It’s heartbreak for the Pacific, as
PSG Talon become one of the first two teams eliminated from
Worlds 2025. Despite a valiant effort, the
League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) representatives fell to the second seed from the Americas, Vivo Keyd Stars. Following the loss, head coach
Cheng “CorGi” Pin-Lun sat down with
Sheep Esports for an exclusive interview to discuss the team’s shortcomings, the decisions made throughout the season, and what lies ahead for PSG Talon.
What went wrong in PSG’s match against VKS, and what could the team have done better?
Cheng “CorGi” Pin-Lun: "In our first game, we actually started off with a lead in our skirmish. However, we handled it poorly in the end and had too many deaths in midlane afterwards. Then we lost another teamfight around the Herald, and the game kind of fell apart from there. In the third game, we played a bit too rushed after our initial lead. Our team comp wasn’t the most suitable for constant fights, but we kept initiating anyway and only started thinking about defense after giving away too many kills. That was the biggest problem for us.
How did facing tough opponents like Gen.G and HLE early in the tournament affect the team’s performance and mindset? Did it challenge the players mentally, or did it help them improve despite the results?
CorGi: Initially, I didn’t really expect it to impact the team’s mentality, since I had discussed it with them beforehand. However, after the second match against HLE, I felt there was still a drop in our confidence levels. It was probably because we didn’t draft well during that match. There’s always a chance to win, even against strong opponents. What we have to do is better ourselves and try our best to prepare as much as we can.
After four years with PSG Talon, this was your worst international result. What went wrong over the course of the year, and do you have any regrets about how things were handled?
CorGi: Thinking back on our season, I feel like we still have a lot to work on in terms of managing our mentalities. During the first two splits, there were times when we could have taken a 2-0 lead against CFO in a best-of-five, but we’d throw our lead in game three and end up getting reverse swept. This happened way too many times in other games as well, where we’d throw a lead and lose a winning game. That’s something we need to work on. Losing games where we had huge leads really damages our mental state, and in turn, affects our performances.
Looking back, would you still have benched Chu "FoFo" Chun-Lan for Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang, knowing Maple will leave for military service next year? Do you think the team could have qualified for Worlds with FoFo?
CorGi: If I could turn back time, I would have made the same decision. It was the choice we made at that moment, given our circumstances. We did qualify for Worlds, so I wouldn’t call this the “worst ending.” While it’s true we didn’t perform well at Worlds, I’d say the decision made sense given our goals at the time and other factors we considered during the process.
Given the struggles this year, do you view qualifying for Worlds—even with a 0-3 loss—as a success for PSG Talon’s 2025 project?
CorGi: We obviously had more than just qualifying for Worlds in mind when we built our roster. Our goal was very much making top 8 at Worlds. However, as internal issues arose during the first and second splits, we chose to make changes for the third split to give ourselves a better chance of at least qualifying for Worlds.
What’s next for PSG Talon next year, especially with upcoming roster changes?
CorGi: We just finished the game, and we haven’t really had time to sit down and think about next year yet. We’ll start considering any changes after we leave and settle down. Considering how many of our players, like Maple, have military service upcoming, perhaps some will also choose to take a break.
Any last words for the fans?
CorGi: I feel rather apologetic to the fans. This year, we haven’t done our best drafting in best-of-ones. It’s true that we faced very strong teams, but I don’t think that should be an excuse. The truth is we drafted poorly. We also didn’t perform up to expectations in this last do-or-die series, so I feel very sorry to the fans for this poor showing to conclude our run."
Header Photo Credit: LCP/Riot Games
