On May 18th, RNG swept FNC 3:0 and advanced to the 2018 MSI finals. After the match, RNG’s head coach Son “Kezman” Dae-young said, “We prepared a lot, but it seemed like we went back to the first day of the tournament.” As a matter of fact, RNG did sweep FNC, but their performance wasn’t at their best.

Kezman added, “When we first came to Berlin for the group stage, our mindset was to win at least 5 games. The team’s performance wasn’t at our best, but eventually we recovered. It was a relief. However, after we came to Paris, our performance has been bad again. Now I’m starting to think that we’d have to go to the place at least 4 days prior.”

He also spoke about the team’s performance. “Our scrims right before the semi-finals were okay. I was pleased. However, I think that the players were a bit pressured on stage; they tried to do something more.”

About their finals matchup, he said, “If FW advances, I’m confident about winning. But personally, I believe that KZ will be our matchup. It’s not that I’m Korean but it’s about LCK teams’ remarkable performance in international events; they’re simply beasts.”

Then we had the chance to hear about his thoughts towards their ADC, Uzi. Kezman praised his performance as well as his professional mentality. “Uzi is such a ‘professional’ player. If he was Korean and performed in Korea, his mindset would have definitely made him a quality player.”

He added that he makes a perfect role-model; Kezman thought that his professionalism has improved throughout his career. According to Kezman, Chinese players tend to be late, whereas Uzi was never behind time. Although he mostly praised about him, he still wanted Uzi to do his best to maintain his health.

About the team’s new Jungle, Karsa, he said that, “He is a sensitive player, so he cried a lot throughout the split. It was his first season in RNG and he had a hard time adjusting to the team. Since he had to overcome so much during his regular season, he was sometimes frustrated about not being able to perform in the postseason.” Kezman thought that the competition was a good factor for the team. Yes, Kezman is the head coach, but he seemed to be heavy-hearted to watch the players suffer and endure so much in order to perform as a starting member.

In all of a sudden, he shared one of Karsa’s secrets as well. “Karsa loves Japanese animation. He seems to be a big fan of it.”

Kezman didn’t forget to mention coach Lee “Heart” Gwan-hyung’s commitment for the team. “Currently, the trust between the players and the coaching staff is better than ever. They always talk about the team’s pick bans and the players are very discipline towards the staff’s coaching. Heart was here 1 year before me, so I want to pay tribute to what he’ve done for the team.”

He seemed to remain humble, but his role in RNG definitely made an improvement for the team. The one thing that he focused on the most was the importance of teamwork. He repeated to the players that, “If you guys only perform well as an individual, we’re just going to be stuck in the quarter/semi-finals in Worlds.” Kezman put in his utmost to make RNG a ‘real’ team and it seems that he’ve succeeded so far.  

Kezman is currently a LoL head coach. But, it was told that in the beginning of the year, he was involved in shaping the infrastructures of other esports gaming teams managed by RNG. He is for sure an indispensable member of the team.