UoL Sheepy: “If we want to compete at Worlds and actually have a good showing, people need to step up and aim to be one of the best in their roles”

It was heartbreak for the Unicorns of Love (UoL) and their fanbase as UoL fell at the final hurdle to Pentanet.GG, ending their run at the Mid-Season Invitational 20201.

We spoke to UoL coach Fabian “Sheepy” Mallant about the team’s run, their struggle and what’s next for them.

Thank you for being so gracious to do this interview after your loss to Pentanet.GG (PGG). Let’s start with the tiebreaker game against PGG, how did you see the game and what do you think went wrong?

Sheepy: Thank you as well for the interview, I’m happy that people are still interested in doing them. I’m sorry we didn’t win because I would have loved to tell you more interesting stories.

Talking about the loss, I think a lot of different things came to it. I think the player’s confidence and the decisiveness were missing a bit, the meta didn’t fit us at all and we had troubles knowing what to play for jungle. Stanislav “Lodik” Kornelyuk is coming in as a new botlaner, since we played with Antonio “Frappii” Botezatu before at the beginning of the season and they all communicated in English, then we started Lodik and it switched to fully Russian. Lodik has a bachelor thesis he needs to file in three days, so he was working from six in the morning until the night.

I think a lot of comfort was missing and high expectations added towards it. I also think that from the years before we were feeling we were always the best, and we can win it anyway, and I feel that made us really lazy this season. We didn’t work that hard, so I think all of that comes together. In this game we played extremely scared and just played to not lose the game, and I think that’s the worst way to play.

Our #MSI2021 adventure ends here 😞

GGWP @PentanetGG for winning the tiebreaker match & making it out of groups!#ThinkPink

— Unicorns Of Love (@UnicornsOfLove) May 9, 2021

When you mentioned expectations coming into this group, now that you faced PGG and Royal Never Give Up (RNG), do you think that your expectations of them were the same before MSI began, and did PGG’s performance and adaptability surprise you?

Sheepy: No, I don’t think so…maybe a bit? I think it’s cool that Pentanet are trying stuff out, like picking Karthus, Qiyana, and Zed blind-pick. I think those are cool ideas and I love that kind of LoL. But what’s most surprising to me is just how badly we played, how uncreative we were, how we didn’t force anything, misplays and so forth.

I think we lack the motivation and how to properly prepare the mindset that you need to compete with the best. So for example, if you’re playing solo queue and you’re not reaching that level that you’re actively thinking: ‘how can I reach that level for my next solo queue game so that if I’m eventually playing against say RNG, I actually have this opportunity to surprise everybody’.

I was mostly surprised that we learned so little, even though I think the knowledge is there. That’s my biggest surprise and I have to rethink so much for the future because I don’t want to have these kinds of performances for Worlds. I want people, especially our fans, to enjoy watching us play. I would rather lose games and play something that’s really smart and creative, than do nothing and play not to lose. Our fans, the players, my family, my organisation, and everybody deserves better.

In that regard then, what would you say is you and your team’s biggest takeaway then from this MSI?

Sheepy: It’s a good reality check. After this, we can understand how motivated we are, because we know that there’s a skill difference. If we want to compete at Worlds and actually have a good showing, people need to step up and aim to be one of the best in their roles and work for it. And after MSI, it will be very clear to see who’s willing to do that and who thinks he can do it for himself. Hopefully everybody thinks they want to reach that level and can reach that level.

We will have a discussion with everybody to see what’s the best way to move forward. Because this loss is… if it wasn’t so absolutely bad, it would be really funny because we lost against the region that doesn’t exist, you know? We need to rethink what we do because I don’t want to have this kind of performance ever again.

With that we end our #MSI2021 run, gg wp PGG!

Mixed feelings:

Struggling in Spring, we still won the LCL. However in the time after we didn’t manage to reach the required level.

We’ll do better next time, I promise.

In the end, thanks to everyone who supports me & my family.

— Fabian “Sheepy” Mallant (@SheepyLoL) May 9, 2021

There have been a lot of discussions on social media on the MSI 2021 format, especially for your group, where you essentially had to play a best-of-five against PGG and four times against RNG. What are your thoughts on MSI’s current format, do you personally like it or do you think it should be changed for the future, perhaps?

Sheepy: I mean, first off it sucks that there was not a fourth team in our group because I would have liked to see Vietnam there and fight against them. But personally speaking, I don’t really care too much.

If we have a more competitive group stage where let’s say DWG KIA and RNG would be in the same group, and then like a third really strong team like MAD lions. Let’s say something like this, just the strong teams together. The group stages would be more interesting, but one of those strong teams would just drop out, and the other groups would come out with weaker teams afterwards.

The best teams from each region are fighting against each other, so you can see the regional strength overall, and I think the format illustrates it really well. Right now as Russia we just don’t play that well and I’m super sorry. With this format, you can at least have some upsets or great wins, like we see in Group C.

