In a heartbreaking loss for the EMEA region,
Karmine Corp falls to Hanwha Life Esports with a 1-2 score at the
First Stand 2025 tournament. In a press conference, top laner Kim "
Canna" Chang-dong and mid laner Vladimiros "
Vladi" Kourtidis discuss the result of the match and reflect on their tournament run.
Canna, this was your first match against Choi "Zeus" Woo-je since your time on Dplus KIA. How did you feel playing against him today, considering you are both ex-T1 toplaners as well?
Kim "Canna" Chang-dong: "It's been two years since the last time I faced him. Even after a long time, he's an incredible player. I think he lives up to that former T1 top laner name, and he did really well today.
You took a game from the best team in the tournament, but you could still miss the playoffs. How do you feel about that possibility?
Canna: Now we're on a path where we don't know what our future is, and we don't have the ability to decide. But regardless of whether we make the semifinals, I think we had a really good experience. It's a little sad we were not able to show up like we did against TES and HLE in the first two days. I believe there will be other opportunities in the future, and we will come back as a better team.
Despite this loss potentially eliminating you from the semifinals, your win against TES and HLE proved your strength as a team. How do you feel about arguably worse teams advancing in your place, and how do you plan to prevent this from happening again in the future?
Canna: In order to prevent this from happening again, we have to get our heads back in the game and learn from this experience. We had a lot of players experiencing their first international event, so we can do even better next time and come back stronger, but that will require a lot more practice. I think it's on us that we lost against HLE. If we don't end up advancing, I don't think other teams won't have deserved their spots. All the other teams advancing deserve to, and this position we find ourselves in is because of our own mistakes. We have to do better.
Vladi, ending the group in 1-3, what is your takeaway from First Stand, and which game impressed you the most?
Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis: It's a bit sad we are 1-3, and there is a very low chance we qualify for the playoffs. The match that impressed me was the BO3 against Hanwha Life Esports. I didn't think it would be that close, but we played well. Obviously, they were the better team, very good on the map. I'm still happy with our performance, but it was not enough.
Your only hope of qualifying now is CFO beating TES. Do you think that CFO can be favorites?
Vladi: They played well against us, and
I saw their BO3 against TL today. I think they have a very good chance, but TES are favorites."
Header Photo Credit: Christina Oh/Riot Games
