VIT Photon: Adam is “currently the best top in the LEC”

We spoke with top laner Kyeong “Photon” Gyu-tae after the defeat to BDS sent Vitatliy to the lower bracket. He was up against French top laner Adam, known for his unique GODS picks which see him perform a different role than many conventional top laners.

Photon highlighted Adam as not only a “good player”, but revealed his opinion that Adam is “currently the best top in the LEC.

Despite starting 2024 poorly with an 0-3 record in the first week of the LEC Winter split, Team Vitality managed a determined comeback which eventually saw them secure playoffs with room to spare. Their playoffs run started well with a victory over SK Gaming, however the side then hit another snag with a 2-0 loss to Team BDS.

Praise aside, Photon got ready for the matchup “the same as any player,” adding that he didn’t prepare anything special for the BDS man or his GODS

The series defeat started with a disastrous game one which saw BDS heavily snowball an early lead to claim a hugely one-sided victory. Photon partially put his side’s performance down to a lack of familiarity with the style they tried to play.

“I think for the first game we didn’t practice our comp a lot, so I think we all just didn’t know exactly what we had to do. We also didn’t play well, I think that’s the reason why we lost today.”

Adjusting to the meta and hoping for a lower bracket run

Albeit in the lower bracket, Team Vitality still remain in the playoffs – a stage that looked very unlikely for them to reach at all after the 0-3 start in week one. On their early struggles and subsequent turnaround, Photon felt that his side “just didn’t know what champions were good and what was the meta” during the early phase of the season.

“I think we just kind of misunderstood the meta – what champions are good. That’s why we didn’t play well in the first week. And then after the first week, we saw what champions other teams and regions thought were good. We saw other regions’ playing styles.”

“We are slowly finding our style, I would say. Also, we are kind of a rookie team, so I think we are just still improving.”

Part of finding their style meant the adoption of top lane pick K’Sante. Before the series, five of Vitality’s six Winter wins had come when he’s piloted the champion. While the former T1 Challengers player admits that “K’Sante is a good champion,” he emphasized that he doesn’t believe the pick to be “super OP”. Rather, Photon sees the champion’s rise in priority for his team as having happened simply because his “coaches and teammates like K’Sante.”

Vitality opted against grabbing the pick in game one against BDS, instead allowing Adam to take the champion while Photon played the often-banned Karma into it. While he didn’t find success on the pick, Photon believes Karma to be a “strong champion in this patch” as a result of its flexibility in draft.

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