On the 8th of July (CST), the Rift Rivals 2018 (LCK/LPL/LMS) ended with LPL again taking the trophy. The best teams from each region took part, so the tournament was full of exciting things to see.

Through this competition, it was clear that the LPL junglers have highly developed. Among those junglers, the most impressive performance came from RNG Liu “Mlxg” Shi-Yu. Mlxg pushed the LCK teams into a corner by aggressive ganks from the early game. As he is actively performing well in the international competitions, he is starting to earn the reputation as the world’s best jungler. 

More and more people became interested in this jungler. We had a chance to have an interview with Mlxg. Unlike his dynamic performance, he was rather quiet and very humble. The interview with Mlxg starts now.

Hi, can you briefly introduce yourself?

Hello, I’m RNG jungler Mlxg.

LPL won the Rift Rival championship two years in a row. How do you feel?

I’m happy to have won the championship two straight years. I hope I can win it again next year by maintaining a good condition.

Your gank at top lane against Afreeca Freecs was very impressive. It seemed like a risky play; what were your intentions?

I thought it was well timed, so I went to gank top. Even if we don’t get a kill, it was a benefit if I can just lower the opponent’s HP, so I went up. Even if it may not be a benefit to me, it could make the team advantageous.

You seem like a sensitive player that is confident in making risky plays. What do you think your best feature is?

I usually improvise and move thinking it’s alright even if I don’t succeed.

In the past, some said that your weakness is your consistency, but now it seems that you’ve overcome that weakness.

Since I’m aiming for Worlds, I do my best to deliver good performance in every game. I think I was able to overcome my weakness by putting in a lot of effort.

Karsa, who is also a world-class jungler, is on your team. How is the synergy being on the same team?

Karsa is an outstanding player, so we help each other. When we play scrims, we watch each other play and share our strong points.

Many people consider you as the world’s best jungler. Do you think you’re the world’s best?

I don’t think that. I still think that there are many outstanding junglers in the world. All I do is work hard so our team can win.

LPL is very strong in recent international competition. How do you think about that?

I think LPL is still growing.

As an LPL player, do you think the Korean coaching staff coming to the LPL contributed to the league’s development?

Yes, I think they brought a good way of managing players to the LPL. I gained more insight into the game and learned to have a good mindset.

Compared to the LPL junglers, it seems as the LCK junglers have a more obvious style of play. What do you think?

I think the LCK junglers are strong and stable. On the other hand, the LPL junglers still make many mistakes.

There are many roles a jungler should carry out in LoL. What do you think the most important role for a jungler is?

For each team, the style and role of a jungler are different. Since it varies from team to team, I can’t say one role is more important than the others.

The summer split, and the most important world championship is left. Do you think LPL can get the Summoner’s Cup this year?

LCK was too strong at Worlds. I think LPL is catching up with LCK in the past few years. In the upcoming Worlds, I think LPL has hope.

Any last comments?

I’ll get good results no matter what in the LPL Summer season so that we can get to Worlds.