were thankful to a player on your team,  in or outside of the game?

Maxlore: I remember when POE gave up one wave to defend my raptor camp. That was a good moment but it will never happen again though…

PowerofEvil: I think me and Hans really fit well together. We have good synergy in team fights and really match well together.

¤ Any moments when you get help from your teammates without asking for it?

PowerofEvil: Oh, there was this one time when the enemy mid laner was playing really aggressive and my hero Ignar comes, with Alistar from behind. Ignar is my hero

Maxlore: I’m just stuck in my jungle…

PowerofEvil: But the difference is, I expect a gank from you since you are the jungler but bot lane doesn’t need to come.

Ignar: One time my teammates came to help and failed so we were just like “okay guys we can just ff”.

Alphari: If one of my teammates do that I’ll just say “do that one more time and see what happens”.

Maxlore: There is a reason you’re playing a tank. It is impossible to fail mechanically.

¤ This one is for you Maxlore. Is there any lane that you always worry about and have to cover for?

Maxlore: Not trying to revealing any of our picks or strategies. Certain team comps would make me worry about a certain person (won’t mention who). I worry that a certain player will die to an enemy jungler game at every point of the game. What I like to do is see our draft and review what I have to do as a jungler in that game. By doing this, we can get through the early game even if we are losing in lane. Usually I would play around mid because mid and jungle are the pillars of early game. But sometimes, I can’t play around mid if our mid is a champion that is really useless early game but scales well later. It just depends on the situation. At the end of the day, I have to trust my teammates not to die to jungle ganks and play the game.

¤ Do you guys have girlfriends?

Misfits: Nope.

PowerofEvil: We can focus on the game more.

Maxlore: If Faker doesn’t have a girlfriend, I don’t have a girlfriend.

¤ Like POE, does anyone else have a ‘Nashor’s tooth-esque’ build that they have?

PowerofEvil: Hans always tries insane rune pages. He says “omg this is so broken 41% attack speed so damn good!”

Ignar: Hans will always get Doran’s Shield and get hit by every skillshot and say “Look! My health regen is insane… this is busted”

Ignar: I, personally, like going Protobelt on support like Blitzcrank and rush Rylai’s and Ardent with it for fun.

¤ I saw a lot of Korean snacks in the room. Do you guys like the Korean snacks?

PowerofEvil: Ignar usually just picks all the snacks for us and feeds us.

Maxlore: You guys make really good chicken.

¤ Ignar seem very close to Hans Sama. Are you guys fairly close?

PowerofEvil: Ignar always bullies Hans… Ignar, he is actually the bully of the team.

¤ Are you guys all of similar age?

PowerofEvil: Everyone is around 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 years old.

¤ To wrap things up, the main goal for Misfits is to win Worlds, but do you guys have any other goals in mind? Such as beating a certain player or beating a specific team, etc.

Maxlore: I would say my goal is to play perfectly every game. I don’t really care about KDA unless you want to get girls, but I am a jungler so I don’t get many kills.

PowerofEvil: My goals were to reach Worlds this year and to improve myself and I achieved both of those. I would say my additional goal is the same as Maxlore, play the best I can for every game.

Ignar: I want to beat every bot lane I face against in Worlds.

Hans Sama: I want to do my best and beat the enemy bot lane.

Alphari: I think it is the same for me. I want to say “I want to beat every top laner” but the top laners in my group are not so good. I am excited to go against a Korean top laner and see how I match against them. The main goal is to do the best I can.