Jo “
” Yong-in is the veteran of veterans, the oldest player in the
LCS at 32 years old. The longtime
mainstay has captained the team for years and, before that, became a World Champion. This split, the exceptional support play that took CoreJJ all the way to the top seems to be returning in full force, with his synergy alongside new jungler Brandon “
” Villegas growing every game. That’s not to mention the synergy he has built over the years with botlaner Sean “
” Sung, who is returning to form alongside CoreJJ’s
strong performances.
After Team Liquid’s clean 2-0 sweep over
, highlighted by another standout performance from CoreJJ,
Sheep Esports sat down with the veteran support to discuss his longevity, Team Liquid’s new practice style, and the team’s dominant start to the split.
In Game 1, you made play after play on Leona. What has Team Liquid practiced to create that kind of controlled aggression?
Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in: “Every time during practice, we talk about what we could have done and how we could make the game tempo faster. Meanwhile, if we cross too much of a line, we’re also holding it back. We’re finding the right balance. So, if we play against a team that doesn’t know our limits, then we’re going to cross their line and punish them hard. Today, we didn’t get enough of a challenge, so it looked good, but I’m sure there are more things we could’ve done.
You're in your eighth year with Team Liquid and fourth year playing with Yeon. Does that experience give you an advantage over other supports?
CoreJJ: Yeah, at this point I know what Yeon (Sean Sung) wants to do. Yeon knows what I want to do when I say something. So, we understand each other. We know what we want to do in lane, what we want to pick, and how we want to play. I think there’s some advantage there.
Team Liquid added three new players this year. What do Josedeodo, Quid, and Morgan each bring to the team?
CoreJJ: I think
(
Park Ru-han) is always stable and reliable, in and out of the game. He’s always funny outside the game, and during the game, he’s very stable. He’s a stable and strong player. I’d say everyone is kind of similar. Everyone is super funny. They’re very funny outside of the game, and during the game, they’re also having fun.
(
Lim Hyeon-seung) and
Josedeodo (
Brandon Villegas) always try to do something, so it pushes us to play more aggressively as well.
Team Liquid are undefeated this split without dropping a game. How strong does the team feel right now?
CoreJJ: Practice is going well, and the stage performance is matching the scrim performance. We still need to improve, for sure, but I can tell by playing the game that we’re gonna win a lot of games. I can see a lot of times where we can outplay the enemy team. So, we’re doing very well.
Team Liquid have looked dominant domestically, but fell short of the title last split and couldn’t beat at MSI. What needs to improve for the team to succeed internationally?
CoreJJ: I’m sure there were some plays that the enemy team could’ve made when we played the game. There were parts where we were not getting punished enough. So, I think we should get enough of a challenge before we go onto the international stage.
are a really good team, so I’m very excited to play against LYON. And if we can beat LYON, and if we can win the LCS, we can do good damage at
Worlds.”
