The second week of the
League of Legends Championship Series (
LCS) Lock-In Tournament kicked off with a Loser’s Bracket matchup.
Diguised were looking to shake off their defeat against the playoff debut of
Team Liquid. TL, the team most analysts and fans predicted to be the favorite to win the tournament, showed why they were met with high expectations as they cruised to a
decisive 3-0 victory against the Bakers.
The only obstacle to guarantee a berth to an international competition is LYON, whom they will face next week. Following his victory against DSG, Sheep Esports conducted an interview with Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in. The support shared about his conversations with Assistant Coach Samuel “Spookz” Broadley, the eternal Baron for Dragon Soul trade from their game perspective, matching stage games with scrim performance, and the current form of Team Liquid.
We heard Sean “Yeon” Sung tell the team to take deep breaths and use our eyes. Is this in response to eagerness during scrims?
Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in: “Yeah. We’ve been in good situations in many cases, and sometimes we don’t play naturally. During the game, we used to say, “Calm down and open your eyes,” to reset our mindset.
Your coaching staff shared with Sheep Esports the progress of marrying your style with Spookz’s vision. How is this progress coming along?
CoreJJ: Spookz and I are talking a lot. During scrims, we can tell we are improving our gameplay. We push the game forward when we have a stable game situation. We are doing quite well.
What is Spookz teaching you about his game style?
CoreJJ: He likes his gameplay to be focused on high percentage chances, and make sure everyone is connected. During reviews, we emphasize making sure everyone is connected. The more feedback we have, the closer we get to connecting.
What are you teaching Spookz about your gameplay style?
CoreJJ: It sounds weird. I don’t think we are teaching, but during reviews, I communicate how we can play situations and how to push the game forward. If we don’t understand when it’s not working correctly, I try to pitch in and share how I think we can progress the game state in this specific situation.
Head Coach Jake “Spawn” Tiberi shared on Team Liquid’s social media how the team has been more direct with their communication. Why has this change occurred?
CoreJJ: I couldn’t tell you if we weren’t direct before, and if there was any change. We’ve been getting to know each other, and we’ve grown closer, so it’s easier to talk.
We hadn’t seen this side of the team since your match against Shopify Rebellion. Was today’s performance Team Liquid’s final form?
CoreJJ: It’s not even close to the final form. We made many mistakes in several of our game plans. We were a better team than Disguised, and I expected us to do well. It’s going to take some time to show our final form, but we’re making good progress and improving. Eventually, we will be in our final form.
What percentage of the final form are you today?
CoreJJ: I’ll say it’s thirty-five percent.
Analysts considered the Baron trade for Dragon Soul during Game 3 a mistake. Why did Team Liquid go for this play? Do you consider it was the correct or incorrect play?
CoreJJ: Because of both teams’ compositions, we wanted to play on our side of the jungle. Baron was going to spawn before Dragon, and we had a fast Baron. We wanted the fight to be at Baron Pit. If they come to the objective to try to steal and die, we can still move towards Dragon. We slain Baron, but we didn’t get the fight we wanted. We left the zone early, so it was not an ideal situation, but we were already down three dragons. Trading Baron and gold for Dragon Soul is not the worst outcome.
What habits did you change during your extra week of preparation?
CoreJJ: Not much changed. We scrimmed many games. We are aware our scrim performance doesn’t match our stage performance. Today, we showed how we play in scrims. We aren’t perfect in our scrims, but we are pretty aggressive. We throw a lot, but we also make a lot of good plays. We are progressing towards our goal of matching our stage performance to our scrim performance.
Your communication during a Baron skirmish in Game 3 was extremely clean. What have coaches and players changed to improve communication?
CoreJJ: I don’t remember what I said during the Baron fight. We are a new team, and our new players bring us more calmness in the game.
How did it feel to play in front of a live crowd today?
CoreJJ: It’s always nice to play in front of people. I’m glad we won. I know it’s not the perfect game, but we will get there.”
