On the 18th of January, at the LoL Park, day 3 of the 2019 LCK Spring Split took place. On the second series of the day, SK Telecom T1 defeated Afreeca Freecs with a score of 2-0. Throughout the series, Mata displayed near flawless team coordination with his duo partner, Teddy, and performed a number of super plays that allowed SKT to secure their victory.

The following is an interview with SKT Mata.

How do you feel about today's victory?

We’re now on a winning streak. It feels great that we’ve won. With this victory, I think we’ve gained the confidence to perform well in our next match, too.


You had quite an easy time against Afreeca Freecs. Last season, AF was a very troubling team for SKT.

Since almost every team went through a large-scale rebuild, I don’t think the past result really matters here.


How did you prepare for your match today?

I can’t talk too much in detail, but we played with the mindset to reduce mistakes in our individual plays. We had faith in each other and believed that we can win as long as we do our parts.


In game 2, Afreeca had a global composition. What was your gameplan heading into that match?

Global compositions can snowball really hard when they start capitalizing on your mistakes. But then again, if you minimize your mistakes, they can’t effectively use their global abilities. I think that's why the match ended in our favor.


Teddy mentioned team synergy in his MVP interview, that it’s going well. What is your opinion?

It’s been about 2 months since we began playing together, and we believe that we have the potential to get even better together.


What is your opinion on Teddy?

He’s definitely a strong player during teamfights. In addition, he plays safely and reliably. His ability to calculate the exact amount of damage needed for a kill is impressive, too. 


Next week, you’ll be playing against SANDBOX and DAMWON. What are you expecting from them?

They’re playing well, so we won’t let down our guards. Instead of paying too much attention to them, I think it’ll be more important to focus on ourselves and lessen our own mistakes during games. Teams that make fewer mistakes are the better teams.


Any last words?

Please cheer for SK Telecom T1. I’m also getting pretty old [in LoL professional play standards], but I don’t want to hear from others that my age is the reason why I’m underperforming. Thank you.