Foreign media invenglobal posted: "FNC coach Yamato Cannon: "I think Wunder is the best order ever, his professional level is exemplary", and the follow-up content is translated as follows:
Fnatic is considered one of the most promising teams of the new season and has shown great ability so far. As of February 11, FNC tied for second place in the LEC division table with G2 7-3 and has no obvious weaknesses in the team.
Still, Yamato Cannon (FNC head coach) is very focused on making the team the best in the division and is optimistic about Fnatic's potential on the international stage. Foreign media interviewed Yamato Cannon to discuss his philosophy of team building, his views on the Fnatic team, and his views on the North American division.
Q: Wunder is a player who many fans have no expectations for this spring game. What is your impression of him so far?
A: For me, it's a great thing for the team to sign Wunder in the offseason. Because I think Wunder is the best singles player ever. His work ethic was unbelievably good. His professionalism is exemplary – he never takes to heart the bad reviews fans have of him. I think that's one of his strengths.
Q: With Fnatic signings, you have a lot of experienced players. How is the way of managing these people differently than when signing up some new people in the past?
A: I think it's a different challenge because you have players from different types of teams. They come here with different expectations, and some things they may find easy may not be so easy for others. Also, the confrontation between these players is also frequent, so they have an opinion of each other. And that will take some time to eliminate. The most important thing for us is that we need to create our own version and find the 'direction' of the team.
When you've been in a team long enough, you'll have a fixed way of playing, and you'll reinforce the idea of how to play the game over many years. Like the Wunder of G2 or the Humanoid of MAD, and of course our Fnatic's Hylissang and Upset; our team also has its own 'direction', which is to make sure we are consistent.
Q: What is the current team playing? Last year, Fnatic liked to apply pressure — hard-hitting, fast-hitting, fast-punching. How different is Fnatic's playing style from your current style of play?
A: I believe that the potential we have now is very high. I think last year we were very predictable and the team was very inclined to a single way of playing. Ultimately, when you're facing those very strong teams, you really don't have the ability to fight.
Last year, we did a lot of Band-Aid solutions to mask a lot of our weaknesses. We are a very auxiliary position-centric team and our auxiliary is forced to swim with the field position to allow us to move towards victory. Most of the time, almost every opponent knows that in a match against us, we use auxiliary positions heavily to create an advantage. I think when we finally faced MAD Lions, we had a problem, which was that it was too easy to predict, and they were able to make a plan to make sure that there was as little wandering in our auxiliary location as possible. So that's a very big weakness for us.
This year, I don't think my opponents can understand our rhythm. We have the equally deadly auxiliary Hylissang, and in addition to that, we have a very experienced singles player, Wunder. Take advantage of their vast experience in winning in the league to make us a multi-dimensional team. So I think that's the biggest difference (from last season).
If tomorrow all the down-road hero combinations are weakened and we just need to change a few things, we're ready to do that. Because we have a super strong inventory of players' experience and knowledge. We're also ready to play with anyone in any style.
Q: While you guys look good right now, the overall shift in leccense seems to be more geared toward developing new players than signing veterans. I spoke to another coach last week and he said: "Historically, he's not too fond of putting a lot of money into veterans, and it's better to develop talent in the long run." So for you as a coach, when you see that most of the top teams are focusing on young players, what makes you confident in the roster you've built?
A: I've always liked newcomers, and in my opinion, when you want a rookie to reach a certain level, that's an elite player. I think if you can manage to catch a player who is in the top three in your area, you don't necessarily need to take a bigger risk on the rookie.
I think it's always a question, "Has this (veteran) player proven in the past that he can compete with the best guys and that he's capable of being the best player in his position?" If the answer to that question is no, then I think it's best to pick some of the riskier newcomers because the new people are growing, very young, and ready to be molded into something new.
Q: Recently, the coach of the TL team said that he believes that the bottom line of the LCS division is stronger than in Europe, and the LCS team level is higher, more competitive than LEC. What are your thoughts on this?
A: Sadly, I don't care about the situation in North America, so I don't have any ideas. I have enough LPL and LCK matches to watch. The only reason I look at the North American LCS division is to support people who have a close relationship with me. Like last year, I really enjoyed watching Jizuke. This year, I just like to watch the TL team because B wipo's games there are just to see him play. For the other teams, I don't care, there are no good answers.
I think the level of LEC now is not super, super high. If I had to talk about which team in the LCS division is strong, I think the C9 might be interesting, the TL would be interesting, maybe EG. But other than that, I wouldn't waste my time looking at the North American division, which is a shame.