On Jan. 17th, day 5 of the 2021 LCK Spring split took place. With Afreeca Freecs taking a 2-0 victory over Fredit BRION, AF proved that their macro was levels ahead of their opponents. AF utilized their lane priorities to take all the dragon stacks, and took their very first win of the split.

The bot laner for AF, and the former special correspondent for Inven Global, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, joined Inven for a 1 on 1 interview.

How does it feel to take the victory tonight over BRO?

It’s my first LCK win after I returned to Korea, so it’s very meaningful.

What does it feel like to return to the LCK after so many years?

There were a lot of things that I worried about, but it’s more fun than I imagined. As a pro gamer, I tend to put my focus on what I can do better tomorrow, and I want to continue doing well. Also, this year marks my 9th year in competitive play, so I hope to play for at least 10. Whichever team I’m on, I’ll work hard in becoming the best.

From the 2020 KeSPA Cup to AF’s last match against DRX, the team had its fair share of internal struggle. Can you tell us what kind of feedback the team received?

As a team, we worked out the type of plays we should make on a macro level and the type that we shouldn’t make. We had a lot of conversations on grouping timings to various methods of asserting pressure. Such things we worked on weren’t perfect against DRX, but there were also limitations that came with the champions’ kit, so we tried to change things up in draft as well.

The decision to play around dragon stacks was quite noteworthy. Was that macro decision pre-meditated before the match?

While we did decide to play around dragons beforehand, we were lucky with our dragon timing, so we managed to take every stack.

You managed to carry in the late game with Samira and Kai’sa. How do you rate your own gameplay tonight?

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t perfect either, so I do have regrets. Still, the in-game mistakes that I make are easily fixable.

AF is the only team that’s utilizing Seraphine. What are some of her strengths?

Lehends is a very good Seraphine player, and he knows the champions power spike timings very well. I don’t have any negative bias towards utility supports, so we make good use of her situationally.

How do you think you’ll feel when you eventually end up facing T1?

I think there’ll definitely be a mix of emotions, but most of all, I think they’ll be very fun opponents. When it happens, I really hope that Faker starts for the team.

Lastly, is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?

While I’m happy about tonight’s victory, our performance is nowhere near satisfactory. I’ll have to stay vigilant until the very end of the split to perform well. I’m very happy that I get to interact with the LCK fans, and want to thank them for the support.