On the 24th, at the Seoul Gangnam Nexon Arena, the 30th day of the '2018 LCK Summer Split' took place. On the second series of the day, KT Rolster defeated Gen.G Esports with a score of 2-0. With this victory, KT climbed to the 2nd place in the LCK leaderboards. During today's series, Mata added stability to the team by playing Rakan and Shen. 

The following is an interview with KT Mata.

How do you feel having won against Gen.G Esports today?

During the early part of this Split, despite having won against a lot of the top teams, we still frequently lost. I feel like we raised the expectations but failed to meet it. This time, however, we're on a winning streak. We've only been playing against the top teams, and I'm really happy that we've been making good results.

In the past, we've lost a lot of games when playing against Kingzone, so I want to win against them in our next match. 


The final teamfight in game 1 was very impressive. Was it planned from the beginning to reinitiate the teamfight after putting the opponent's important skills on cooldown?

We were planning to fight if Score's Sejuani ultimate connected on an enemy champion. If not, I was going to initiate. 

That last teamfight happened after a lot of discussions in-game. All of us agreed to slowly look for opportunities.


How is the lane matchup between Kai'Sa and Varus?

If we're looking at 1 vs 1, Kai'Sa isn't too bad. However, Varus still has the advantage due to his long range. In a 2 vs 2 scenario, the matchup will depend on who each champion's support is. Normally, it's difficult for Kai'Sa to hold out during the early laning phase, but we picked her due to her large carry potential. It ended up working out.


For a while, KT played a lot of non-ADC champions in the botlane. However, recently, KT began playing ADC champions again. 

We'll still play Mordekaiser when the situation calls for it, but we thought that we can still win with an ADC composition. When playing Mordekaiser, the laning phase becomes really difficult to play. 


Whenever KT Rolster returns from the Rift Rivals, they seem to come back stronger. This year, you guys came back to a 4-game winning streak. Last year, you guys won 7 consecutive games. What do you think is causing this?

Nothing is different this year from last year. However, this year, we're treating every game that we play very importantly. Although this mindset puts a lot of physical and mental burden on you, the consistent flow of victory helps ease it. 


What will be the most important when playing against Kingzone?

I think the botlane is always important. Although Kingzone may not look too great right now, they're strong when playing against our team. They still have a strong foundation, so we'll have to make sure to make little to no mistakes. If we can find their weak point, we can defeat them; even if they're the scariest team to face. 


KT Rolster has been performing a lot better in the recent days. Is there something special that's causing it?

I think we're performing better because we're constantly playing against the top teams. We get tense when playing on stage against them. 


During the MVP interview of the LCK broadcast, Deft talked about the hierarchy of power within the KT Rolster teamhouse. Do you agree with what he said?

To a certain extent, yes. Score is at the top of the hierarchy. However, it depends on how he acts. The same thing applies to Smeb.

I think Score, Smeb, and I are high up in the hierarchy. And one thing for certain is that Deft is at the very bottom of it. Even Ucal started talking down to him... he doesn't go that far with Score, Smeb, or me. He considers Deft and Rush to be below him. Rush is probably the saddest guy in the team. 


Any last words?

Same as today, we won't drop our guard during the next match. If we win against Kingzone, we can reach 1st place in the LCK standings. It's definitely a possibility, so I want to make sure to win against them. Please cheer for us.