PGG Udysof: “I really want to see a world where it’s a PSG Talon vs DWG KIA finals, and then I want to see PSG come from behind and win it!”

And just like that, we say goodbye to Pentanet.GG (PGG) from the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2021. Despite their record, they’ve gained many new followers from their historic run to the Rumble stage.

We spoke to coach Toby “Udysof” Horne about his learnings from MSI and why teams should consider signing his players.

Thank you very much for joining me especially after your two losses today. To be fair, the games didn’t matter too much. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the mood and mindset of the team coming into today.

Udysof: Today for me personally, as a coach, doesn’t mean too much, regardless of what is happening on the stage. As a friend of the players and someone who wants the best for them, I still wanted them to come out here today and have an amazing day, showcasing their talents as it is very, very important to me that they either get great offers overseas or back in Oceania (OCE), because they all deserve it!

So for me it doesn’t mean too much but as a friend to these guys, it meant a lot to me to see my players put in their best performances.

I’ll let you sell your players near the end of the interview, don’t worry! I’d like to ask about your learnings from MSI and the discussion of “constantly getting stomped doesn’t teach you much”. Do you think that even after getting stomped, PGG has picked up so many valuable lessons that people are not seeing?

Udysof: It’s very clear to see that we’ve improved, even in our game that we just played against DWG KIA (Damwon) regardless of the outcome. It was a slow, methodical game but that’s a step in the right direction for us. Always keep improving, do better and hold up in lane. We also had some good showings in the bot lane.

Throughout the whole tournament, regardless of wins or losses, we were always taking something from it. I think it’s true though when you say getting stomped does make it a little bit hard to learn. In some games you kind of look at it and it’s just a whole tornado of a mess. When you have those close games however, you can look back at the finer details and take a lot from them. So yeah, sometimes we learn a lot, sometimes we don’t! That’s been the whole tournament vibe for us. The best thing is we’ve learned a lot, probably the most compared to everyone here!

I want to ask about the Cloud9 match: The celebrations! You were ecstatic but the boys were very level headed. Did everyone break out in celebrations behind the cameras or was it more: “oh we won, that’s nice, yeah?”

Udysof: I think everyone has their own internal pride and everyone was happy. The mood was bright and we all went to a team dinner afterwards. But simultaneously, some of us probably felt bad, honestly. I think a lot of us wanted to see C9 progress and the fact that we were already eliminated and then defeated C9… it just made their chances of progressing harder.

We wanted to see our boy Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami succeed and NA too because they’re always fun to see at international tournaments. They bring fire, sparks and a lot of great storylines. So just for me personally, and some of the other players I spoke to, it was kind of sad. A win is good for us, though, and it’s always nice no matter what happens.

Alright, now that you’re out of MSI, I guess I can ask you this very openly: What are your predictions on who will make finals and who wins MSI 2021?

Udysof: Jeez! Well… gosh, the PCS are really scary. They are the dark horse of this tournament. I really want to see a world where it’s a PCS vs Damwon finals and then I want to see PSG Talon come from behind and win it!

I think for Damwon, as they are individually really talented, they play the game fundamentally… I don’t know if it’s wrong, but I don’t think they play optimal League of Legends right now. I don’t think they play fast and even though they’re confident in lane, they play slow. They understand their team compositions and what they want to do in-game but I don’t think they really play ‘right’, for the lack of a better word.

For PSG, their players are so individually talented, just at laning and raw mechanical skill. I think they lack a few things on their macro and sometimes their drafting can be a little bit confusing, but I really want to see them take MSI.

I know a lot of people are saying it will be a Royal Never Give Up (RNG) vs Damwon finals, but RNG has been shocking when it comes to drafting. They’ve had some terrible drafts and midlaner Yuan “Cryin” Cheng-Wei also has been having a little bit of a rough time. I want PSG to take it but do I think they will? I’d still put my bets on Damwon, but I have a little bit of hope for PSG!

Fair enough! As I understand, this is your first full season as a coach. So ultimately, what have you learned from your first full season as a coach and what do you take away from MSI?

Udysof: Maybe it’ll change when I meet people that collectively practice against harder opponents, but the thing that I’ve learnt most about being a coach is from our team. Being from OCE, the most important thing is having a team that works cohesively and happily together. Every single time we came on stage, especially in the early stages versus Unicorns of Love and RNG, we were laughing, smiling, having an amazing time and it made games so much easier.

We got to the Rumble stage and things got a little bit rocky because we started taking things way too seriously. We got a little bit in over our heads and the mood was generally good, but sometimes it was down in the dumps. Sometimes cultivating an amazing team environment is impossible as a player, you’re going to have emotional outbursts, but finding ways to maintain that emotion and keep it high is the most important thing to me as a coach.

I played professionally for the past three years before I became a coach, and I attended worlds with Dire Wolves for OCE back in the day, so I know what it’s like to be a player. I’ve learned bits and pieces about drafting and all the boring stuff but having fun, being an amazing teammate and coach, and having an amazing environment is the most important thing I learned.

Pentanet-GG-at-MSIPentanet-GG-at-MSI

Speaking of amazing environments, we’ve seen a huge outpouring of support from social media for PGG. Everybody seems to love you guys! How have you felt reading all those messages and support from people all around the world?

