FLY Inspired: “Playing vs Shad0w could be cool… I want to see how much he has improved.”

FlyQuest is considered the West’s greatest hope going into this year’s Worlds. We chatted with jungler FLY Inspired about him being considered the best in the world by Nemesis, his thoughts on looking like Ohnepixel, and the Worlds meta and preparation so far.

Davide: First of all, welcome. I know you got to China very recently.

How was the bootcamp in Korea? Any initial impressions on the meta and scrims?

Inspired: The bootcamp has been fine. It was not too long, so there wasn’t much point [in] spamming solo queue because we couldn’t make it to higher brackets; it was five days only.

But the scrims were nice. It’s always nice to get in the mood of scrimming Asian teams because they play way different than what we are used to in America. Getting to China [was] also cool; the travel was kind of long, even though the flight was pretty short. It took us almost the whole day, the whole travel.

Davide: How’s that?

Inspired: I don’t know. In Korea you have to travel to airport quite far and then [when] we landed here, it took us a while to get out of the airport. The travel to the hotel [also] took one and a half hours from the airport so it was a long day. Overall, bootcamp every time at Worlds [is] pretty cool.

I think [the] meta didn’t change that much. The champs that got affected the most were just, at least from jungle perspective, Poppy and Pantheon. Their clear speeds and map pressure got way weaker. They are farming slower, but I think they are still quite fine. So I think the meta didn’t really change that much.

Davide: Any thought on the AP Junglers since they got buffed?

Inspired: I mean they did get buffed quite nicely, but I feel like there aren’t that many drafts where you want to use them. Also, [it] feels like AD mids are not that popular nowadays and you don’t really want to play double APs.

But I do think if you go into quarterfinals of Worlds and you go into games 4 and 5, I do think that you can actually play the AP junglers, so I think we’re going to see them for sure.

Davide: Nemesis has been talking about you. He said you’re literally the best jungler in the world.

Any comments on that?

Inspired: I heard that recently but I don’t really think so.

I also think that the whole environment that I’m in is not supporting my growth [since] I’m playing in America the whole year [while] all Asian players get to play and learn from each other while also being able to play solo queue on a high level. Also it’s hard to judge how good they are from the outside if I don’t get to play against them. It’s even hard to say for me which jungler is better than the other [unless] I play 20 games against one another. I have played five in total.

So I don’t really know how really good are they because from outside. It’s [also] hard to judge as a jungler. I wouldn’t say I’m the best but I do think I have a potential and who knows what would happen if I got to practice there for a year or as long as they are able to.

Davide: Is that hinting at the potential [transfer]? No, I’m joking.

Inspired: I don’t think so.

Is there any jungler you would like to face in particular?

Inspired: I think at this point I played against all of them so there’s no one specific I want to face. I guess playing vs Shad0w could be cool because the last time we faced against each other was in Europe five years ago and he just appeared on BLG out of nowhere. I didn’t really expect that and then winning LPL [was] very impressive. I would like to see how much improved from the last time played each other.

Davide: Speaking of junglers again, there’s a very young team, Team Whales, where they got the youngest player out of all the teams participating, Hizto. As someone who has played at Worlds on multiple occasions,

Is there anything or like an advice that you would like to give him?

Inspired: Don’t take it any differently and just stick to what’s been working for you because if you start overthinking things then it might get complicated. Just remember that it’s the same league you are used to playing, right now you’re just playing at Worlds but nothing changes.

Another thing is that some people said you look like Ohnepixel.

Inspired: I don’t really think so. If it was just one person saying it then it could be not true. But if so many people [are saying] that then it has to be something about. But I don’t agree with that. 

Davide: He has been popping up co-streaming VALORANT Champions (VCT) so, who knows, Inspired-Ohnepixel crossover could be amazing.

Inspired: I mean, I watch his streams quite often. He’s a very funny guy. But I don’t think we are that [similar].

. @ohnePixel and @Inspiredlol have never been seen together in the same room. pic.twitter.com/WkgrCBmt15

— FlyQuest First & Only LTA CHAMPIONS (@FlyQuest) November 13, 2024

Davide: Two more questions. The first one is that FlyQuest has been under the spotlight in recent times.

Do you think that had some repercussions on the team?

Inspired: I mean for sure it made everything harder, I guess. I think everyone had their focus thrown off from the thing that is more important which is competing and playing well. But I think everyone dealt with it fine and we prepared for the finals and we managed to do well despite the things happening around us. So I’m happy about how everyone on our team handled the situation.

Davide: The last one is about China. You’ve been here a couple of times.

Is there anything about the country — could be a place, a habit, cultural difference or even food — that you particularly like here?

Inspired: I mean I like how safe it is here and every time we travel for a tournament we are in a very nice area. So I didn’t really get to explore too much, but just the areas that we are in, they always look so cool. And compared to what I’m used to back at home in Poland, this is just different world. So it always looks very nice. And food, I really enjoy hotpot here. It’s very tasty.

Davide: Did you have it?.

Inspired: Yeah, we already had it twice and we have been here for five days.

Davide: What’s your go to in a hot pot?

Inspired: I don’t know, [I] just tell my manager to order me some meat, vegetables, and tomato soup and I’m ready to eat.

Davide: So no spicy?

Inspired: No, I don’t really handle spicy that well. Yeah, so that’s the worst part for me, everything is very spicy. Just a little bit is fine, but the thing is, if you say spicy, it might become really spicy for me. But overall, I enjoy China.

Last message to the fans?

Inspired: Thank you guys for supporting us and hopefully we’ll not disappoint you at Worlds this year.