This Thursday,
Hanwha Life Esports extended their flawless run in the First Stand group stage,
securing a 2-1 victory over LEC representative Karmine Corp. The reigning two-time LCK champions now sit atop the standings with a perfect 3-0 record and, alongside CTBC Flying Oysters, have already booked their spot in the playoffs. In the post-match press conference, jungler Han "
Peanut" Wang-ho and support Yu "
Delight" Hwan-jung reflected on their win against KC.
Was Karmine Corp a more difficult opponent than expected?
Han "Peanut" Wang-ho: They were definitely a tough opponent. I think ever since their match against TES yesterday, their performance has really improved. In the third game today, they picked an all-in comp that was really strong early. It could have gone either way.
In 2017, you lifted the MSI trophy with T1. Do you think it's time to win another international event?
Peanut: Ever since that event, I had a few opportunities to lift trophies but was unable to do so. I've always wanted to, and I think this is the right time—I can do it this time around.
Do you think HLE is meeting expectations at First Stand so far? How will you prepare for the BO5s in playoffs?
Peanut: I'm not sure if we've met everyone's expectations so far, but instead of focusing on that, we just take each match one by one and focus on winning. In that regard, I'm pretty satisfied. Whatever comes next, we have to prepare and not let our guard down. In this tournament, BO5s are even more important, so we need to focus on preparing for those.
Delight, KC defeated TES yesterday—did that make you more aware of their strength? What adjustments did you make to prepare for them?
Yu "Delight" Hwan-jung: It’s not just because Karmine Corp won. We had already been preparing for the match against them, and we spent the same amount of time preparing as we would for any other team.
To both of you, which teammate do you think would make the best Arena duo partner?
Delight: I would pick Zeus (
Choi Woo-je) because he’s a toplaner, which means he has a high understanding of champions, and he's just really good at
League of Legends.
Peanut: [Laughs] I think I would go with Viper (Park Do-hyeon). He just knows how to take it easy and still win, so I think it would be funny to see enemies get upset over that."
Header Photo Credit: Christina Oh/Riot Games
