On day 16 of the 2021 LCK Spring split, DRX defeated Gen.G in the second match of the day, and climbed to 2nd place in the standings. The mid laner for DRX, Song “SOLKA” Su-hyeong, contributed to the team’s victory by not only being the sturdy pillar in the mid lane that his team needed, he also solo killed his lane opponent to change the flow of the game in DRX’s favor.

SOLKA joined Inven to talk about the matchup against Gen.G, and what it was like to play against Gen.G’s rookie mid laner, Kim “Karis” Hong-jo.

It was a much-needed victory in DRX’s climb to the top of the standings. How does it feel to take the victory?

I’m ecstatic by the fact that we took down a really strong team like Gen.G. Even though I was excited to play against Karis, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t play against Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong.

Is there a specific reason why you wanted to face Bdd?

Before I became a pro, I was only known as a Cassiopeia one-trick in solo queue. However, I lost to Bdd a lot in solo queue, and not only did I learn a lot from my losses, those losses motivated me to expand my champion pool and decided to become a pro player. I wanted to prove to him that I’m not the same 17-year old Cassiopeia one-trick that he faced back then, so I was disappointed that he didn’t start today. I hope to play against him in round 2.

Can you tell us more about the matchup against Gen.G’s rookie, Karis?

Although I just thought of him as another opponent I had to beat, I knew that he was good due to him being so high on the solo queue ladder. Even still, I think I’m still better.

You scored a solo kill on him in game 3. Can you tell us more about that kill?

I was doing quite well in my early laning phase. I was able to recall and returned to lane without using teleport, while Karis didn’t have a great back timing. It looked like he wanted to push an extra wave to get his items, so it was me capitalizing on his greediness. This all unfolded because I played out my early laning phase well.

You’ve been teammates with your jungler, Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon since last year. Although you’ve watched him from the sidelines last year, you’re now a starting member alongside him. From your perspective, how do you think he’s grown since then?

I think we’re in a similar position, where we listen to feedback and brainstorm the plays we can make to become better. Right now, he’s in a state where he absorbs all that feedback like a sponge, and continues to become better each day.

Coming into this split, did you believe that it would be possible to reach 2nd place in the standings?

I didn’t think it was possible. I always thought of the Spring split as a time for me to learn and improve. However, my laning has gotten so much better in such a short period of time, and seeing such progress, I began to hope. Even so, I didn’t expect us to climb so high in the standings, and a major part of it was my coaching giving me great feedback in my laning.

Many mage champions dominate the current mid lane meta. If the meta shifts, are there certain champions that you’d like to play in the LCK?

Many mage champions dominate the meta right now, but I feel that picks like Lucian and Akali can also be picked in certain scenarios. I hope that there will come a day where I get to play champions like Xerath and Aurelion Sol.

Your next match-up is against DWG KIA, a team that DRX historically struggled against. What kind of a matchup are you expecting?

All five of the DWG KIA players are very talented. Even so, I want to lead the game by playing out the laning phase well.