This means the group stage is obviously not that interesting, but I think everyone agrees now because the stronger teams have moved forward and it will make way for a more interesting Rumble stage/playoffs phase.

You’ve been in the scene for a long time, from the EU LCS days to now. How do you think you’ve developed as a coach from over the years and what are the most valuable lessons you’ve learnt to get to this point?

Sheepy: There are so many lessons that I’ve learned. I don’t really have anything else much that I’m very committed to, except to my family and my job. The rest I don’t really care much about and I’m willing to sacrifice anything just to become better. If I feel inadequate as a coach, I just feel absolutely terrible, and the only way to fix that for me is to watch replays and think about what to do better. I’m very obsessive with the way I work.

If I’m not doing all I can as a coach, I feel if I start attempting something else I will also only ever reach mediocrity if I’m not willing to invest a lot into it. And I don’t mean in a harmful way. Don’t get burned out, kids! Do it smartly and not too much. But yeah, this is what I think it takes to be one of the best.

A general lesson for all the coaches is knowing that you should be able to motivate your team and make it always really clear what the goal is, that is one of the most important things. If expectations are not met, just reiterate and live it. Inspire people from your actions, such as the way you work, being the first at the office, being the one that pushes things forward and learning the most. This is kind of what I’ve learned.

That being said, given what a tough season we had, I think winning the LCL spring is an absolutely huge achievement, especially after we lost against the worst team there. From what we had to work with and what we did, it was such a difficult season, so I think that we didn’t insanely underperform. I love my job so we’ll just get together and do the best we can. I’m very hopeful for Worlds.

You’ve mentioned several times that it has been very difficult for the team this season. As far as I know, the LCL is quite self-contained, so the competition is quite limited. What are the most challenging aspects of preparing a team for an international tournament within the LCL and how do you plan to tackle them?

Sheepy: Being demanding of players is the hardest one, because we’re just winning in the LCL. People don’t seem to really care about losing because it’s just the LCL. They’re throwing away their lives because they think it’s like a minor region and nobody gives a s*** about them. That’s kind of the feeling that you have to fight against, because right now I feel a lot of people based their values and goals as a person to always depend on others.

I’ve talked with so many players that say, ‘I’m just not good as a person as long as I’m not playing in the LEC’ and for me that is absolutely ridiculous. The way that you’re working and the way that you behave, if you’re working like a person that you want to be or someone you look up, then that is already quite amazing.

I think that this is the hardest part, yeah. Working the hardest you can, even if you’re playing in the LCL, being harsh on your mistakes even though the enemy doesn’t punish it. Being self-motivated is the hardest thing ever. So yeah, this is the biggest problem working in a minor region compared to the highest leagues. I think it’s just a skill you need to learn for yourself.

Астронавт Тимо нашел ту самую звезду, которая зажглась в честь победителя весеннего сплита Континентальной лиги – @UOL_cis ⭐#LCL #GIGME #LoLнаВДНХ #LCLПростоКосмос pic.twitter.com/eDAZzAWgaK

— LoL: Киберспорт (@lolesportsru) April 17, 2021

Before we end, I have to say you still look very, very snazzy, with all your suits and you look as amazing as ever from last Worlds! Tell us, who’s decided your wardrobe for this MSI?

Sheepy: Well, I have to give a shoutout here to my family! My mother and my sister and also my grandmother who gave me the popular Chinese style suit that everybody likes. I started as someone who’s very introverted, living in the cellar and never seeing sunlight that sort of person. I studied mathematics and computer science, I was just the nerdiest nerd ever.

And then, I slowly started to meet people that are more extroverted and I learned from them. So if it comes to any kind of styling or whatnot, I have to thank my family a lot. They’ve been pushing me and giving me a lot of self-confidence.

Shoutout to all my friends that have been supporting me too about this. Without them I would not look half as good. I think these things make people happy and makes everything more interesting. I get nice compliments from people like you too, so yeah, I enjoy it!

More drip?

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 9, 2021

You’re welcome, we will hopefully see you at Worlds then. Anything else you’d like to add or any additional shoutouts?

Sheepy: Thanks a lot to everybody supporting us. I wish you guys could base us on not only on our results, but on the work that we are putting in, the way that we handle ourselves, or how we are fighting problems and so forth. There’s not enough insight but generally everybody in this team has made massive progress as a person as well as a player.

Even though a lot of people aren’t seeing everything behind the scenes, they’re still supporting us. They love our brand, they love the people, my family and the organisation. It means so much to us, so thank you for your time and support.

Hopefully we can reward you in the future with great LoL and funny times, and an enjoyable experience.

Also read:

• PGG Pabu: “I wouldn’t expect to be progressing much further. However if we do get to knockouts that would be really insane”
• UOL Nomanz: “Personally my goal is to reach the semi-finals of MSI and play a best-of-five against DWG KIA”

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Image Credit: UOL Sheepy (Twitter)