SEN huhi: "This kind of series is what makes teams level up"

Love was in the air during the first playoff series of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) as Sentinels faced Disguised. The Society had lost its first encounter in Week 1 of the Swiss Stage against DSG 1-2, and was looking to get payback for the playoffs round 1. Similar to a tale of scorned lovers, SEN boasts three former DSG players.

The series was a high-tension back-and-forth series, but Sentinels were able to win a close 3-2 series. After his victory against his former team, Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun spoke with Sheep Esports about countering Kai’Sa with Ashe and Seraphine, Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin and Cho “Rahel” Min-seong’s progression, his dominant Game 5 performance, and the return of the live audience.

Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun: “I’m delighted we got to meet in the upper bracket. We’re both successful, which proved the doubters wrong. We went to Game 5, put on a really good show for the audience, and proved both teams are capable. I have faith DSG can also make it through the lower bracket to [qualify to] Brazil. I hope they can come with us.

huhi: The first time we played DSG, we got punished by Sajed (Sajed Ziade)‘s Kai’sa, so we were wary of them picking her again. Kai’sa was one of our picks, so we didn’t want to ban it, and they ended up picking the champion. We just had to pick something that goes along with our composition, and Ashe and Seraphine have good synergy with Jarvan.

huhi: My instinct told me he was there. We took the risk of checking our red buff, then we missed some experience when we returned to the bot lane, and I got hooked by Blitzcrank, which wasn’t great for the lane. If he had started in our red buff, the game would have been complicated for the bot lane, so I had to make sure he wasn’t there. My instinct was correct.

huhi: We practiced a little bit. It’s been played a few times in the LCK. In a best-of-five fearless draft, there are so many bot lane combos you can play as the series progresses. Ashe and Seraphine were definitely on our preparation.

huhi: I thought we won the game. It was pretty funny because in champion select, when we were about to go into the game, I was asking Rahel, “You might need Cleanse. It’s Nasus.” They had slightly more crowd control in mid and top, though I don’t remember where. I reminded him he could need Cleanse, and he responded, “What? Do I really have to take Cleanse versus Nasus?” We go into the game, and he comments, “I can’t even auto them,” because he is getting hit by Wither. It was a pretty funny moment, but we definitely should have won. We lost focus around the baron pit. We split up, and HamBak got caught and threw the game from that position. In the end, we got a lot of experience from going to a fifth game.

huhi: He was just slightly greedy. Our communication, team synergy, and coordination, whatever language issues, are being fixed as we play more and more scrims. I am really happy with our progression. The team is improving considerably, especially with our personalities. I love my team, and I love the vibe that we have.

huhi: The game played out with bot priority and mid priority thanks to playing Hwei versus Tristana. We understood we had to make sure we avoided ganks by Bard and Sejuani. If we keep river control, we can keep bot and mid priority. HamBak told us he wanted to invade camps, and all I had to do was make sure everyone was connected. Everyone was on point, helping us play for the jungle. Everyone understood that we had to help HamBak first before we touched the waves and hold zones. We did really well.

huhi: I was playing Rakan, one of the slipperiest supports, and they couldn’t really catch me. I had to be scared of Bard’s Ultimate, which I am not going to get hit by. The only other crowd control I had to look out for was Sejuani’s Ultimate, which I can dodge easily. I knew I could be really annoying. I just had to keep cancelling bases, forcing Bard to show when my Hwei had priority, and forcing Bard to lane with the low-HP Tristana. My job was snowballing these conditions into more jungle invades.

huhi: Definitely. Thanks to the scouting done by our Assistant Coach, Dayos (Mervin Lachica). He is still in Canada, but he has massively helped us through remote coaching. He shared that tendency from DSG, their willingness to fight, even when outnumbered. There were some moments when this tendency got us punished during the series. When we were doing baron, we thought we had secured it, but then two or three of them showed up and killed us. In that sense, we weren’t as clean as we wanted to be, but because we were prepared to parry their punches.

huhi: There will be a decent amount. We didn’t expect a series with this many mistakes from both sides, and to go to a fifth game. This kind of series is what makes teams level up. I hope that we can look at this series slowly and learn so we can prepare for our next match. There are mistakes we are definitely talking about that will prepare us for Cloud9 or FlyQuest.

huhi: International competition is why I play League of Legends professionally. The goal is to attend, play against the best in the world, and learn what you can take away. The experience of traveling with your teammates, learning about a new culture, and practicing together abroad are team-bonding aspects I love. I am really excited to go to Brazil.

huhi: I agree with Impact. I have noticed some of their nerves when playing stage games. This is exciting as it means they’re not yet at their peak. As long as we keep playing these best-of-fives, playoffs, or whatever international tournament we get to go to, we keep leveling up and make it to Worlds, which is our final goal, hopefully.

huhi: Yeah! I am still grateful I get to play competitively, but playing in front of a crowd is a different experience. I heard that, starting next week, all matches will be in front of a crowd. I’m really excited for that.”