SGB Froggy: “I felt kind of shaky in my first game”

As part of the youngest roster at Worlds 2022, I was able to sit down with SGB Froggy, the mid-laner for Saigon Buffalo Esports, after his game against the Istanbul Wildcats. Playing on the international stage is not new for such a young player.

As part of Saigon Buffalo Esports, he had a rough time getting to North America to play in the tournament due to Visa issues. Now that he’s here, he’s ready to compete on the global stage for his home region of Vietnam, as the team did participate at MSI 2022.

I was able to ask SGB Froggy about the process of getting to North America, how it feels to play on the international stage on his own merits, and more. Below you can find the transcript of my conversation with him.

READ MORE: 2022 League of Legends Worlds Play-ins day three recap

SGB Froggy interview transcript.

Questions will be in a bold font, and answers will be in a standard font.

Worlds is now fully underway. You just came off your game against the Istanbul Wildcats? What was the game like, were they stronger than you expected?

I don’t think that IW was as strong as we expected. We watched the last few games where we saw their weaknesses in them. I think that IW won the early game because we made mistakes. Later in the game, through macro and teamwork, we out-damaged them to stop their snowballing and get the game in the end.

After a scary period, you guys were able to make it to Worlds, and you have some wins under your belt. How good does that feel?

At first, because we had such a long and difficult journey to Worlds, I felt kind of shaky in my first game. After my first win, I felt my confidence coming back, and I was looking forward to the next game.

I have to ask you about Zac mid. What went into that pick? What can you tell me about it?

I got into the routine to follow the history of the ranked games from other mid-laners in the world. I saw G2 Caps play this champion really often. I thought that it would fit really well with my play style, as well as SGB’s playstyle. I decided to make it a surprise pick at Worlds and show that we have a pocket pick like this to make teams prepare for it.

I’m not coming here as a newbie anymore, we have planned for it, we have practiced for it. The team agreed with it, and we went along with the plan.

Your team is very young, being the youngest average age in the tournament. Do you think it’s an advantage to be such a young team on such a big stage, or do you think that there are going to be growing pains?

I don’t think that being young is a disadvantage because this team was built when everyone was a rookie. We had the experience of growing up together, making mistakes, and fixing the mistakes together. That’s the strength of SGB. We think together as one, we do things together as one. It doesn’t matter that we are young. If we show our united spirit, I think that we can go far.

You and your team were present at MSI, but as a replacement for GAM. How does it feel to be at Worlds based on your own merits?

I feel very grateful. The whole team felt grateful to be at MSI last May. That’s where we grew our ceiling. We saw how the top players in the world were playing. We learned a lot and we experienced the pressures there.

After MSI, the determination of the team rose really high. We were on the top in the early season, but we dropped out of the top seven. After that, we worked really hard and put our egos aside and we worked together to earn our own spot at Worlds through our own power, our own ability.

READ MORE: Worlds 2022 Play-ins: Fnatic finalizes their starting roster 

A big thank you to SGB Froggy and the translation team for making this interview happen. If you would like to follow SGB Froggy, you can find his social media here, as well you can find the Twitter for his team here.

SGB Froggy and the rest of Saigon Buffalo are still in the hunt to make it to the group stage, and you can find his schedule at lolesports.com.