Vulcan on being a veteran not a prodigy: “It’s my turn to lead others. […] to make sure I put them in the best position to be able to perform on stage”

The LCS Spring Split winners are off to a strong start in the Summer Split already. They won their first four games before losing to CLG in Week 2. Esports.gg’s Devin “PiraTechnics” Younge caught up with EG Vulcan just after their victory over Immortals, taking them to a 4-0 start in the Summer Split. The veteran player talks about his new role on the team as a leader and the current meta favoring enchanters which he says is boring.

Piratechnics: Congrats on another win. You are 4-0 to kick things off. Obviously returning Champions. Were you expecting things to be any different?

EG Vulcan: I guess I was expecting a slower start from us. We’ve been doing very well considering MSI hangover, we didn’t get much practice. The patch was crazy big. I don’t know what Riot was thinking when they released such a big patch in the middle of the season.

Especially for us, it feels pretty unfair after we had a long tournament to play and a very brief break. But yeah, I’m happy we had a 4-0 start where we can chill and not worry too much about seeding too much going into playoffs. We can pace ourselves to make sure we peak at the right time. 

Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games via ESPAT

Piratechnics: Now as returning Champion, you’ve been in this position on a number of teams. But as you are a more veteran presence on this EG roster, do you feel extra pressure to perform at the start of the Split?

EG Vulcan: As a veteran I should be always consistent, I should be good at my job. I should be leading my team, stuff like that. So there’s definitely more pressure on me to play good. I don’t really mind it, I think I do well under pressure generally. I think it’s no big deal. Think I’m having fun so far. 

Piratechnics: As you are the more veteran player, what was it like compared to your previous instance teams when a lot of players had a lot more experience than you compared to EG now.

EG Vulcan: It is pretty new to me because I was always used to being the young prodigy on my teams. And having the older players guide me. Now I assume it’s my turn to lead others, make sure that they are feeling good, make sure I put them in the best position to be able to perform on stage. It’s very different. I have more responsibilities. I don’t think I am the greatest at it yet.

Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games via ESPAT.

Piratechnics: Is there anything in particular you think you need to do to catch yourself to anybody who has done that prodigy to leadership role?

EG Vulcan: I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head. But I think the area I need to improve more is being able to start a conversation about something that needs to be improved on. And it might be the kind of thing that players might take personally. 

I’m not the best at being confrontational about it, going up to the person and bring those things up that I think should be brought up in an obviously constructive way. I think that’s an area I need to improve on in order to be a better leader.

Piratechnics: Yeah, it’s a learning process and doesn’t come naturally with anyone. But for yourself, it seems what has come naturally to you is adapting to this new support meta. It is a little bit different than what you are used to – a lot of engage supports over your career. But now it seems like Enchanters are the flavor of the day. How do you feel about those changes and your role on the rift?

EG Vulcan: I think Enchanters are boring to play and that they don’t require as much skill as engage. Well, sometimes it requires skill and if you are very good at Karma you can hit every Q and carry the whole game by having so much pressure.

And I am not the best at that, but it’s also like, you can’t be reliable on Karma and hit most of your Qs and still win the lane, and then pressure lane teamfights and send back. I feel like that’s so boring. After laning phase the game kind of ends for you and there’s not much you can do after. Unless you are exhausting key targets and I guess that’s kind of a skill expression. There’s some skill to Karma after all is what I am trying to get to. 

But overall I feel these champs aren’t as fun as having a go button on Alistar at the start of the flash combo.

Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games via ESPAT.

Piratechnics: Yeah when you hit the big combo it’s a lot of fun. At least you can do some fun stuff with your bot laner. Because today we got to see the AP Miss Fortune build. Where did that come from? Because I’ve never seen a Misfortune hit that hard. 

EG Vulcan: I heard about it a few months ago. We haven’t practiced MF in a long time because I don’t really play against Xayah,and it’s kind of like a matchup that’s not fair because she outranges and can just press E on her and be annoying.

Danny has built it before. It skills pretty fine. I saw at the end of the game, he did 8K damage with Liandry’s [Anguish]. (laughs). It was mostly on the fountain. I think it was an an LS build, that’s where it came from.

Piratechnics: Before I let you go, I want to ask about your matchup. You will be playing against CLG. At the time of recording both teams currently undefeated. CLG ofcourse rocking a new/old face on the top lane. How do you feel going up against that squad?

EG Vulcan: I think they are just fake undefeated because of the strength of the schedule that they have. They have been playing easier teams and I think that the second they play us, TL, 100Thieves, I can see a few losses coming their way. 

Maybe they’ll end up first runner up – they will be like 5-4, 4-5 which is pretty good considering where they were last split. I think they are definitely much better than they were and they are looking like a solid middle of the pack team. But I don’t think they are anywhere near the top teams. 

Piratechnics: So you are not worried at all about facing them tomorrow?

EG Vulcan: If you asked me before the Immortals game, I would have said not at all. But after watching this disgusting game they just played, I think it should have been a lot easier, a little bit worried. But I think if we reset, take a look at what we could have done in this game, I think we’ll be fine for tomorrow.

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