100 Thieves had a great weekend last week in the 2022 LCS Summer Split, as they defeated Evil Geniuses and TSM for a 3-game winning streak. It was more meaningful for them since EG is the only team ahead of them. As always, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho’s solid performance has been giving the team a good boost. Ssumday was hopeful but still careful when we spoke, saying that they need to “tidy up their plays” more.

So far, so good. How’s the season going for you?

We’re on a 3-game winning streak now, and we have a good vibe going on since we took down EG last week. If we can keep this pace up, I think we’ll be able to reach the top.

Yeah, since you beat EG, if all goes well, it’ll work. Among the remaining games, which team do you think will be the toughest to face?

I think Team Liquid would be the toughest to face. Also, we lost a game to FlyQuest. Since TL and FLY are tied at 3rd, we should be careful about them the most. FLY have a good flow — they even won some games from behind.

I saw your recent tweet about Abbedagge.

There were some people criticizing Abbedagge’s performance, so Closer tweeted it. I just copy-pasted it to support Abbedagge. Since he had a good performance that day, and we won, people liked it.

You’ve been playing with the current roster for more than a year now. Is teamwork better than before?

Our teamwork isn’t too much different. Some things work well, and some things don’t. It is more convenient, though, since we’ve played together that long. Our goal is to think the same thing without too many shotcalls. Sometimes, there are too many shotcalls, which isn’t always good. If there’s too much information, we can get confused.

Your individual performance is fantastic, as usual. Do you think the meta suits you well?

I think I’ve been benefiting from the meta a bit since a lot of champions I like are top tier. The top lane has less influence in the current meta. However, the top lane doesn’t have that much influence over the game. It’s more focused on the mid-jungle and the bot duo. The top lane is kind of alienated. [Laughs]

Aren’t you used to that?

Yeah. Top lane is a lonely lane. [Laughs] My teammates should like it since I do well when I’m left alone.

Last season, you missed out on becoming the MVP or being voted on the first team. There’s still a long way to go, but what do you think will happen this time?

Impact is standing strong ahead of me, so I need to get past him to get a chance. Also, back in 2018, I had high hopes for getting voted as the MVP, but Doublelift got it. I realized that high hopes mean high disappointment. [Laughs] So I decided not to think about it too much. Usually, things don’t really go well when I get greedy.

Have you been watching other leagues to study the meta or champions?

I’ve been watching almost all of the LCK games and the top teams in the LPL, and mostly VODs of the top players such as Zeus, Nuguri, or TheShy.

Several players have said that the draft is more important than in-game performance. What do you think?

There are times when the draft decides the game, but the in-game performance is also important. I do think the influence of some champions has become bigger — there are more champions to choose from, so yeah, the draft is more important than before.

I believe Reapered would stress the importance of the draft more.

Yes. I think our coaching staff is really good at coming up with the draft strategy. We’re still exploring which champions are good, so I think we should research together with the coaching staff more.

In our last interview, you said that you’d keep winning if 100 Thieves can maintain the performance at the end of summer last year. Compared to last summer, how much do you think the team’s form is at?

Our results are alright, but there are parts that aren’t completely satisfying. It feels that we’re not even at 50% of last summer. Our plays are still quite messy, so we need to tidy up our plays more.

Any last comments you’d like to say?

The first round went alright, and we’re working hard through the second round. There aren’t that many games left, but at the same time, there are plenty left. I want to keep winning championships, so we’ll bring our performance up more so that we could do that. Thank you.