On day 7 of the 2021 LCK Summer split, DWG KIA swept Afreeca Freecs 2-0. For this series, DWG KIA benched their ADC, Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun and subbed in their substitute jungler, Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong; Heo “ShowMaker” Su played ADC, while their starting jungler, Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, played mid lane. Despite half of their players playing off-role, the team proved that they’re capable of going head to head with the best of the best.

After the match, ShowMaker joined the press room at LoL Park for a post-match interview.

Thoughts on the victory?

I’ve never dreamed that I’d play ADC in a competitive match [laughter]. In the end, we won, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Is tonight both your debut and your retirement as an ADC?

That’s a secret. Who knows? Maybe I could play top lane next. We’re open to many different possibilities, and are trying various things.

When did the team first talk about the strategy? Was it after MSI ended? Or after the team lost to KT?

It was when we lost to KT; before then, we didn’t really talk about it. Despite beating T1, we were still shaky, and the loss to KT was just a clean loss. That’s why we talked about trying something different, and we’re looking at things long-term. In the end, the champion is whichever team’s holding up the Summoner’s Cup at Worlds. The process has been quite fun so far.

Was there any clash in opinions during the preparation process?

I don’t recall anything like that in particular; we just said, “Let’s try it”, and we just kept winning during scrims. We were like, ‘What the…?’ and so, we role-swapped.

Tell me about your learning experience of the ADC role.

I always put my secondary role in solo queue as ADC, so I’m actually quite confident in my ability to play marksman champions.

Canyon’s performance on Ryze was also shockingly good. What can you tell us about him?

When I watch Canyon play a solo lane in solo queue, he’s always insanely good at laning and side lane macro. I’ve said this once before, but I genuinely think that Canyon will be better than most top laners. Since there’s a lot of champions that can be flexed both mid and top, we felt that Ryze was the best option in game 2 draft.

How did the team’s usual starting ADC, Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun react to the role swap?

He said that he’ll play a lot of solo queue to find his form. He also gave me a lot of info and tips on matchups and what not in the bot lane.

Tell us about the ADC experience so far.

It hasn’t been a while since I started scrimming as the ADC for the team, but it’s been quite fun so far. I haven’t felt like things were hard. I initially thought that the mid lane has more influence in the side lanes, so it was very important. However, I think that ADC is a lot harder than mid. Canyon also practiced ADC; depending on the draft, who knows what position we may play?

In your experience, how would you describe the difference between mid and bot lane?

You can just do your thing in the mid lane, but your jungler’s location is very important in playing bot lane. That’s why communication with your jungler is very important; I’d say the biggest difference is in finding kill angles and Rift Herald timing at the 8-minute mark. 

How has the synergy with Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee been so far?

Not every game, but we’ve beaten most of the bot lanes during practice, so it’s been great. Tonight, we just talked about what we should play.

If you had to choose between playing mid vs any other role, what would you choose?

We’re pro players, so the result is all that matters. Our goal is to win, so as long as we do win, we’ll do whatever it takes.

Your head coach, Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun looked very happy on screen during feedback.

Game 1 played out the way we drafted. Also, Malrang doesn’t usually participate in team practice, so when he joined, he struggled quite a bit. However, he played very well tonight, and kkOma was very happy with his performance.

Is there an ADC that you’d like to face?

I think Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk is the best ADC, so I want to get beaten up by him and see how wide the gap is. The Varus I faced tonight also hurt quite a bit, so I’m curious what Ruler’s Varus will be like.

Lastly, is there anything you’d like to say?

I feel that the fans were probably very surprised about tonight’s roster. We didn’t swap without thinking; we’re figuring out all the different ways to win, so please cheer for us. We’ll make sure to put on a great show for everyone.