The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational began on May 6. 11 teams from around the world gathered to declare which team is the strongest team of the spring season. The last match of the day was between MAD Lions and PSG Talon. Although PSG Talon had a good start from the invade phase, they lost a scuttle crab fight which gave the edge to MAD Lions. After the match, PSG Talon jungler Kim “River” Dong-woo joined Inven Global for an interview.

Today’s match went unfortunate for you guys. How was the game?

Since MAD Lions is a good team, we prepared a lot. We had a good start, but the fight at the scuttle crab went bad and I think it snowballed from that point on.

It’s your second international competition after your Worlds appearance last year. Does what you learned last year help in this tournament?

Last year, when I first attended an international tournament in Worlds, I was nervous from the beginning. My head went blank. But since it’s my second international tournament, I wasn’t as nervous and I think I concentrated pretty well.

How was it playing against the LEC champions, MAD Lions?

MAD Lions is a good team. We thought they would be good since they won the championship in the LEC, but after playing against them, it felt that we could beat them.

Didn’t you want to face G2 Esports?

We scrimmed against G2 Esports last year at Worlds, and they were really good. I think facing MAD Lions is better than facing G2 [Laughs].

There were loaned members at last year’s Worlds, and again at this MSI. How did it affect the team?

We had played together for the whole last year, and the spring this year. The synergy we built up… What was more was that our bot duo had been playing together for five years or so. I think it’s big that we aren’t able to play together.

Does Doggo feel pressured from having to fill in for Unified’s spot?

Actually, my Chinese isn’t that good [Laughs]. On the outside, it didn’t seem like he felt pressured. He wasn’t nervous before the game either, but I think he just made a few mistakes. It hasn’t been long since we played together and we didn’t play that many scrims, but the scrim results were so good, so I have high expectations.

What do you aim to take from this tournament?

I don’t think I played that well as an individual during last Worlds. I want to do better at this MSI and I hope to reach at least the semifinals.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the match before your game, but do you think you’ll be able to get through the group stage?

I can’t be sure since we haven’t played against the other teams, but if we play as we played in the scrims, we’d be more than capable to get through the group stage. Frankly, if we won today, we could have gotten through in 1st place, but since we lost so early, I think we’ll get through in 2nd place.

Other than the major regions, which team do you think is the strongest at this MSI?

Outside of the four major regions, I thought GAM of Vietnam was the strongest, but since they weren’t able to come, I would say our team is the strongest.

MSI is just starting. How do you think it’ll go?

When we were scrimming with Doggo, the results were so good — so good that I don’t think it would be any better even with Unified. If we just keep ourselves calm without getting nervous and play as we did in scrims, we’ll be able to show good performances at this tournament.

Speaking of being nervous, were you any nervous this time?

I really wasn’t that nervous. I used up all my nervousness for this MSI at last year’s Worlds, so I wasn’t nervous at all [Laughs].

Lastly, a word to the fans?

Thank you for cheering for PSG Talon. We had a good start today, but we weren’t able to keep that lead and lost. Although we weren’t able to win today, if you keep cheering for us, we’ll do our best to repay you with the best results. Thank you.