Udysof: I felt overwhelmed at times and sometimes also a little bit confused. Being from OCE, I didn’t really understand the potential and the outreach that we had. Looking at Brazil and all these people supporting us and even Europe getting behind us… not so much NA since we knocked out C9, but even RNG is sometimes supporting us.

To me, it’s surprising that there’s that many people in the world that would put their heart on the line and say they support us. That’s really crazy to me! From that confusion comes a warmth and it feels so good to see people like us for how we play and also like us as people. For me as a coach, that’s really heartwarming to see. I just really like that people get to see us in an authentic sense.

To supplement this happiness before leaving Iceland, I’m pretty sure that you guys have done some sightseeing. What happy memories do you take away from Reykjavík?

Udysof: So in Reykjavík (or near to), they have an erupting volcano. We walked up and saw it. It was approximately an hour’s walk and it takes an hour to travel there first, so it’s like a two hour trip. And then you get to the top of this mountain, and it’s so unreal!

I saw lava pouring out of the earth and spewing into the sky and that was the best thing I’ve ever seen in the world. The most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. So if you could ever find your way to Iceland, you and anyone else reading this, my Lord, I would recommend you come see the volcano! (Author’s note: It’s most probably Mount Fagradalsfjall)

I’ll definitely consider it. Your wardrobe has also been talked about throughout MSI. You and UoL Head Coach Fabian “Sheepy” Mallant especially. Who chooses your wardrobe for you and how many pairs of sunglasses do you own?

Udysof: Well, the sunglasses, this is one pair I bought for $10 and I’ve ran with it since then. And everything in regards to clothing… Well, this is ‘me’ (laughs)! I’m a streamer back in OCE and this shirt I’m wearing right now was actually bought by my Twitch viewers, because we were doing a funny little dress up event.

The clothes come from bits and bobs and I wore this suit to take my mum to dinner one time. So to be honest, it’s just what I’ve got. I brought it from Australia and it worked out!

Tough question for you then: Between you and Sheepy, who dresses better?

Udysof: Oh Sheepy, definitely! Maybe I dress nicely, but Sheepy is… he’s like a male model. They put the clothes on him and it doesn’t matter how good the clothes look, because he’s so damn handsome!

Well, I think you’re both handsome! So before we end, a slightly more difficult question for you. I know this is a complicated subject and rather broad. In your opinion, what are some of the biggest issues right now that OCE faces and what is the most urgent kind of help that the region needs?

Udysof: I think there’s two ways you can look at this. There’s a player side and then there’s a business infrastructure side. It’s unsustainable to be a player. That’s the reason I actually retired from playing, it was because I’d probably be like a third or fourth placed player on a team, and being third and fourth in OCE just isn’t enough. You don’t get enough money to live and there’s no future.

For the future prospects of a player in OCE, there’s no way that you can go further in life if you don’t make it overseas. So that’s definitely been the biggest recurring problem and that’s as much a problem for the LCO as it was for OPL, regardless of who’s running it.

From a business standpoint, I’m almost certain we also have one of the if not the lowest viewership in the world. From a business side that means less money and that means less money for players and for infrastructure. Businesses with their staff are also not able to run as efficiently as you’d like. For example with C9, they’ve got social media managers, coaches and the like. In OCE, you basically have like two people – maybe – and they juggle seven different jobs or something like that.

If there is any way that we can improve this, I would say if anybody out there who wants to help out the LCO… come check it out! Come support us, PGG, and other teams in the LCO. Maybe you can watch it and find it entertaining, because I think that’s our niche around the world! I think that’s the only way that we can really dig our way out of this situation, and of course to have more performances like we did here in MSI 2021 to showcase our region’s talent.

Now that we come to the end, I would usually ask, “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”. Keeping my promise, I’d like to ask you to sell me your players, and tell all the teams in the world why they should pick them up for the future.

Udysof: I’ll start from the top.

Brandon “Biopanther” Alexander is the most level-headed, individually introspective player, he’s able to self-reflect and work on himself very fluidly and support the rest of his team. He basically is the life force of the team’s macro knowledge at the moment.

Jackson “Pabu” Pavone has got star power! If you need to bring some eyes to your team, if you need some attention and some power in the jungle, he’s the man for the job!

Jesse “Chazz” Mahoney made a little bit of a name for himself, like solo-killing Cryin. He’s got some trash talk going on and a lot of people around the world, just through social media, found respect for him. He’s a very humble guy and he’s the quiet one on the team, but he’s also got a little bit of bite to him! He’s very reliable and a well-rounded fit for any team.

Mark “Praedyth” Lewis was, from my perspective, the shining light of PGG in all of our victories. I think in every single win he had insane KDA’s and performances and overall, I’m just very proud of him. He is the crux of why we did so well here at MSI. I think maybe a year and a half ago, I actually played with him on a team with him as my top laner, and now he’s a successful roleswapped bot laner! I can only vouch for him so much.

Daniel “Decoy” Ealam is the unsung hero of the team. You don’t hear much about him on the broadcast or otherwise but in some of his games, I think Decoy has had some of the highest highs of the boys. He played some insane games and had some really damn good performances. So I’d say if you’re really interested in a support player, check out some of his games because he was a big cornerstone for us.

That’s all I have to say about my boys!

Safe flight and best wishes to Udysof & Pentanet.GG!

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