On the 4th (KST), SK Telecom T1 defeated Flash Wolves in the opening match of the 2019 Rift Rivals. Bot laner Park “Teddy” Jin-seong delivered outstanding performance on one of his comfort picks: Varus. After the team interview, he sat with Inven Global to talk about his second international appearance and how he’s eager to face Gu “Imp” Seung-bin.

What did your head coach kkOma emphasize the most coming into Rift Rivals?

He told us that there’s no reason to be nervous and that we should play with confidence.

It seems that he always says that. You don’t have many international appearances. Were you nervous?

Not really. There was a bit of pressure though because it was the opening match. Despite that, I had the experience of defeating Flash Wolves in the MSI and I had faith in my teammates so I played with comfort.

You’ll be meeting new bot laners in this tournament. Is there any player that you’re looking forward to playing against?

Imp. I’ve watched him play since I was in middle school and I’ve only seen him on TV. I’m really eager to face him.

The other LCK teams are allies now. Who do you think is the most reliable?

Except for our team, the three teams are all in the top of the standings this summer. They’re all reliable. If I had to pick one team, I would say Griffin.

How about bot laners? Who do you have the most faith in?

All three of them are good. Nuclear, Viper, Deft… But there’s a difference. Deft or Viper often carry their games with the help of their teammates but DAMWON mostly plays top-centric. I would have to pick Viper or Deft for this question.

And teammates?

All four of them are very reliable.

Like SKT, iG also struggled a bit after the MSI. What do you think the reason is?

As much as Rookie is a great player, when he had to leave the team for a while, there would have been teamwork issues. I think that would be the reason.

You still have quite a few matches left. A word to the fellow LCK players?

The LCK didn’t have the best results at the last Rift Rivals. Since all the teams from the LCK at this tournament are really good, let’s make LCK the Rift Rivals Champions this time.