After a hard-fought match,
Gen.G have secured their spot in the semifinals of the
League of Legends World Championship 2025, defeating Hanwha Life Esports 3-1. Despite the challenges, the LCK representatives demonstrated their experience and composure on the international stage. In an interview with
Sheep Esports, the team’s support, Joo "
Duro" Min-kyu, reflected on the series and shared his thoughts on how his team is considered the favorite to lift the Summoner’s Cup.
This one was your first world championship and your first year in the LCK, yet you played confidently in all of the games. What has been your impression of Worlds so far?
Joo "Duro" Min-kyu: It's a tough Worlds. I have made it all the way to this point at my first Worlds, and of course it makes me happy that I keep climbing up, but I can't exactly say that I'm completely happy and full with relief because I still have the semifinals to play and I need to make it to the finals, so I think it's too soon to celebrate.
Earlier in the year, you mentioned that you get nervous on big stages and going on stage. How did it feel to perform so well under the pressure?
Duro: Before making it to this Worlds I feel like we have been on so many stages where we played a bunch of best-of-threes and best-of-fives, and that really includes Home Ground, MSI, EWC, those big stages. And through those experiences, I feel like my nerves have definitely lessened over time.
Can you give your raw thoughts on the match? On paper, fans see 3-1 for Gen.G, but the games were hard-fought. So what were your thoughts on the series?
Duro: Yeah, besides game three, I feel like we did pretty well, and we played decently overall, and in the process of playing out this entire series, there were definitely moments where we could have ended things a lot faster and ended things quicker and easier. But I think in the process of each of the games, there are so many minor mistakes here and there that ended up just kind of stalling the games out.
How do you prepare and improve individually, and as a team, when everyone else believes you have already reached the top level?
Duro: I feel like a big part of it is that we are very, very skilled individually, but there are still some parts where it doesn't match during the draft process. So we try to brush it up and try to refine that through scrimming, and we're constantly adjusting our draft. So even yesterday we were talking and we're having a very in-depth discussion about that as well.
Dan "AuxCasts" Harrison said that your “debut into the LCK was a good amount later than is typical for LCK players, and he spent a solid amount of time in Challengers.” Do you think taking your time before your debut helped you establish your style as a player, or would you have preferred to debut earlier and learn directly from Tier1 competitions?
Duro: I think [taking my time] definitely helped me establish my own style as a player, and it has helped in my time in Challenger, but I think if I could go back, I believe that I would want to debut a lot quicker.
As a last question, you've now reached the Semifinals. Who would you want to go up against, between KT Rolster or CTBC Flying Oyster? And why?
Duro: Honestly, the first team that pops up in my mind is CFO. And of course KT is very good, but we've already met them so many times in LCK and we know them very well. So I think I want to go up against someone new. So I would love to meet CFO in semifinals.
Header Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
