On the 24th of June (KST), in the 2018 LCK Summer Split Day 12, SKT T1 played against Jin Air Green Wings (JAG). Up to this match, both teams didn’t have a win.

In Game 1, Bang picked Xayah with Smite and went to mid lane. SKT took initiative from the early game and didn’t allow a single Scuttle Crab to JAG. Faker played Taliyah and delivered great performance and was voted MVP.

Game 2 went on for 46 minutes. SKT took an early lead and took four dragons. Although Grace played quite well with Zoe, SKT was able to secure the game after taking Baron and winning a teamfight near the Elder Dragon.

After the match, Faker was interviewed by SPOTV.

Q. You finally got the first win of the season. How do you feel?

Faker: We practiced really hard recently. We thought we needed to beat JAG no matter what because they’re a low-ranked team, even though we’re also a low-ranked team. I wanted to show that we can do better in the Summer Split from now on.

Q. You were on a 4-game losing streak. How did you prepare?

Faker: After losing for the fourth game in a row, we talked a lot about what the problem was. Since the problem wasn’t just one or two, we thought that we couldn’t fix everything all at once, so we wanted to take one step after another. We needed to bring up the players’ morale first and fix the other things afterwards.

Q. What went well today?

Faker: There were problems from the laning phase before, and sometimes we died some questionable deaths, but there was nothing like that today.

(Blank joins to be interviewed.)

Q. Blank was quite good today as well.

Blank: It’s a relief that we were able to stop the losing streak.

Q. You played Skarner today?

Blank: My Skarner winrate wasn’t that good but I thought that the champion wasn’t the problem, my own hands were the problem.

Q. Xayah was picked in Game 1. What was the plan?

Faker: We played many different non-marksman champions at bot but our results weren’t that good, so we decided to play champions that we were good at.

Q. Then was it a spontaneous pick or fully planned?

Faker: Other teams make spontaneous picks from time to time; we also did, but this time, it was fully planned and prepared.

Q. There hasn’t been that many Smite Xayahs before. Did everything go as thought?

Faker: Now we have a 10-man roster -- I think Afreeca Freecs first started it. We really practiced a lot. In the current meta, we need to find the best comp with the best champions. We practiced a lot with the 10 man roster in the short preparing time.

Q. (To Blank) How was Game 1?

Blank: My mind was rather easy because the jungler followed around the mid laner all the time. Since I practiced support champion a lot, it was alright.

Q. Do you have any moments you remember particularly?

Faker: Not much. I picked a champion that has strong laning. I think it’s very good that I took initiative and went deep into the opponent area.

Q. Taliyah almost instantly killed Vladimir in the late game?

Faker: Since Taliyah was scaled well, it’s a natural thing.

Q. Last game, the rookies played. What were your thoughts watching them?

Blank: There were players that didn’t have much experience so I cheered for them a lot.

Q. Did you give them a lot of advice?

Faker: Not much, but I thought they weren’t doing as well as they practiced. Maybe they were nervous, so I gave feedback after the match.

Q. The lead was closing up as it went on in Game 2. How was it?

Faker: I didn’t think that we would lose the advantage in the late game. Before, it was hard to close the game even if we had Baron and Elder.... You know, they’re the same time of THAT match from last season. (Laughs) Now, it isn’t like that so I wasn’t worried.

Q. What did you each think did well in Game 2?

Blank: I think I did well in the teamfight near Elder.

Faker: For me, the Flash-Taunt was good in front of their mid turret.

Q. Was it fully intended?

Faker: I thought they would be getting ready to place wards around that place. There were two champions that had weak defense so I thought it was a good moment. The reactions of my teammates after that play were also very good too.

Q. How about the teamfight near Elder?

Blank: I thought we would win if we were able to kill Camille.

Faker: I was wondering why Zoe died; now seeing it, she just died to a Q.

Q. Your next match is against KT. How do you think it will go?

Faker: Strong teams always come back up after slumps. Since we won today, I have faith that we’ll do better in other matches too. The game against KT will be interesting.

Q. A comment to the fans?

Blank: We’re doing our best to do better. Please trust us and we’ll try to repay with better performance. Thank you.


※ Mistranslations were edited in this article.