Week 1 of the League of Legends Championship Series 2020 Spring Split brought Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage matches against both of his former teams. (Technically Immortals is a different org, but the entire staff is the same). He closed off the week with two wins, heading into Week 2 tied for first with Cloud9 and Dignitas. 

After his first game, he spoke with Inven Global about his fresh start on FlyQuest and what it means to join that team and reunite with Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun. He also addresses both the frustrating notion that he plays a confined style and the funny coincidence of Lee "Crown" Min-ho following his footsteps two years in a row. 

I'm here with PowerOfEvil, or shall I call him FlowerOfEvil, after his first game of Spring 2020. How is it being back, how is the start of the season? 

Well the start of the season is obviously really good. We won our first game and I think we showed that we are a really strong team. I think I had a really strong performance, and we actually came back as well because our early game was kinda rough. So honestly, yeah, it was good. I'm pretty satisfied with it. 

I want to ask about your name though, you're on THE wholesome team with flowers and nature, planting trees, etc. but your name is PowerOfEvil, did they not make you change that before joining? 

Hahaha. No they didn't actually approach me about changing it, but I actually came up with the FlowerOfEvil. I don't know how, just randomly during a scrim I thought, "That would be a really funny pun. I should name change to that just in the LoL client for solo queue," and I'm probably going to do that, yeah.

Well someone's gonna grab it if you don't! So you gotta go home and get it! 

True, true!

So how's it been then? The team just got a new office and new branding, but they also kept three of their players so they likely already had their own sort of groove going. 

Well first, I'm reunited with IgNar. I think that's really fun and it was a big reason I wanted to come as well. You know, we'll get that 2017 synergy back on track. We pulled out the Blitzcrank today and I think he showed up and put on a good performance. And yeah, getting to know the other players was actually really easy. It was easy to be integrated I felt like because obviously I'm a veteran and I've played a lot of years so it was just more easy than normal.

But also my teammates themselves are really, really friendly. Everyone is really nice and welcoming - way more than usual. And everyone is open to having made mistakes and taking criticism and open to try out stuff. It's really nice overall, I think that really pleasantly surprised me. And I feel like it will help us a lot in the future. Like when picking out new champions and giving feedback to each other. 

Yeah! And I know you're obviously still in the honeymoon phase there, but do you feel like there's something different there due to an actual culture that they've set up? Does it feel as a player being on that organization compared to all the other one's you've been on before? 

Well I'm really happy right now on FlyQuest. I felt like they treated me really nice. They're really welcoming. Honestly, I like the jersey, I like to help the world and plant trees - I think today we got 120 - it's a good start you know. So yeah overall I'm just really happy right now. 

So you just played (the org that bought) your first NA team and then you're playing your second team next, so was this a big weekend for you? Did you feel any extra pressure going into it? Or is it no different than any other weekend? 

Haha. Well it's definitely pretty funny meeting both teams that I played on in the first week, but I'd say today was a bit more for Omran "V1per" Shoura. It was his birthday and he told me he never won on his birthday. He always played on his birthday and never won, so I told him, "We're gonna win today, just trust me and be confident, and we're going to make it." And he actually had a really strong performance on Riven. So I'm happy to get him the W, you know? And now we can celebrate tonight and then come get a W against my other former team. 

So one of the criticisms of you as a player is you are very specific with your playstyle, and you do some things really well, but others have a higher skill in different aspects of the game. But I heard you've been working a lot on expanding your play this off-season. So what is your goal now as a player for this season and continuing onward from there? 

Well I feel like people had that from really long ago. I think this rumor came up where I had a limited champion pool, but I don't think that's really true. I've played for so long in so many different metas and I played so many different champions in my career that I think I'm pretty good at multiple styles. And in the end, what you pick on stage is what gives the highest chance of winning the game and what the team is most comfortable with.

