On Aug. 17, Liiv SANDBOX and DRX clashed in the first match of the 2022 LCK Summer Playoffs. DRX put up a good fight in games 3 and 4, but it was Liiv SANDBOX who took the victory in the end. With a 3-1 win, Liiv SANDBOX advanced to the next round of the playoffs. Throughout the series, Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan had an amazing performance as he carried his team out of pinches. He was voted as the Player of the Game along with Kim “Croco” Dong-beom. After the match, Prince joined Lee Jeong-hyun for an interview.

How do you feel about today’s win?

Croco: We thought that we won games 1 and 2 easily, so we were less tense in game 3. I think that made DRX stronger. It was a difficult game, but it’s fortunate that we won.

Prince was voted on the LCK All-Pro second team. How was your mindset going into today’s match?

Prince: Our practice wasn’t that good, so I was a bit anxious. Still, I was confident in my own prowess, so I thought we’d win. About today’s win, I’m really tired.

How did you prepare for your first playoff series?

Croco: Our roster changed a lot, so it wasn’t easy, but Dove gave us some advice since he has experience in the playoffs, and that helped a lot.

In Bo5s, the draft is more important. Did it go as you prepared?

Prince: The praise or criticism we get through the draft is usually based on the results we get from it. Since we have to hide our draft strategy, I’ll just say that it’s fortunate that we won.

(To Croco) You were mostly a step ahead of Pyosik today. Are you satisfied with your performance today? 

Croco: Frankly, I’m not that satisfied with my performance. I got carried by Prince. I’ll try to do better next time.

(To Prince) You were voted as the POG in both games 2 and 4 on Aphelios. Is Aphelios always a good champion to pick when he’s not banned?

Prince: The coaching staff and my teammates have faith in my Aphelios, so I think the synergy with them when I play Aphelios goes beyond my ability.

What do you think about the Nilah vs. Zeri matchup? 

Prince: As I watched Nilah games recently, I feel that she’s an all-around champion that can appear any time. I thought they might pick her.

How was the feedback after game 3?

Prince: Our head coach emphasized the mistakes we made in the games we won, but after we lost, he mainly focused on taking care of our mentalities. The feedback was mostly about how we could do better in the next game and had positive thoughts since we had the side selection.

Game 4 was tight until the end. When were you sure that you won?

Croco: Since the game was so close, it was hard to determine if we were advantageous or not, but when we were surrounding them, pushing their inhibitors, I thought that we were almost there. I focused on marking Renekton.

That last fight was a fight between shoeless bot laners. Since it was a long game, it would have been difficult to maintain your concentration. How was it?

Prince: When the game goes on for a long time, it could be uncomfortable because of the sweat and the headset, but I think I just managed to stay concentrated until the end.

You need one more win to get to the finals. T1 and Gen.G are waiting in the next round. Which team do you think you are going to meet?

Croco: Frankly, T1 and Gen.G are both great teams. Whatever team we meet, it’s more important to prepare well. We need to do what we can do against whichever team, so we need to improve our performance more.

Prince: We beat T1 once during the regular season, but we lost both games to Gen.G. There’s a chance that T1 will do much better in the playoffs compared to the regular season. Whoever we meet, we need to do well.