An Interview With NYXL DPS Young-Woo “Flora” Lim

 

By Arran “Halo” Spake

Coming into the 2021 Overwatch League season, there was a lot of unknowns regarding the New York Excelsior. The team’s original and much loved roster had been disbanded after a strong first year that failed to see them win the inaugural season, despite winning stages two and three in 2018, they never reached their full potential as the best team in the world. This led the New York Excelsior to bring in a number of talented rookies from both Chinese and Korean Contenders to transform themselves in to a future powerhouse. One of these players was former Team Diamond DPS Flora, who had shown that he had the ability to play in the Overwatch League but not had the same hype that other Korean DPS players coming into the 2021 season.

The New York Excelsior did their scouting and showed the depth of talent both region had. Flora was picked up as a Tracer and Sombra specialist. However, no one expected the jump Flora made from Overwatch Contenders to the Overwatch League and he has become on of the players that should be on the radar for Rookie of the year and shown himself as a potential star of the future. Today Flora took the time to answer a few questions about his time with the New York Excelsior and the Overwatch League.

First of all thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions. For the readers who don’t know much about you, please tell us a little bit about yourself!

[먼저 이렇게 인터뷰에 응할 시간을 내주셔서 감사합니다. 본인이 누구인지 모르는 팬분들께 짧은 자기소개 부탁드리겠습니다.]

플로라:안녕하세요 뉴욕엑셀시어에서 메인딜러를 맡고있는 플로라 입니다

Flora: Hello! I’m Flora, currently the main DPS player for the New York Excelsior.

This is obviously your first season as a player in the Overwatch League. Tell us about your experience in contenders and what the main difference is between Contenders & OWL?

[이번이 커리어 첫 오버워치 리그 시즌입니다. 이전 컨텐더스에의 경험과 오버워치 리그와 어떻게 다른지 설명해 주시겠어요?]

플로라: 사실 컨텐더스와 리그의 차이는 별로 없지만 대회할때 상대닉네임이 리그선수들인것이 제일 큰 차이점 같습니다 

Flora: Truth is, I don’t think there’s a huge difference between OWL and OWC, maybe the size and weight of the players’ name tags.

When you joined the NYXL as one of four rookies and most of the hype went elsewhere. What was your reaction to this and how do you feel now considering you are very quickly building a reputation as a potential future star in the league?

[처음 뉴욕 엑셀시어에 합류했을 때 사실 다들 세 신인 선수들에 비해 많은 주목을 받지 못했었습니다. 빠르게 리그의 스타로 떠오르고 있는 지금, 그 때 당시 상황에 대해 어떤 느낌이 드시나요?]
 

플로라: 사실 컨텐더스에서 리그로 승격했을때 팀성적이 좋지못한채로 승격을했었기 때문에 주목을 못 받을거라는 생각을 했었지만 대회에서 좋은모습 보여주면서 주목을 받자고 생각을했고 지금 대회에서 좋은모습 보여드리고 있는거 같아서 기분이 좋습니다

Flora: I already knew hype was not going to be that high for me compared to the others because my former team wasn’t doing that great in OWC. I was determined to prove everyone wrong through my performances in the OWL and I am satisfied that I’ve started to do just that.

We are now over half way through the season and this is the first year that NYXL haven’t played with their original core outside of JJonak . How have you felt this has affected you, the rest of the team and how has JJonak helped being the team’s longest serving player?

[쪼낙 선수를 제외한 나머지 기존 뉴욕 멤버들 없이 치르게 된 첫 시즌이 어느덧 절반 넘게 지났습니다. 이 사실이 플로라 선수에게 어떤 영향을 주었으며, 쪼낙 선수가 최고참 선수로서 어떠한 도움을 주었나요?]

