On the 1st of October(KST), the Play-In Stage of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship officially began, at the newly established LoL Park in Seoul Korea. Having played the first and fifth match, Cloud9 ended the day with a score of 2-0, winning against Brazil and Japan. Today, Licorice played Aatrox and Lissandra, consistently applying pressure on top lane and zoning out the opponent players in late game teamfights. 

The following is an interview with Cloud9 Licorice.

How were today's matches?

Licorice: The first match felt pretty good. We made a couple of mistakes, but they weren't game-changing. Our second match was a lot more shaky, as we made a lot of crucial mistakes. The game constantly went back and forth, but we eventually won through the teamfight at the end. 


The games played today were your very first in a World Championship. Despite this, you played phenomenally. Weren't you nervous at all?

I was definitely nervous before the first match -- just because it was my first match of Worlds. I was less nervous before the second match, but looking at the outcome, I think I should've been more nervous about it.


Aside from yourself, who do you see as your team's MVP today?

I'll give this one to Sneaky. I think he's just a really good, consistent player. He's always doing what he needs to do.


Japan came out with a huge surprise during your second match -- no one expected that. Where do you think it went wrong? Why did you guys struggle so much?

We had a lead early game, but we made a couple of greedy plays where we went for Rift Herald, hoping they wouldn't check it. Apart from that, we made some mistakes during the 5 vs. 5 teamfights. 


Throughout the entirety of the match, Reapered wore an angry look on his face -- even during the moments where you won. Did you receive harsh feedback after the match?

We got some "not-so-good" feedback. We were told to watch the VOD's all by ourselves and think about what we've done. He was not too pleased...

After the game, when we were walking, we saw the coaching booth. GoldenGlue was smiling, Svenskeren was there smiling, our manager Vincent was smiling... and then Reapered was there with this deadpan look. I was like, "Oh, no..." (Laughs)

Do you think the issue shown here today in game 2, is something that could quickly be fixed moving forward?

It's sort of a one-time thing... because the mistakes were something that we should be able to fix for next time. Also, it's good that this happened now, and not later on in the tournament. 


Can you tell us about the Lissandra pick? Is it like a hidden card that you guys have been holding on to?

I wouldn't say that. It's something that I saw in solo queue, and it looked strong, so we've been practicing her a little bit. In addition, she's good against a lot of the meta champions, such as Urgot. 


What are her strengths against those champions?

Her laning phase is really safe, so you can't really punish her. She's also great for setting up ganks. Lastly, her 5 vs. 5 is really strong. 


Do you see yourself and C9 going far this tournament? Historically, C9 has always done the best as an NA representative.

I think we definitely can. We have the courage to pull out any champion to surprise our opponents.