On Jan. 28th, day 8 of the 2021 LCK Spring split took place. In the second match of the day, T1 took a clean 2-0 victory against Liiv SANDBOX. It was a series where T1’s bot laner, Park “Teddy” Jin-seong started for the first time in the 2021 season, and he was named Player of the Game (PoG) for his performance in game 2.

Teddy joined Inven Global for a 1 on 1 interview with Inven Global to talk about the match, gave advice on champion spacing, and his goals for 2021.

It’s been a while since you started for the team. How does it feel to win your first match of the season, especially against former T1 members, Han “Leo” Gyeo-re and Lee “Effort” Sang-ho?

There were a lot of matches where we lost many winnable matches, and although we made numerous mistakes today, I’m glad that I was able to contribute to the team’s clean 2-0 victory.

The players didn’t look too happy after the game 1 victory. What was the feedback that the team received for game 2?

I think that we were too excited, both in in-game calls and in our plays, because the thought of “How are we going to beat them up even harder?” was the biggest thing on our minds. Because of such, we made a lot of greedy plays, so we were told to compose ourselves and find the right angles.

You hovered Vayne during champion select, and ended up almost picking her. However, I remember in an interview with you last year, that she’s a champion that you’ll only play when winning/losing didn’t matter, and that she’s a ‘4Fun’ pick. How do you rate her in the current meta?

Vayne’s really good against certain champions, so she can be a counterpick. However, she’s very weak in lane; her lane clear speed is very slow, so not only should she be never picked blind, you should only play her if you’re confident with her.

She was always picked into Samira. How do you evaluate the Vayne vs Samira matchup?

While Vayne does have the image of being Samira’s counterpick, the matchup heavily relies on how the rest of the team does.

Can you tell us why T1 decided to play Neeko support in game 2 today?

I was practicing Kalista during scrims, and our support, Ryu “Keria” Min-seok said that Neeko seems great, so we practiced the Kalista-Neeko duo in scrims. He only practiced her twice in scrims, and today, Keria seemed confident about her.

I also want to talk about the resurgence of Xayah in the LCK. What are some of her strengths and weaknesses?

Her key strengths lie with her fast wave clear, her survivability with her ult, and the unexpected plays you can make with E-Flash & Galeforce. Also, she’s very good at kiting tank champions that are trying to get to her team’s back line. Her strength with her ult also ties in with one of her main weaknesses, as she’s very prone to getting caught out when her ult is on cooldown.

You demonstrated champion spacing on another level today. What’s the secret behind being able to space so well as a marksman player? Any advice you’d like to give to our readers?

Obviously, you need a lot of practice as a marksman player to space against champions well. You need to be composed, while having the confidence that you’re going to avoid the enemy’s skills, while landing your own. Composure and that confidence is critical.

When we had our TMI interview with you last year, you shared that you have a great relationship with Keria, even on different teams. Now that you guys are on the same team, have you guys gotten closer? What kind of a person is he, in and outside the game?

We got close by duoing a lot last year on my stream. I’m the type that gets hyped and loud, while he was the more quiet one. One thing you have to know is that when us Internet nerds meet in person, we tend to become very quiet (laughter). At least that’s the case with me. Keria, in real life, is kind of like me; a bit serious and composed.

Do you feel like you’re seeing a bit of yourself in him?

Yes… He’s a bit more composed than I initially thought him to be.

What are your personal goals for 2021?

I want to play as aggressively as I can to solo kill as many enemy bot laners throughout the season. There aren’t any specific records in the LCK that I want to break; winning is what’s most important, and solo killing the enemy bot laner means that I get fed to carry games. 

Your next opponents are Afreeca Freecs, and against T1’s former bot laner, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. Thoughts on the matchup?

I actually haven’t had a chance to play against AF in recent scrims, but judging by AF’s performance in their matches, I think that we should be more worried about their top laner, Kim “Kiin” Gi-in. I’m confident that our bot lane will win our matchup.

Lastly, a word to your fans.

While we did take the 2-0 victory tonight, we made a lot of small mistakes here and there. We’ll make sure to fix them for our next match against AF, and put on a better performance. Thank you for all the support.