플로라: 쪼낙선수만 남고 모두 새로운 선수로 모여서 저한테는 더 편한 팀분위기가 형성이 된거같습니다 쪼낙형이 최고참선수로서 저희를 이끌어주고 리더십 있는 모습도 보여주면서 좋은모습 많이 보여줘서 스크림할때나 대회할때나 많이 지지하게 되는거 같습니다

Flora: For me personally, I think having everyone except JJonak being new to the team helped make a more relaxed atmosphere since everyone was starting at square one. As for JJonak, I think he’s leading us well as the veteran of the team and is leading by example. I think I can rely on him in and out of the game, and also both in scrims and in official matches.

This year saw the Overwatch League change their format completely and have two tournaments with Hero Pools in place and two without. How have you found the format and are you personally a fan of Hero Pools?

[이번 시즌 오버워치 리그는 새롭게 개편되면서 두 개 대회에서는 영웅 밴을 실시하였고, 두 개 대회에서는 영웅 밴을 실시하지 않았습니다. 이러한 형식에 대해서 어떻게 생각하시며, 영웅 밴에 대한 의견은 어떻습니까?]

플로라: 영웅 밴 덕분에 난이도가 많이 올라간 느낌이였고 영웅 밴은 괜찮다고 생각합니다

Flora: I think hero bans make things trickier for everyone involved and that’s a good thing. I think hero bans give a positive impact to the League.

This is the second year the Overwatch League has had a specific APAC region because of the ongoing pandemic. How have you found playing in the region and what are your thoughts about potentially playing against teams in the North American region?

[코로나 때문에 리그 대진을 동,서부로 나눈 지 벌써 2년째입니다. 동부 팀들에 대한 소감은 어떤지와, 북미 지역의 팀들과 맞붙을 가능성에 대한 의견은? ]

플로라: 동부팀들이 생각보다는 잘했고 북미팀과 맞붙는 것은 좋은 기회라고 생각합니다

Flora: I think APAC teams play at a much higher level than a lot of people would expect them to, and I think going against West Region teams is a good opportunity overall.

This season saw a lot of Korean contenders players come in as rookies and the level of play has been incredibly high. As someone who played against a lot of them last year, who has impressed you the most and why?

[이번 시즌 컨텐더스 출신 신인 선수들이 많았고, 이들이 선보인 경기력은 실로 대단했습니다. 이들을 상대해본 경험이 있는 사람으로서 누가 플로라 선수에게 가장 인상깊었었나요? 그 이유는?]

플로라:최세환선수 트레이서가 많이 잘해져서 인상깊었습니다

Flora: I think ChoiSehwan impressed me the most, mostly because of his vastly improved Tracer play.

As we get towards the end of the season, how would you rate your first year in the league?

[시즌 종반부를 향해 가는 시점에서, 본인의 리그 데뷔 시즌을 평가해주시겠어요?]

플로라:저의 리그 데뷔 시즌은 초반에는 삐끗했지만 지금은 점점 나아지고 있는 추세라서 이대로 상승세를 타서 플레이오프 까지 가면 성공적이라고 생각합니다

Flora: We had a rough start, but I feel we are getting better and better with each passing week. If we can keep our upward momentum going and make it to the playoffs and beyond, I think I’d consider that a pretty okay debut season.

With information around Overwatch 2 slowly being released, what are your thoughts on the game moving to 5v5 and what are you expecting from the game.

[오버워치 2 에 대한 정보가 조금씩 공개되고 있는 가운데 ,5대5로 바뀌는 것에 대한 플로라 선수의 생각과 오버워치 2에서 기대하는 점들을 말씀해 주세요. ]

플로라:저는 개인적으로 6대6이 더 좋을거같고 오버워치2 에서는 신맵과 신캐릭터들을 기대하고있습니다

Flora: I personally think that 6v6 is better, but I really look forward to the new maps and heroes Overwatch 2 will bring.

With the Countdown Cup underway NYXL have positioned themselves well, going 2-0 with wins over the Los Angeles Valiant and the Shanghai Dragons in their first week. They are in the perfect place to make it all the way with matches against the Philadelphia Fusion and Chengdu Hunters up next. Flora will be a big part of his teams efforts to make it out of the APAC once more.

(For more Overwatch content, follow @haloofthoughts on Twitter)

(Images: NYXL)