On the 25th (KST), SK Telecom T1 defeated DAMWON Gaming 3-0 and reached the 2019 LCK Summer Split finals, also claiming a spot at the 2019 World Championship. They will now meet Griffin on the 31st to battle for the summer championship. After the match, Kim “kkOma” Jeong-kyun and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok stopped by the media room for an interview.

How do you feel reaching the finals?

kkOma: I’m so happy that we won and reached the finals. There was never a moment the players didn’t do their best, but it was really difficult when our results were bad. The reason we were able to get all the way up here was because the players and staff all worked together with tons of effort. I want to thank everyone.

Faker: I thought it would be difficult, but we were able to win because my teammates performances were really good. I thought we would have to put in a lot more effort to get to the finals… It feels refreshing to get to the finals again.

The wild card match was 2-1 but you won the next two rounds of the postseason 3-0.

kkOma: Everyone prepared really well so our performance improved a lot. We won’t keep in mind that we won 3-0 twice; we need to concentrate until the end about how we would win at the finals.

Faker picked another new card today. Do you still have more hidden up your sleeve? You’re keep changing champions. Is it strategy or just situational picks?

Faker: It wasn’t the intention. The situation just allowed me to do so. The meta changed a lot, so I also tried out many different champions in the tournament in a matter of practice. Since I kept playing different champions, it helped in preparing new champions as well.

How was playing against Showmaker? Your matchup record was unfavorable.

Faker: During the regular season, Showmaker delivered amazing performance. While preparing for playoffs, I knew his style, so I was able to deal with him well. Our team also prepared a more aggressive strategy and it worked out for the best.

You have qualified for Worlds. How do you feel meeting Griffin again at the finals?

kkOma: If we win the finals, we add another championship to our careers. Even if we have already qualified for Worlds, the finals won’t be thought easy. For now, I don’t want to think about going to Worlds; I want to leave the record of 8 LCK championships first. I’m not too conscious that we’re meeting Griffin again in the finals.

You two were together for a long time. How do you feel going to Worlds together again?

kkOma: I’m always very thankful to Faker. It’s really difficult to stand strong as the world’s best mid laner for so long… He’s always overcoming the pressure and standing there. I’m very thankful.

Faker: It hasn’t changed much since we first met. I’m doing my best before and now, and I’m enjoying that. I heard that it’s our fifth Worlds appearance. I remember the last time we weren’t able to win the championship… It’s kind of regretful thinking of that.

You must want to get over those regrets this time.

Faker: If we win the championship, it would be fantastic for me. I’ll do my best to prepare for it.

How are you planning to face Griffin?

Faker: Regarding our performance, I don’t think it was perfect. We’ll work harder and make the good results in the finals like we did in the playoffs.

You have 6 days until the finals. Although it’s 6 days, it won’t necessarily be that much time. How are you planning to prepare?

kkOma: It’s really lame if you say ‘we lost because we didn’t have enough time’. I don’t think it’s too important. Although we won playoffs 3-0 twice, if we get careless, we could lose 0-3 at the finals. We will always study what we’re lacking while we prepare. Rather than complaining about the schedule, we should work on what we did wrong.

Are there any regrets in the team?

kkOma: Rather than our performance, I’m really regretful that even though our whole roster is putting in a lot of hard work and doing so well, I’m not able to have them all play. I’m very thankful to our sub players, coach Zefa, and coach Fly.

Any last comments?

kkOma: The players’ performances were amazing today. I’d like to tell the players: let’s work a bit harder and play more awesome at the finals. It’s always bad to be careless; let’s not be careless at the finals.

Faker: We had a lot of ups and downs during the season. I’ll put in all the effort possible thinking that we could still lose in the finals so that we can bring back good results.