' win streak by securing a 2-1 victory against the top-ranked team in LCK. With this victory, the finalists of the last Worlds maintain their second place and keep a win ahead of T1 and Gen.G Esports.
After the game, Sheep Esports spoke with KT’s head coach Go "Score" Dong-bin to talk about the team’s up and down results during round 1-2, what the team lacks to build consistency and meta adaptations.
Today you broke Hanwha Life's long winning streak with this victory. Can we start with your thoughts on the win?
Go "Score" Dong-bin: "First of all, we have been losing a lot of games recently by playing too passively. So today, regardless of how clean the gameplay was, the fact that we designed the game proactively and won because of it makes me even happier.
How do you see today's victory?
Score: The meta right now is one where the botlane matchup and the jungler's pathing are really important, and I think we executed well in those areas, which is why we won.
How satisfied are you with the draft you showed today, and how much do you think it contributed to the win?
Score: I would have to review it again to say for sure, but I think it was decent enough. There are obviously things to improve, but for today specifically, I think it was a pretty good draft for the players to play with.
Hanwha Life is known for their strong early skirmishing and their ability to snowball off of it. When preparing for today's match, did you tell the players to aggressively fight back against HLE's early aggression, or did you lean more toward a controlled, tempo-paced approach? What was the general direction?
Score: The way I see HLE is that they're a team that sometimes plays along with the meta, but also often interprets the game differently from the meta. Our team is pretty confident in the 4v4 side of things outside of top, so the mid and bot area. I emphasized that if we play those situations confidently, we can win. That's what we focused on in our preparation.
In the LCK, there's a pretty standard set of established picks, but we've been seeing some more unconventional picks lately. When Hanwha pulled out the Draven today, what kind of conversations were happening within the team?
(Lee Min-hyung) used to play a lot back in the day. Even when we faced it before, I always thought it was a very high-risk pick. So the thinking was that if we can just hold on in the early game and, as they say, catch them out even once, then the momentum would swing hard in our favor. That's how we were thinking about it.
You showed a really strong Round 1, but things have been a bit of a struggle since Round 2 started. What would you point to as the reasons for that?
Score: I think we were quick to read the meta in Round 1. There were some issues with the details and fundamentals in between, but we were still winning a lot because we were ahead of the other teams in that regard. But then we started losing toward the end of Round 1 and into the start of Round 2. So right now, we're working a lot on polishing up our fundamentals.
Watching today's match, it really felt like that powerful Round 1 KT was back. Do you think the team's synergy and performance have gotten back on the trajectory you were aiming for?
Score: Honestly, where we are right now is more of a rebuilding phase. We're still in the very early stages, so I wouldn't say we're fully back. It's more like we're in the process of building it back up.
KT is a team that's really versatile and strong across a lot of areas, but at the same time, it sometimes feels like you could beat or lose to any team. What's the team focusing on internally to reduce the inconsistency and maintain more steady performances?
Score: It's not really about focusing on one specific thing. It's more like we're trying to read the meta as fast as possible, and on top of that, keep sharpening the details in both the draft and the gameplay. That's where a lot of our attention is going.
You've been with KT for a long time now, going all the way back to your player days. Despite being a storied organization, KT has never made it to MSI. Does that history serve as extra motivation for you and the team this season?
Score: Since KT has never been to MSI, we really want to make it this time. We've shown some rough performances during the regular season, but on the flip side, we've also shown that we can take down the top teams. So I think the possibility is very much there. If we can raise our level of play by playoffs, I think we can absolutely make a run for it. That's definitely a big source of motivation for us.
Credit: Grégoire "Aries" Bgz
This might be a bit of an unusual question, but among coaches outside the LCK, is there anyone who catches your eye or that you particularly respect?
Score: I mean, Daeny (Yang Dae-in) from Bilibili Gaming kind of has that superstar feel to him, so he catches my eye [laughs]. I wouldn't say really respect, but he definitely draws my attention. He's entertaining, and he's clearly talented.
Credit: BiliBiliGaming - youtube
KT fans are famously loyal through the highs and the lows. There's even a running joke that being a KT fan is like riding a rollercoaster. Any message for the fans who are always by your side?
Score: Our performance this season has been going up and down pretty wildly. But the fans always cheering for us is what helps us climb back up even after we dip. We'll keep pushing upward and work hard to make sure we don't come back down before the season ends. We'll do our best to keep it a smooth ride."
