On the 15th, at the Seoul LoL Park, the 18th day of the 2019 LCK Spring Split took place. The first series of the day featured Griffin and kt Rolster, in which Griffin took the victory with a dominating score of 2-0. During the Summer Split of 2018, GRF had lost every single series against KT. GRF was successful in taking their revenge this split.

The following is an interview with Griffin's top laner, Sword.

How do you feel about your victory in game 1?

I initially believed that I'd easily win my lane. However, I was shaky playing against the Yorick. Although I won, I feel a bit unsatisfied. 


What made you initially believe that you'd take an easy win?

Fiora is Yorick's counter, so I picked her confidently. However, I wasn't able to play her the way I wanted to. It's really regretful. 


In game 1, Tarzan's jungle patching was spectacular. He was able to limit Yasuo's two-item power spike in the bot lane and rendered the Rift Herald useless in the top lane. Does Tarzan receive feedback from the other players regarding his pathing before the match begins? 

Tarzan's pathing is something that we can't even give feedback on. He jungles differently each game, and everything that he does is on his own accord. He even scares us, actually. (Laughs)

Even when I want to ask for his backup from time to time, he already has the entire game planned out on his head, so I leave him be.  

How he jungles each game is different from how he jungled in the previous games. 


Today we saw LCK's very first 9.3 Yasuo in play. What's your opinion on this champion?

He's a high-risk pick.

If he was a bit more flexible as a pick, he'd be a solid champion. Currently, he can be picked for mid and bot lane, but he's very vulnerable to ganks in the mid lane; and although Yasuo is a strong bot laner with the right composition, I personally don't find him all that strong. 

But looking at how KT played him both games, I think teams are beginning to see Yasuo as a top-tier pick. 


What is Griffin's viewpoint on the 'Frostmancy meta'?

It's a really strong strategy, but its weakness is that the entire team needs to constantly cover and provide backup for the lanes utilizing the Frostmancy item. 

The 'Frostmancy strategy' is very powerful if played right, but it has a lot of counters. 


In game 2, kt Rolster picked a number of very offensive champions such as Leblanc and Jarvan. How did your team react during picks & bans?

We weren't paying too much attention to their picks. We just kept saying, "we have the better picks, we'll win." (Laughs) 


In game 2, you had an explosive performance on Urgot. After the match, we saw head coach cvMax coming over to you and giving you a hug. What did he say to you?

(Laughs) I made a number of mistakes in the early game, where I had not paid attention to the enemy jungler; it had severely put me behind in lane. However, despite having been denied, I was able to bounce back. My head coach acknowledged that fact and came to praise me. 


It's not an exaggeration to say that each player on Griffin is the best player in their respective roles  [in the LCK]. What's your opinion?

I believe that's true for everyone on Griffin - except me.

I believe I'm the best 'tank' top laner in the LCK. The only other top laner that's better than me on non-tanks is Khan

Khan is a very mechanically-gifted player, and he knows what makes a good top laner - he knows when to back off and he knows when to push. 


Aside from Yorick, which top laner became a lot better with patch 9.3?

Karma.

With the current 'Frostmancy meta', Karma became a very powerful pick. She's hard to gank, and she makes a ton of gold. She's very frustrating to play against. However, she'll go back down in popularity once the Frostmancy hotfix is applied to the LCK. 


In the past, head coach cvMax said in an interview that the ideal way to play professional League of Legends is to play without shotcalls. Is Griffin continuing to practice with that in mind?

Although we still communicate during teamfights, we make our calls short and don't explain our motives. We have faith that each one of us knows what the others are thinking. 


How did you spend your Lunar New Year holiday?

There were so much to eat! However, a lot of the food was very high in calories, so I had a hard time resisting the temptation to eat them all. (Laughs) 


Any last words for the fans?

Thank you for always cheering for us and watching our games! We'll do our best to pay you back in good performance, thank you!