100 Thieves Eyla on elimination from Worlds 2024: "If we played well, we could have made it. But we didn't"
“[We had] a game plan, and then we got shit stomped”
100 Thieves Bill “Eyla” Nguyen may be a newcomer to Worlds 2024 but he is no stranger to the pressures of competing. The Australian LCS support has been competing since 2017.
He earned his first NA stripes with TL Academy before hopping onto FlyQuest. He was also part of Evil Geniuses in 2023 for a brief period and moved on to 100 Thieves in late 2023.
Attending Worlds this year, his team - 100 Thieves - made headlines on Day 2 by falling to LLA representative Movistar R7. Following that defeat, 100 Thieves fell to the lower bracket and had to bounce back with no more room for mistakes. Faced against SHG, we saw glimmers of what made this team ferocious in the LCS and what allowed them to defeat Cloud9. However, faced next against PSG Talon, 100 Thieves were stunned into silence.
Strafe Esports sat down with a bereft Eyla following the elimination from Worlds 2024 to speak on his short albeit meaningful journey to and at Worlds 2024.
Simple question to start, how are you feeling coming off of that kind of series, that kind of loss?
Feeling pretty shit. I mean, Game 1, we got stomped maybe like 20 to 1 kills. And I think Game 2, I played pretty bad personally. So, feeling pretty bad.
What was the game plan for you guys coming into today’s series? Was there any learnings to be taken from yesterday’s victory against SGH, another PCS representative?
Game plan… I mean, Game 1, we knew they were gonna pick Skarner, so we had a draft plan for it. We had like good long-range champions that could CC him and kind of like stop them from engaging and we just win front-to-back. That was our game plan, and then we got shit stomped.
And Game 2, don’t know to be honest. We kind of stuck to the same thing. Just make sure we teamfight well, play around each other and all that, but did not go so well today.
Confidence-wise, how do you bounce back from a Game 1 like that?
Clearly we didn’t manage to, that’s why we lost. Don’t know. We have to go back to the drawing board and take a look at ourselves. Because I think we let Game 1 affect us too much and didn’t play well Game 2 as well.
Final question on the series, could you take me through the thought process behind Game 2’s unique draft?
Yeah, so we knew they were going to first pick Yone if we left it up, and I think Skarner worked pretty well last game. So, we wanted to ban it, give them Yone first pick and then obviously we should deny the Ziggs because I think Yone and AP bot is usually the meta combo.
So yeah, we denied them Ziggs, and then I think our Renekton flex was because Renekton’s good matchups into Yone and then we could kind of pick Rumble to get double winning solo lanes.
So we have double melee solo lanes with AP jungle, AP bot and it's kind of what we pick a lot as a team, like a lot of melee champs, turning on Ziggs and all that. So that’s a comp we were familiar with and we were trying to do our best with that.
100 Thieves may have had strong answers in theory, but execution-wise, PSG Talon clean swept both the game and the LCS 3rd seed's confidence in one swoop. Heading into Game 2, it was clearly a much more deflated 100 Thieves that struggled to find answers or hope in victory.
Moving on, this is of course your first Worlds. Just in general, taking away today’s series, how was your overall experience having come to Worlds for the first time?
You know, I mean looking back, I'll probably enjoy it, but I'd say in the moment I was really focused on trying to like maintain my composure and playing well. So I'd say in the moment I wasn't having a lot of fun. Yeah, but looking back I'll probably treat it as an enjoyable experience.
You’ve played in the LCS, you’ve come to Worlds now. What’s been the biggest difference between playing in the LCS domestically and then when you play at Worlds against these teams? Not even talking about Korean teams you know, talking about let’s say PSG Talon for example.
I mean, the overall level is just a lot higher. I think all the Play-Ins teams at least can make it competitive. Like when you play in LCS against a lot of the bottom teams, you kind of have an easy time. You expect to win and like you can tell that the enemy team is not used to winning. Like they don't know how to win.
But in Play-Ins, every team has like their own play style and you can tell like when they get this or when they play a certain way. Like you can… you can kind of like see the history behind the team and how they won.
So I think in general they're just better than LCS teams besides like the top half. So, like obviously I think TL and FlyQuest would be better than the Play-Ins teams.
Right now it's probably a bitter experience, but as you say, you know, you probably look back at this a little more fondly.
What's going to be your main goal for the next time you come to Worlds? What has changed in your mentality, you know, between now, this first time when you come and you know, your next goal for an international tournament?
I just think I'd have a different mindset shift. When I came, when I was coming to Worlds the first time, I was expecting like a really good solo queue and being able to play at my best. But the reality is there's a lot of stuff happening.
So you don't really get time to just have a routine and keep playing every day or like do everything because there's a lot of content, a lot of traveling. You're getting used to a new hotel in my case. I didn't like the hotel we had at Benevolence a lot.
So I had a lot of trouble sleeping and I was sick at the start. So just lowering my expectations on like what kind of quality practice I can get or like all that stuff would be helpful and just being more ready to adapt to whatever happens.
The main topic circulating around every team, every LCS team, every CBLOL team, every LLA team that's come to this particular Worlds - the merger in 2025. Are you personally excited for the potential merging? As you said, the bottom level of the LCS isn't quite up to par. Like this merge would do quite a lot, I am assuming, to fix some of those issues.
I think it'll help. I'm not sure. I honestly didn't have that high of an opinion of LLA players before this but they obviously played pretty good and yeah, if the top players come over it will probably be a shift up in region.
But besides that I haven't given up too much thought for it. Kind of, whatever happens happens next year. I'm not too like... I don't stress over it because no matter what I do, I can't change what happens.
This is unfortunately the end of the road for your guys' Worlds journey. There's still two more LCS teams in play, Team Liquid and FlyQuest. How do you expect the other two teams to do at Worlds 2024?
How do I expect them to do? Maybe...
You can wish them ill if you want, you know, like, you know, if I go down, you all go down.
No, no... just realistically thinking about it. I don't think they... I don't think they can take a match or like a series off an Eastern team. Yeah, but they should be better than the Play-Ins teams still.
So whoever they are, if they play in, they should be better and they'll still be a big gap. I think NA can beat EU though.
Because I was scrimming a lot of EU teams and honestly, they weren't as good as I expected them to be. So I think NA has a good shot against EU.
As I wrap up this interview, do you have anything that you want to say that perhaps I didn't get a chance to touch on in this interview or any shout out to the fans, perhaps?
Just apologies for not showing up on our last series. If we played well, we could have made it, but we didn't so hopefully you enjoyed our split and thank you for being 100%!
For the latest League of Legends news, follow Strafe Esports. To follow everything on Worlds 2024, check out our full guide. Also, follow the Strafe YouTube channel for exclusive interviews with players and coaches.
Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
Read More: