Corporal talks MSI run, current chances of advancing, ping issues & more

Despite a strong first game against G2 Esports, ORDER’s 2022 Mid-Season Invitational run has taken a hit after finishing 0-4 halfway through the first round of the group stage. Despite the tough results, their support Ian “Corporal” Pearse sat down with Jaxon for a post-game interview where he shared his thoughts on their current performances and what to expect from the team.

Source: Jianhua Chen/Riot Games)

Yohan Markov

What are your takeaways from today? What went right and wrong in the games against  Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports?

Corporal

I think my main takeaway was: When I played versus Vulcan earlier in the day, I realized how much impact you can have even from a losing lane. The way he moved, even when he was losing pressure in the lane, is something that I have never seen before, even in my own region. And for the G2 game, I don’t really know right now… It’s kind of a blur, I just finished playing.

Yohan Markov

Despite being 0-4, you are not out yet and you still have a chance of making it to the next stage. How is the team spirit right now?

Corporal

I think everyone still genuinely believes that we can still make it out. Spirits are pretty high.

Yohan Markov

How would you describe your personal performance at MSI so far?

Corporal

Definitely, from the outside, it does look like I am super trolling and inting—which to be fair is pretty true—but I think I am not truly angry about my performance. I think when you are on a losing team and you are playing engage supports like that, it comes with the job.

Yohan Markov

It’s the typical support life, right?

Corporal

Yeah… I mean, I am willing to throw my life away if it means that we might have a chance of getting an advantage. Granted I have had times where I just have been throwing my life away, period. It’s definitely not good, but I wouldn’t say it’s as horrendous as the scoreline would suggest.

“I believe, right now, we stylistically match up against G2 much better, and I do believe that we will beat them for sure. Against EG, with proper planning, we can take it to them pretty easily.”

Yohan Markov

Also, is there something about Nautilus because you have played the champion in 3 out of 4 games. Do you think he is the best engage support or does he fit with your drafting plan?

Corporal

With our drafting philosophy, I think, It requires us to go down this route. And I pride myself on having a large champion pool. However, throughout this tournament, this is how the drafts play out, and if it’s best for my team, I am happy to pick it. These situations are continuing to come up. If it continues like this, I am very happy to continue playing the melee engage supports.

Yohan Markov

What is your opinion on the current bot lane meta? It’s different compared to Spring split. Do you think it’s a bit more fun?

Corporal

I think it definitely brings more agency. I am not really a big fan of Renata because I am quite a fan of engage supports, so I don’t like her that much. I enjoy the diversity that comes out of it. Like Lucian-Nami, pretty refreshing. I think Lucian in general makes bot lane more fun.

Yohan Markov

You are in a group with G2 and EG. What is the difference between playing against both of them?

Corporal

I would say: G2 plays much more in the way that I would expect the teams to play, while EG looks to take fights no matter what. Honestly, it’s kind of the opposite of what I expected. I thought, G2 would permanently be chasing us around the map, trying to kill us, but yeah, that’s EG’s style now.

Now that we have seen and experienced it, we have a much clearer idea of how we are going to approach our games moving forward.

Source: lolesports

Yohan Markov

Given the fact that the first game against G2 was pretty close until that Baron play, would you say that this also made you believe more that you can contest the top teams?

Corporal

Oh yeah, that for sure gave us a lot of Hopium. I believe, right now, we stylistically match up against G2 much better, and I do believe that we will beat them for sure. Against EG, with proper planning, we can take it to them pretty easily.

Yohan Markov

In your opinion, does the ping actually affect the gameplay?

Corporal

The ping is definitely way above 35. I would even go as far as saying it’s double 35, around that range. It’s quite frustrating because it does affect champion pool and the kind of stuff that we are willing to pick.

Obviously, support is not mechanically difficult so I would play the same champions no matter what, but we have had to adjust our strategy around it, and we’ve had a month to prepare. So, it’s not the worst, but it’s frustrating to deal with.

Yohan Markov

Do you mean that it’s unstable? And were scrims also played with high ping in Korea? 

Corporal

I mean, the ping is consistent throughout, even on stage and during scrims, but scrims had slightly less ping. It is consistently staying the same. However, at the venue, it’s slightly higher.

Yohan Markov

What should we expect from ORDER for the final day of the group stage? Maybe a surprising pick?

Corporal

I think the way we draft is pretty explosive. Obviously, we don’t have nothing to lose yet, because we still have the opportunity to get out of Group C.  
 
I think, now, we realized that we have to give everything we’ve got. We will play like there is nothing to lose because that’s what we should show. And even if we lose, I don’t want to have any regrets.