The 100 Thieves are having one of their greatest streaks in team history. Starting from their win against FlyQuest in Week 3, 100 Thieves have been undefeated through Week 5. Collecting eight consecutive wins, they are on their longest winning streak ever.

Top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho had been with the team since the beginning, through the ups and downs throughout the years. Mentioning that he doesn’t remember when he had such a long winning streak, Ssumday joined Inven Global to talk about the season.

It’s an eight-game winning streak. Do you remember the last time you had such a long winning streak?

I don’t remember how long it has been, or even if I ever had one. It’s been about three years since we finished the regular season in first place, though.

You must be so happy playing in the LCS right now. How is it?

Obviously, it’s better to win than to lose, but I think it’s harder to maintain a high position than to come up from below. So we’re all working hard to stay in this position.

Isn’t there some positive effect when you keep on winning?

Even the scrims matter in that case. If we keep losing, the atmosphere will go way down, but since we’re winning, it’s still alright even when we lose a game or two. It’s definitely positive.

100 Thieves lost only two games this summer. What’s been working well?

All five players on our team have a very wide champion pool so it’s really convenient. Other than that, I think we’ve been doing well because our fundamentals are really good.

In the last interview, you said that the team has to work on the fundamentals. Is the hard work finally paying off?

I can’t get into too much detail, but I like it when we support each other when someone makes mistakes. No one can play the game perfectly, so I hope we’re able to do that more.

Reapered and Abbedagge must be a big help as well. What change did they bring to the team?

When he first came to the team, in the blink of an eye, Reapered spotted all the players' pros and cons... Even ones I wasn't even aware of. That way, Reapered was a huge help to our improvement. It seems he has very keen observation skills. As for Abbedagge, he’s been gobbling up all the MVPs and we’re winning with him. He’s doing great.

For me, I have two new valuable friends. We work hard and have fun together. We go through feedback sessions that last until midnight — even on days we play on stage. I’m proud that we’re having good results together.

Reapered is kind of charismatic. How is he in the team?

Reapered tends to speak directly, so it seldom gets long. He has a clear way of solving problems. On the other hand, he approaches us like friends. It was quite easy to get close with him. For me, it was easier because we’re both Korean.

When Reapered joined 100 Thieves, he told me that he wants to make a team where individuals shine. Do you think that’s working out well?

Definitely. We’ve played through Week 5 of the LCS and we got three of the five Player of the Week awards. Although our support and I haven’t been awarded yet, I think this means that our individuals are really shining. Plus, our results have been great.

As for you, how did you change?

Usually, I don’t speak that much, and my teammates talk a lot. Since the other players were on the same team before they came to 100 Thieves, they tend to talk a lot. I didn’t have much space to squeeze my words in. When we play together, they talk even more. [laughs]

What happened was that if I didn’t talk, the team missed some details. Reapered found that and made some room for me to speak, so now I talk more. When someone’s talking in the game, you shouldn’t interrupt, so I usually wait to say what I want to say… But they’re always talking. [laughs]

It was really surprising that Reapered spotted that as soon as he came to our team. I didn’t even notice that was an issue.

The LCS went through some changes. The summer season is connected to the spring season, and you’re playing three games against each team. How is it different?

It’s a bit complicated and it’s hard to say which is better. I think the strong teams would eventually come up and the weak teams would go down. As much as there are more games through the season, there wouldn’t be as many “lucky punches” as before.

Then which team are you looking out for the most?

The traditional powerhouses will do well. We would need to compete against Cloud9, Team Liquid, and TSM. I heard that it’s the first time in 757 days that a team not named Cloud9, Team Liquid, or TSM finished the weekend in sole position of 1st place. It was really interesting. When you go to LCS Arena, there are team flags of the champions. C9, TL, TSM… I want to hang the 100 Thieves flag there.

I remember you were happy when you hung the 100 Thieves Academy flag there as well.

Yeah, I was. [Laughs] But it went down in one season. [Laughs]

Which top laner are you looking out for the most?

I think it’s the same as the teams. The top laners of those top teams: Alphari, Fudge, and Huni.

How do you think the rest of the season will go?

We are doing well, but we’re only halfway through the season. What’s more is that everyone is way too ahead of themselves [Laughs]. Sometimes I feel uneasy when they praise us too much, but as much as we’re getting high expectations, we need to live up to it. If we live up to it, I believe more and more fans will cheer for us.

Any last comments to wrap up this interview?

I’m happy that it seems our hard work is paying off. Although we’re only halfway through summer, I hope we can keep doing well and get to Worlds. Please keep cheering for us!