Worlds 2020 Group Stage Team Preview: FlyQuest
By s. samek
We look at FlyQuest, their path to the League of Legends World Championship, and how they will perform during the group stage
The League of Legends World Championship is well underway with the play-in stage reaching its conclusion. One of the teams waiting for the group stage to begin is FlyQuest, the second seed from the LCS. This is FlyQuest’s first trip to Worlds and they were drawn into Group D alongside Top Esports and DRX.
More from Blog of Legends
- Bee’koz Vel’koz Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get
- King Beegar Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get
- EMENES retires following leave from Cloud9, cites military service
- EMENES Donezo Manifesto: Former Cloud9 Midlaner airs out grievances
- Team Heretics Perkz: European legend reportedly playing for TH
The Season
FlyQuest had fairly low expectations heading into the 2020 season after they disappointingly finished ninth in the 2019 Summer Split. However, they soon tossed those expectations aside by finishing fourth in the 2020 Spring Split regular season before making an incredible run to their first-ever playoff final in which they lost 3-0 to Cloud9.
The mid-season break saw Colin “Solo” Earnest nail down a starting spot on the roster as the team’s primary top laner following an excellent performance through the playoffs.
Against all odds, FlyQuest improved on their unprecedented Spring Split with a 12-6 record in the Summer Split regular season which placed them in third.
During the playoffs, FlyQuest made a statement by beating the defending LCS champions, Cloud9, and forcing them into the losers bracket. Soon after, FlyQuest shot down title favorites Team Liquid to secure a place in the LCS final against Team SoloMid.
The run ended there, though, as TSM took down the surprising title challengers 3-2, resulting in a runners-up finish for FlyQuest for the second consecutive split.
The Roster
Top Lane – Colin “Solo” Earnest
Solo started the 2020 season as a FlyQuest Academy player and worked his way up into the FlyQuest starting line-up for the Summer Split. This will be his first appearance at the World Championship.
The top laner was placed at 14th in our Worlds ranking for his role and has a tough task ahead of him in the group stage with Doran and 369 being amongst the highest-rated top laners in the world right now.
Jungle – Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
This will be Santorin’s second trip to Worlds, his first since the 2015 season. The Dane was named in the second LCS All-Pro team for his contributions during the Summer Split which was an improvement from the Spring Split, in which he was awarded a place in the third team.
Santorin ranks as the highest-rated LCS jungler on our Worlds ranking list, not too far behind the other junglers in his group, Pyosik and Karsa.
Mid Lane – Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage
PowerOfEvil joins Santorin with back-to-back appearances in the LCS All-Pro team having been placed in the third team twice in 2020.
The German is a key cog in the FlyQuest machine and is rated as the ninth-best mid laner heading into Worlds. If FlyQuest want to make a deep run in this tournament, they need to develop synergy between Santorin and PowerOfEvil to dismantle and outplay the best mid-jungle duos in the world.
This is PowerOfEvil’s second trip to Worlds and his first since 2017 when he reached the quarter-finals alongside FlyQuest teammate IgNar with Misfits Gaming.
AD Carry – Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
WildTurtle has had an up and down season and has split time with substitute AD carry Mash throughout the Summer Split. This has led to him being ranked as the 19th best marksman heading to the 2020 World Championship.
This will be WildTurtle’s fourth trip to Worlds and his first since 2015. During the 2014 tournament, the ADC reached the quarter-finals with Team SoloMid which could provide vital experience for the relatively inexperienced FlyQuest.
Support – Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun
This season has been very successful for IgNar having been named in the second and third teams of LCS All-Pro in the spring and summer respectively. Despite this, the support has been ranked 19th among players in his role at Worlds.
As a bot lane, WildTurtle and IgNar are not rated very highly and could be viewed as a weak point for FlyQuest. Fortunately, IgNar has proven himself to be an excellent roamer which could open up opportunities across the map for the team from the LCS.
Next. Group Stage Team Preview - Fnatic. dark
90/50/10 Predictions
90% odds that… FlyQuest continues their amazing charity work + 10%.
In the Spring Split, FlyQuest revealed TreeQuest, a movement that saw the organization plant a certain number of trees for a number of in-game scenarios. In the Summer Split, this became SeaQuest. Instead of planting trees, the organization decided to replenish coral reefs for every kill, Ocean Dragon, or victory in their LCS games.
Now, for the World Championship, the charitable org have introduced WorldsQuest, a combination of their previous two endeavors. Trees will be planted and coral reefs will be replenished as a result of kills, dragons, victories, and advancing through the tournament.
50% odds that… FlyQuest exit the group stage without a win.
The group draw did the LCS runners-up no favors by throwing them into an arena with Top Esports and DRX, two tournament favorites. Not only that, if MAD Lions succeed in play-ins, they will be added to this group which would make it an even trickier task.
FlyQuest are certainly the underdogs in Group D and failing to pick up a single win is a very real possibility.
10% odds that… FlyQuest qualify for the knockout stage.
As stated earlier, it would be an incredible achievement for FlyQuest pick up a win at Worlds, never mind advance from the group stage. Nevertheless, anything is possible. There have been debates surrounding whether DRX are an over-hyped team and MAD Lions have proven beatable throughout the play-in stage.
Stealing the second spot in Group D is on the cards if everything falls into place for FlyQuest, especially if their playoff performances against more experienced opposition are anything to go by. Not only that, playing without the burden of expectations could allow the FlyQuest players to play with freedom and find unexpected results, catapulting them into a top-two finish.