During the final series of the First Week of the
League of Legends Championship Series (
LCS)
Lock-In, the spotlight was set on the debut of the loudest organization during the offseason.
LYON stepped on the big stage against a
Dignitas team forced to field two substitutes and without their Head Coach because of visa issues.
The Mexican Pride
obtained a 2-0 victory, but their series debut was far from flawless. In an interview with
Sheep Esports, LYON botlaner Kim “
Berserker” Min-cheol discussed how overpowered the toplane quest is, Jonah “Isles” Rosario, and Kang “Saint” Sung-in’s potential, and his thoughts about the upcoming reunion with former team Cloud9.
Could you share your thoughts about quests and how they shape the meta?
Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol: "All lanes have different quests, and the botlane’s is getting more gold, which is really strong. This allows hyper-carry AD Carries to fit into the meta, which is why we picked Aphelios and Lulu for game 2. I don’t think that draft was good, but Aphelios is the kind of champion that can work in stage games. I don’t know who made the top lane quest, but it has to be nerfed. Jungle and support quests are not that strong.
Head Coach Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin mentioned to us that LYON will be an aggressive team. Game 1 was clearly aggressive. What happened during game 2?
Berserker: Our draft for game 2 was not good. We lacked engaging tools and range to reach the opposing team. Dignitas kept kiting away from us, and we couldn’t engage with them. Snowballing during the laning phase was the only reliable win condition, but we made a mistake at the Dragon around the 17-minute mark, thus complicating the game. Inspired (Kacper Słoma) made great plays, steering us to victory.
There was another mistake on minute 28 in the middle lane where you tried 1v2’ing Jinx and Nautilus. What was going through your head during this play?
Berserker: I noticed Kennen, Vi, and Taliyah were moving towards the top lane while Nautilus was behind them. I figured I was 1v1 against the Jinx and tried to kill him. If we keep farming, we’re going to lose this game because it’s in a tough spot, so I took some initiative with this play. Unfortunately, it failed, and you saw what happened.
Why did you push to reunite your partnership with Isles?
Berserker: I remember his mechanics were good. If we keep playing together over the course of a year, he can improve exponentially, as Busio (Alan Cwalina) did. I have been in North America for three days, and improvement will take time. I’m looking forward to watching his growth.
There’s another familiar face in LYON from your time in Cloud9: Han "Rigby" Earl. Are you excited to work with him again?
Berserker: I have had many coaches before, and I think Rigby is a great coach. He can influence my teammates’ improvement. This is why I wanted to play with him again.
During your postgame interview, you mentioned your desire to play with Inspired. Was he the factor that pushed you to choose LYON?
Berserker: I thought I would never return to North America. My goal is to reach higher, which I don’t think I can achieve here, and that’s why I didn’t want to return. But with Inspired, I thought it could work. Saint, too. Even though he is a rookie, he has good mechanics and room to improve. That’s why I picked LYON this year.
When you say reaching higher, do you mean winning in North America?
Berserker: I don’t know what’s going to happen. We just started the season, but we still need to improve. Last year, I didn’t expect a 10th-place finish in the LCK.
The draw determined you’re going to face Cloud9. Are you looking forward to facing your former teammates?
Berserker: We played scrims against them a couple of days ago, and I think they’re the best team in the LCS, if you don’t count us. We will see what happens on stage, but I don’t think we’re going to lose to them. Their win conditions are APA (Eain Stearns) getting champions he likes, Taliyah or Ziggs, or Thanatos (Park Seung-gyu) winning his lane, then influencing the game. I don’t think Saint is going to lose to APA, and if top lane is not boomed, we can win."
