came into the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational as one of the LCS' representatives, a roster built around three Korean players but considered among the underdogs in Daejeon. With everything to prove TL went up against reigning World Champions T1 in the MSI 2026 opening match, and unfortunately the gap showed.
TL fell 0-3 and dropped into the lower bracket, where a path to the main event is still alive but the margin for error is null.
for the first time since last year's KeSPA Cup, the mid-to-late-game macro that slipped away in a winnable Game 2, and the message his teammates gave him after the match.
I'm sure there are a lot of regrets from today's match. Could you start with your overall thoughts on the series?
Lim "Quid" Hyeon-seung: "I think all my teammates were good and showed decent form, but whether we were ahead or behind, I think I played very stiffly, so I'm really disappointed in myself in that regard.
You must have prepared certain things for today. Among what you prepared, what worked well, and what didn't work as expected?
Quid: First, for Game 1, we prepared the setup of giving over mages like Orianna or Syndra and playing Akali into them. But it didn't get going as well as we expected, both in fights and in lane, so that was really disappointing. In Game 2, we felt that if we avoided fights we couldn't win, so we drafted champions that could engage decisively. In that sense, we were able to win early and mid-game skirmishes and take a favorable lead, so I think that part went well.
I believe the last time you faced Faker was at last year's KeSPA Cup. In Game 1, when you played Akali into Orianna, it's a famous matchup, but the early laning phase couldn't have been easy. What was it like during the lane?
Quid: I think that matchup really comes down to how many skills Akali can dodge, and that determines whether there's a minions gap or not. But this is my first MSI, and it was the first match, so I was very nervous. Because of that, I fell behind a lot in lane, which is disappointing.
Early in Game 2, it felt like you were playing very boldly. You also picked a champion that enabled roaming and side-lane plays. Was the Game 2 draft and game plan something you quickly put together after Game 1, or was it something you had prepared before the match?
Quid: After Game 1, we thought we needed a comp that could proactively start fights to keep up with T1's tempo, so we built around fast-moving champions. We tried to look for fights as actively as possible, but I think I lacked a lot in mid-to-late-game macro, and I think that's why we lost the game.
Game 2 must have been especially frustrating. At what point do you think the game became more difficult? It felt like there were chances to win.
Quid: While we were winning teamfights, a lot of the enemy carries' Flashes were down, so it was a situation where we could keep pressing them. In the mid-game side-lane setup, I needed to keep grouping toward mid and pressure it so their side lanes would also feel pressure. But I was too focused on not giving up control in the side lane, so I didn't play proactively. That gave them a lot of turns to farm, and I got caught once or twice in the side lane, which I think was a major factor in giving them time.
Today, Morgan played a lot more carry-style champions than he did in the LCS. Was that a strategic adjustment to the MSI meta, or was it more about comfort picks or signature picks that the players wanted?
said that rather than necessarily playing tank champions to buy time for the team, if he could take bruiser-vs-bruiser matchups or get counterpicks, he could create favorable situations. He said that during our draft meetings, so I think we prepared in that direction.
You spent almost three years with Gen.G in Academy and Challengers. I'm curious if your own style changed after moving to the LCS.
Quid: While playing in the LCS, I felt less pressure in lane, and since I was playing in a major league, I realized we could only play proactively if I had an impact on my teammates. So rather than focusing only on lane, if I have lane priority, my style changed a lot toward using that priority to influence both sides of the map. Yes, I think that's the biggest thing.
Team Liquid has several Korean players on the roster. People even jokingly call you basically an LCK team. Do you practice towards playing in an LCK style, or are you trying to develop your own style, as you just mentioned?
Quid: Just because we have a lot of Koreans on the roster doesn't mean we're trying to copy LCK macro or anything like that. As we scrim and practice, we try to align the coach's direction for the game with what the players want, and match our ideas well so we can play with our own style.
It's been about a week since you arrived in Korea, which may not be enough time to fully recover from the fatigue. Based on today's match, do you think Liquid showed its true level? And how much of the disappointment was due to team synergy?
Quid: In terms of performance, I think we were able to show what we've been doing. But on the negative side, some of the bad habits we had when playing in the LCS came out again. So I think we just played poorly as a team, and there were no condition issues. If we can make our mid-to-late-game macro flow more smoothly, I think we can show a better performance.
You still have a chance to make the main event. In yesterday's interview, you said you wanted to learn from this, which really stood out. From today's match, are there any positives you can take away, or anything you learned?
Quid: I think Game 2 had the most positives to take away. In that game, in the mid-to-late game, I was too scared, so I couldn't play the side lanes properly or open fights aggressively around mid. In the end, we gave the opponent time to scale, and I really felt that when that happens, it's hard to beat a good team. After the game, my teammates told me that if I'm stronger and confident in the side lane, it's better to just take the 1v1 with the mindset that I might die. They gave me a lot of confidence, so next match I just need to play with less fear.
You now have to face your remaining opponents, KC or DCG. How confident are you heading into those matchups?
Quid: I think both teams will be much easier than the team we played today, so, while we won't look down on
, if we play with more confidence against those two teams I don't think we'll lose.
You have a match tomorrow. To wrap up the interview, please share your mindset for tomorrow's match.
Quid: Even though we had games today that we could have won, I think we showed that we couldn't close them out properly. So after today, we'll go back, review the games and take the feedback, and tomorrow we'll do our best to show cleaner, better gameplay. We'll give it our all. Thank you."
