On day 24 of the 2022 LCK Summer split, T1 defeated DRX 2-0 in the second match of the day. They took a commanding victory in game 1 that ended in just 25 minutes. DRX then subbed in Lee “Juhan” Ju-han for game 2, and while they had an early game lead, T1 still managed to outclass DRX in the macro game.

T1’s jungler, Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon, joined the LCK press room for a post-match victory.

Talk to us about your victory tonight. How do you feel?

It was our first round 2 match of this split, and we felt it was important to beat DRX tonight, a team that’s in the middle of the standings. I’m relieved that we won 2-0 over them tonight.

Against DRX, T1 has an eight match win streak/14-game win streak. 

I don’t think there’s a particular secret behind why we have such a positive win rate against them. We’re winning a lot of scrims in general, so I think that’s why we’re performing well against them. 

T1 drafted Draven in both games tonight. How come?

We drafted Draven after DRX drafted their bot lane, and Gumayusi’s also confident on the champion. Draven’s also a champion that snowballs hard when he gets kills and can greatly influence the game, so that’s why we picked him.

T1’s bot lane fell behind hard in the early game of game 2. What did the team talk about at the time?

We had a rough early game, but because Draven-Pyke can get a lot of gold if they can get kills, we thought it was okay. We just needed one single kill, so our attempts to make plays led to great results.

After DRX’s mid tier 1 turret fell, the snowball rolled very quickly. In a pro match, what’s the realistic value of the mid tier 1 turret?

If your tier 1 mid turret falls, then things get difficult for champions that are positioned in the side lanes. However, if you manage to take down the enemy’s tier 1 mid turret, you have an easier time moving in the side lanes. On pro level, teams that have good macro can snowball a lot of advantages from destroying their enemy’s tier 1 mid turret.

Juhan was subbed in for Pyosik in game 2.

Juhan stole our raptors in the early game. I couldn’t figure out his pathing; it was more peculiar than special.

With the meta being bot lane-ccentric, Zeus is first place in the Player of the Game [POG] standings.

Everyone can agree that Zeus is playing very well right now. He’s pulling way more than his share, and even if the rest of us fall behind, he’s doing a good job pulling that extra weight for us. He deserves it, and although I’d love to be on top of the POG standings, I’m happy that my brother is playing well.

Bel’veth is appearing more and more in the LCK, but isn’t doing that well across the board. What are your thoughts on Bel’Veth?

She's not good. She’s a champion that needs everyone on the team to understand how she works, but the difficulty level in doing so is very hard. This is how I thought before the nerfs, and now that she got nerfed even more, I don’t think I’ll ever play her. 

On social media, you also started uploading pictures of yourself working out at the T1 gym. Has there been a positive correlation between your exercise and in-game performance?

I started working out not only because of my back pain, but also was motivated by seeing all those on social media or whatever that are very fit. There are a number of other reasons as well, but ultimately, I get to look good. After I started working out, my back pain has gotten better, and I can confidently say that my physical endurance is a lot better than my teammates that don’t work out.

This next question may be a bit personal, but which body part do you like working on the most?

[Laughter] I like shoulder exercises the most. However, it’s still difficult.

Your next opponent is Kwangdong Freecs, the team that ended T1’s massive win streak.

Although they ended our streak, I believe that they prepared very well at the time. I don’t think there are surprise picks this time around, so as long as we don’t get complacent and face them, I believe we’ll take a 2-0 victory.