On the 5th of February (KST), the opening match of the 2020 LCK Spring Split took place with the clash between T1 and DAMWON Gaming. While the arena was empty due to the danger of coronavirus, the two teams fought with passion and showed off an extremely close match. The team that came up on top was T1, as they won games 2 and 3 for a 2-1 victory. In their win, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was voted as MVP of the match and was interviewed afterward.

It’s the start of the spring split. Would you like to say hello to the fans?

Although you aren’t here, I can feel your cheering. I’m thankful to all the fans who cheer for us. I think we were able to win today because of your support.

Was today’s match satisfying?

If the result is good, all is well. I’m satisfied with the win, but more than the team play, I had several mistakes so I thought I should fix those for the next match.

T1 and DAMWON Gaming’s coaches, Kim Jeong-soo and Zefa were ‘traded’. Was Kim a big help in analyzing DAMWON?

Coach Kim mentioned DAMWON players’ playstyles or habits well so it was helpful during the match.

After you lost Game 1, you picked LeBlanc. What was the reason behind that pick?

I picked her to put in more pressure in the laning phase. It didn’t go as thought, but I thought LeBlanc was still a good pick in the mid-late game so I think I made my point. I was confident in playing her against the opponent comp. I was sad that I died early because of a frustrating mistake, but I was able to concentrate until the end for the win.

In Game 3, you picked Tristana.

Recently, I felt that Tristana was really fun. (Laughs) I practiced her a lot and since the opponent picked Kayle, I thought Tristana was a good pick. From the moment we locked her in, I considered swapping to top and we predicted the opponent picks well so it went well.

Kayle isn’t as popular these days. Were you prepared to play against her?

I faced Kayle a lot during Worlds, so I had no problem playing against her. Since there were many picks that appeared during practice, I was able to deal with any champion.

The next match is against Hanwha Life Esports. How do you plan to prepare?

We’ll be playing against Hanwha Life Esports in two days. As much as we prepared well, I expect we’ll have good results against them as well. Although our performance isn’t 100% yet, it might be for fans to watch us get better. Please cheer for us a lot.

It’s the start of the spring season. What’s your goal?

Last spring, we didn’t get to be 1st in the regular season. My goal is always 1st place and since I believe we can do it, I’ll be concentrating to win all the remaining matches.