On August 2 (KST), Afreeca Freecs secured an important victory against SK Telecom T1 in the 2018 LCK Summer split. After quite a long interval, Afreeca Freecs’ jungler Mowgli returned to the starting lineup and led the team to victory.

The following is the interview with Afreeca Freecs Mowgli.

Your team defeated SKT 2:1. Today’s match was important for the team’s postseason qualification. How’s your current state?

We were competing with SKT for the postseason qualifications. It’s a relief that we’ve won.

SKT has been performing well these days. How did your team prepare for the matchup?

SKT was doing great since they were on a winning streak. We tried not to feel pressure for the matchup and got some rest while we were preparing. I think that paid off.

Before starting today, you were on the bench for quite a long time. Did you feel nervous today?

It’s been a year and a half since I’ve been playing in the LCK and now that I’ve been performing for quite a while, I don’t really feel pressured. I’m actually very close with the opponent jungler Blank. However, I’ve never played against him since, when I was in the starting lineup, he wasn’t in the lineup; and when he was, I was on the bench; it was my first time in a year and a half going against him. It was fun.

What did you talk about with Blank before the match?

10 minutes before the match started, I went 1 on 1 against him. Blank joked by saying, “I’ll steal your Baron.” As a matter of fact, he really did steal my Baron. (laughs) I also asked him to visit my house after the LCK and eat something together.

Like you’ve pointed out, Blank stole your Baron twice. It must have been frustrating.

In game 2, Baron was stolen because our team calls collided. You know, the team usually hunts the Baron after deciding on whether we can mark the opponent jungler or not. If we can’t mark the opponent, I try to think about my skill damage plus my Smite. In game 2, we hesitated on whether we should mark the opponent or just engage a fight. In game 3, the team said that we can mark the jungler, but the opponent simply joined up using Ryze’s ultimate. We couldn’t anticipate that move, so we got hit hard.

These days a lot of junglers use ‘Electrocute Gragas’. However, you went with Aftershock as your keystone rune. Why?

In practice, I usually use Electrocute Gragas. Also, Electrocute is good against Trundle. That’s why I was hesitant when deciding whether I should go for Electrocute or Aftershock. However, I used Aftershock because our team composition was focused on teamfights and there was plenty of AP damage. Also, my coach asked me to tank and mark Trundle. Overall, I think that Electrocute and Aftershock both have their pros and cons.

Now you’ll be facing Hanwha Life Esports, which will be a competitive match against the postseason contenders. Do you have anything to say?

In round 1, Hanwha prepared well and defeated us. Since the next matchup is really important, we’ll have to go over feedback on our mistakes from today’s match and prepare more in order to win. Thank you for your support.