FlyQuest disappointed North American fans at the Mid-Season Invitational 2024, losing twice in the play-in stage and getting eliminated. After the second defeat, top laner Bwipo shed some light on what went wrong for the squad.
The North American side began the League of Legends tournament on a good note, defeating PCS representatives, PSG Talon, with a 2-1 score. However, afterward they got decimated by T1 in a 2-0 series, and according to the Belgian, it was a match that “shattered” FlyQuest’s confidence.
“After the loss, we suffered to T1 […] you could feel it in the room kinda. Confidence was shattered. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to find the confidence back after that,” Bwipo told Ashley Kang. He also pointed out how important it is to build your self-esteem back with small wins like solo kills, but this time around, Bwipo couldn’t do that.
“[The T1 loss] affected our whole team, […] I think Inspired and Jensen were the most resilient. I thought I was, but after playing […] it’s clear that it’s not enough,” Bwipo added.
The top laner got emotional in the interview as he shared his thoughts about FlyQuest’s journey and his own expectations from international tournaments like MSI. He even addressed the recent negative comments towards FlyQuest after they bombed out of the event, underlining the fact that his organization and others like Liquid are trying their best to grow NA talent despite poor results at MSI 2024 and in recent years in general.
At the same time, Bwipo said he understands that NA teams will receive a lot of backlash either way because it’s a “ritual” at this point. Judging by fans’ reactions in recent years, he’s not wrong.