Meeting the head coach for TSM, Coach Ssong had a not so satisfied face. Although there was happiness from winning their first game after the initial 2 losses, Coach Ssong expressed that the performance from TSM was lacking compared to that of his expectations. Coach Ssong explained that the root of this performance comes from the team’s issues with synergy and macro.

“I have gathered the best players from all regions into one team. Because each player has their own tendencies, it is important to coordinate their strengths with each other. However, we did not have enough time to accomplish this. Since we did not have enough time, TSM is having problems with synergy amongst one another. Sometimes they would be very passive to each other, or other times they would not even see each other.

For the meantime, they are trying their best to solve this by talking to each other more often. Because each player is very open minded, I don’t think there is a single player who does not understand another player’s thoughts or opinions. The main goal is to discuss amongst one another in order to find the most optimal style that fits with everyone. We already acknowledged this, and we are doing our best to find our most optimal style.”

Even in the early stages of the season, many TSM fans held very high expectations for the newly completed TSM roster. TSM had players from last season, Bjergsen and Hauntzer, who had performed exceptionally well. On top of all this, TSM obtained the famous EU Zven-Mithy bot lane. With the cherry on top, TSM secured the undisputed best rookie of 2017 NA LCS, MikeYeung.

However, TSM lost convincingly to Team Liquid in the opening game. With losing to Fly Quest on top of this, it was not a good start for TSM. Although TSM had a substantial lead of 10k gold over OpTic Gaming, TSM could not show the impact of the difference through the game.

“My team respects one another deeply. However, they do not understand each other fully. Because of this whenever a call is made, the team is unable to follow up the call 100%. Since they all try their best to understand each other, the team does not know which call to decide on when multiple calls are suggested. Also, TSM is a team with the most shot calling compared to other teams I have coached by far. Because of this, I too have moments of unease and confusion.

I’m not saying that all of the different shot calls are wrong. This is because, every player has a different take to a situation. If there was plenty time to decide on a single call, it would be possible to fine tune the call for the situation. However, this is not the case. Despite TSM having a difficult time right now, I am absolutely confident that after the 3-4 week mark the passive and sloppy performance will disappear.”

Although TSM is experiencing a tough time right now, Coach Ssong has claimed he still believes strongly in his team.

“I believe TSM has an extremely high potential. Mithy, Bjergsen, and MikeYeung are all very talented in macro and game sense. If they all synergize well with each other, TSM’s laning will be more robust. I also believe, in the future, our team will be a unit that excels in the late game. Although our jungler is still fairly new to the scene, MikeYeung has a lot thought and potential for improvement.

Rather than our issues coming from laning phase, it feels like we are all lost trying to find the right macro style for us. As people watching have already felt and seen this, I hope our fans will stick with us to see how TSM will improve as a team through practice and dialogue with one another.

For me personally, I am still adjusting to my new team as well. I am confident I can better display my coaching abilities. Coming into one of the best teams, I apologize to my fans that I have not been able to perform up to par with everyone’s expectations. The one thing I know for certain is that I know exactly how to fix the issues we are currently dealing with. As promised within 3-4 week mark, I will show everyone promising results. I am absolute that I can show a stronger TSM than ever before. Until I can show this new TSM, I will try my utmost to make sure the time it will take to accomplish this is to a bare minimum.”