And in my old teams, for example, I had a lot of games on Orianna. But a lot of people don't see what is happening in scrims or what is happening in the team. So there's a lot of background that's missing, like I remember a time when I played Syndra and I built Twin Shadows on her. And I played a really weird item build with the Twin Shadows and trying to engage a little bit for my team because we just lacked engaging, and we didn't have the confidence in other teammates. And we didn't have enough scrims.

So I tried to adapt and do what my team needs and requires from me in order to win the game. Even if it's not the most ideal item build. And I think it's similar with me picking like an Orianna or something, or any other mage. We could just lack overall damage in teamfights, and I could see that if I was in a game as Akali or Qiyana, I would be 3/0, 4/0, or 5/0, but we'd just lose the scrim. We just lacked some of the stuff like getting consistent damage on the enemy tanks.

And I think in whatever team, you need to be able to adapt and be able to play whatever style they need from you. And I think overall I'm pretty good at most champions and I'm confident on most champions. And I'm definitely going to pull out some spicy stuff this season. I'm hyped to do that. I've definitely tried out more champions this season than before, so there's definitely going to be a bit of crazy stuff going on.

Nice, that's exciting! And yeah I think Impact was always plagued by this as well, people would say he could only play tanks and then last year he only played carries and he was amazing at it. So maybe the public will eventually move this way for you, since you seem to say it's more just narrative than actual truth. 

Well yeah it's hard to say as well. Like normally I'd just say, "Well ask my teammates," but it's hard to do for the public. But it's also a coach's decision too right? It's not like I'm just forcing my team like, "Pick me Orianna!" Like the coach in the end says, "I think you should lock this in," and it's his decision and I'm good with it.

Right. Well thanks for that insight and I'm looking forward to the spicy picks. But speaking of spice, I talked to Crown earlier and asked him why he keeps taking your jobs and following you around. So do you have anything to say to Crown before the game/in general?

First of all, I wouldn't say he's taking my job hahaha. The times when he came to my job were times when I already decided to go, and the teams actually wanted to re-sign me. So I would definitely say it's not like he's the better mid laner taking my job. But besides that, I do think he's a good mid laner, and I think he's somewhat similar to me, style wise. I'm pretty curious about facing him tomorrow, I think I can beat him. I beat him before, so I'm just going to do it again, you know?

Hahah, so is there a rivalry forming there or just business? 

I feel like there's no real rivalry there. He's a really nice dude. I just want to win with my team and get my team as many victories as possible. So I'm just going to stay confident and win tomorrow. 

Sounds good! So I heard a rumor that your brother was pretty good at League too, so is he going to come take your job or what's going on there? 

Well luckily he is a top laner, so *phew* actually. I'm actually excited though, I think he's... Oh, hmm, I think he's 14 right now. Well 14 or 15. Dang, now he's going to flame me because I don't know if it's 14 or 15. It doesn't matter too much, I just know that I think you need to be 16 to play the German League and 17 to play LCS, so he still has some time to improve and learn.

So I'm going to try and help him as much as I can, I think he's showing that he's really good. And honestly it would be insane if at some point we could actually be on the same team. I would really love that. Besides that, facing him would be a little sad because I need to win against him hahaha. But I think it would be funny too, you know, we could tease each other after each victory. 

So you're encouraging this route for him then?

Yeah, I think he wants it. He wants to become a pro player, so I'm going to try and help him get there. 

And I guess he's in Europe right? 

Yeah he's there in Europe. 

So are you scrimming him on 200 ping? Just coaching from afar?

Haha no, no. He's just sometimes sending me clips. During the season I don't spend too much time coaching him that much, but in the off-season we duo-streamed a few times. And we climbed to a pretty high elo, so it was fun. 

Well that's cool, we'll be looking out for him in a couple years. But before we go, anything else you want to say to your new FlyQuest fans?

I want to say thank you to all the FlyQuest fans for supporting us. I heard a lot of great feedback for the jersey, it seems like you liked it. It's really unique and special, and maybe you guys can help us improve the world, save the world, plant some trees. And #GoGreen, I would say. 

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