On Feb 18, T1 faced off against KT Rolster in their final round 1 match of the 2022 LCK Spring split. With a set score of 2-0, T1 took a commanding win against KT Rolster and ended their round 1 undefeated. Tonight’s match also marked Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s 1,000th competitive game, and became the second player to reach that milestone, next to his high-school classmate and current ADC for DRX, Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu.

After the victory, Faker joined the press room for a post-match interview.

Thoughts on remaining undefeated in round 1?

We somehow managed to remain undefeated. It’s been a while since we did well in the regular split, so there’s a lot of meaning in clean sweeping a round.

You played your 1,000th competitive game tonight. How do you feel?

I think it just means that I’ve been playing as a pro for that long. It’s a milestone that also surprises me.

I think that the milestone means that you’ve performed at the highest level for that long. Is there a match that you remember the most in your extensive career?

Definitely the Summer finals against KT Rolster in 2013. I still get asked about the 1 vs 1 Zed duel against Ryu.

Prior to the start of the split, did the team expect to go undefeated in round 1?

The first time we talked about going undefeated was when we were doing well early on. We said that there was potential of going undefeated in the middle of round 1. It could’ve pressured my teammates, but they retained a good level of focus in-game, so that’s why we performed better than we expected.

It only took 22 minutes to beat KT in game 2. It was the shortest game of this Spring split. What was the main reason behind such aggression and tempo?

We started building synergy since last year’s Worlds, so we’re now very familiar with not just each other, but also how we like to play out the game. The fact that KT played aggressively is also part of the reason why that game ended so quickly.

Who would you say T1’s toughest opponents were in round 1?

Definitely DWG KIA, because we were this close to losing against them. While it could add to the reasoning to why we’re a strong team, there was also a lot of luck involved as well.

In one of your last interviews, you said that a 10-match win streak could be a possibility. Now that the team’s 9-0, how far do you think you can extend that streak?

We definitely made mistakes in our recent games, and it’s not easy to retain an undefeated run. I still think that we got lucky to retain such a run so far, and in order to continue winning, we have to put in that much more work.

What are some of the things the team has to improve for round 2?

We have to grow our level of focus inside the game. I think we’re making a lot more mistakes after the Lunar New Year holidays.

It’s been a very long time since you played Ahri before you picked her in game 2. How good is she in the current meta?

She does very well in solo queue. In competitive, she’s more viable in certain situations.

We see a lot of mid laners rushing tier 2 boots over Lost Chapter on mages. How come?

Because there are a lot of mages in the mid lane, the extra movespeed helps to dodge skillshots and be faster in joining skirmishes. It’s situational of course, since rushing boots only guts a certain number of champions’ ability to clear lanes. The teleport nerfs did contribute to tier 2 boots rush, but it’s also to match the movespeed of the enemy laner.

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

Thank you to all the fans who came to watch our match tonight. We’ll make sure to improve even further for round 2.