On the 13th (KST), Griffin defeated Gen.G 2:1 in the 2018 LCK Summer split day 21 match 1. Viper delivered great performance with his Ezreal and Taliyah. After the match, Viper was interviewed.

The following is the interview with Viper.

Q. The team finished round 1 1st place with 8 wins and 1 loss. What are your thoughts on this?

We did lose once, but I still feel good since we did finish round 1 well. It’s kind of hard to forget that defeat since it was our only one.

Q. If your team was a spear, Gen.G was a shield. Was it hard to win a concrete team like Gen.G?

I didn’t feel pressured. We tried to make use of our advantage. I knew that it would be deadly to give the opponent time, but we thought that it was more important to maintain our pace.  

Q. You used Ezreal on game 1. You tend to not use traditional ADC champion that often.  Why did you choose it this time?

I knew that Ruler likes to use traditional ADC champs. That’s why I chose Ezreal; it was to steal one of Ruler’s cards. I personally think that I feel more comfortable on ‘non-ADC’ champions.

Q. You lost game 2. What was the problem?

Losing a game means that all 5 players were bad. We participate in the pick & bans also, so the blame shouldn't be on a single person; it’s everyone’s fault.

Q. You played against the 2017 Worlds champions. How was it?

Before game 2, our head coach said that “if you win this match, it means that you’ve won the Worlds champions”. We did lose game 2, but we thought that if we try our best, we can win any other teams.

Q. You chose Taliyah in game 3. Was there a special reason for it?

Taliyah can safely push a lane or help the team against any ADC champion. I chose her because she goes well with Shen. It’s really easy to gain lane advantage with a champion with good CC skills like Shen. If you manage to gain an advantage, Shen can do much more so he makes a good team [with Taliyah].

Q. Do you think that the team is close to going to Worlds?

Now we have round 2 and the finals left. I think we are about ⅓ there. It’s hard to expect since there are much more obstacles left. If we manage to round 2 well, the chances will become higher.

Q. People say that Griffin adjusts to the meta fast. What are your thoughts on this?

Well, if we would have been playing well in the previous traditional ADC meta also. We like the current meta and I admit that we did have some benefits from it. However, it doesn’t mean that we were bad on the previous meta. I think my strengths have increased since the meta changed.  

Q. The team’s performance elevated a lot for the past 3 months. How did you manage to do
this?

We lacked individual and team experience. That’s why I thought that we’d improve once we play in more tournaments. However, I didn’t expect that we’d improve this much.