SEN Huhi: "If the opportunity comes, I definitely want to represent the US [at the Esports Nation Cup]"

The playoffs of the 2026 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) are closer with each passing week. Week 5 paired and , teams with contrasting presents. The former sat comfortably in third place in the standings and looked to secure its playoff spot. Meanwhile, the latter secured their appearance at the Esports World Cup, a feat not reflected in their 1-3 record in the LCS standings.

Though Sentinels is a highly respected team, the team with the positive record kept their winning ways, as the Mexican Pride cruised to a 2-0 victory over the Society. Following their defeat in two consecutive weeks, Choi “” Jae-hyun sat with Sheep Esports to discuss the changes brought by Patch 26.09, his favorite support meta, what Sentinels are missing to bring their EWC performance to the LCS stage, and a hopeful selection for the United States Esports Nation Cup roster.

Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun: “I don’t necessarily think their priority fell off. I don’t exactly remember how the draft went right now, but I think it just made sense that the botlane [priority] went down. I think they also picked their topside on the first three picks, if I remember correctly, so we wanted to have a good match-up everywhere else as well. Oh, they had Varus first pick, and nowadays LYON uses the champion as a flex pick for the toplane as well. We wanted a good matchup instead of prioritizing Ashe and Seraphine. We were confident trading these champions as well.

Huhi: I hope so. I prefer the engage support meta in general. Range support has been fun, but I think hopefully the meta can shift so I can play a variety of champions like Sett, Amumu, or other melee support champions. Unfortunately, enchanters are still stronger right now. Depending on the teams, they’re still going to prioritize enchanters because these champions are stronger in lane and have good value in the mid and late stages of the game. For now, the meta is going to stay the same in bot lane at least.

Huhi: I’m not too sure. Right now, a lot of enchanters are strong because there are some lane swaps, and dragon control is really important. The crab fights early are really important as well. In the early game, having good mid-jungle synergy is crucial. Usually, if you have range match-ups and the enemy has tank support, the tank support needs jungle attention to start winning or neutralizing the range support match-up. Right now, it’s hard for the jungle to use a lot of tempo because the second and third crab, invading the raptors, upgrading smite, and having the jungler reach level six first are essential. Using tempo wisely as a team is huge, and this early game jungle-centric focus makes enchanters stronger because they will always have priority in lane, if the lane is played correctly. If you’re aware that the enemy jungle could try to cheese gank you, you’re able to burn a lot of tempo, and your jungler will be massively ahead if done correctly. There’s a huge risk in that aspect. For example, if you play a melee support against Karma or Ashe and Seraphine, you’re going to have a hard time. To be able to fight during the early stage of the game, you’ll need to cheese gank those lanes. Right now, jungle tempo is essential, so junglers are scared to use their tempo. If they misuse it once, it can backfire and lead to a huge punish.

Huhi: Sure. I think with a fast jungle clear, you can always try to gank. Ivern, paired with a melee support like Nautilus, can try to use the fast tempo to blow summoner spells, enable its own botlane to get an early base, or kill the other bot lane. Even in the LCK, I remember a series… was it HLE? I remember a lot of cheese ganks at levels 2 and 3 with melee supports did happen. There are ways to approach this playstyle, but they have to be planned and practiced in scrims so you’re sure you can execute on stage. If you don’t execute on stage properly once, it’s going to be a hard game to play.

Huhi: I’m not sure. I think we cared… not less, but we weren’t as nervous playing these teams online as we were in stage games. I think that is definitely a huge part, but we also make sure we have a good environment for people to improve, work as a team, and choose a team playstyle or color so we can have the same ideas on how to progress the game. Whether we are losing or winning in the early game, we always try to stay focused and execute our plan properly. Today, I think we failed to do that. We lost in the teamfight phase, which is a shame. I wouldn’t say it’s our biggest strength, but we weren’t that bad at team fighting. Today, we were just railed on. In my opinion, I feel we should have won both games. The strength of our team is that even after this kind of loss, we try to remain centered, improve what we can, and show up next week. Hopefully, we can win our stage match.

Huhi: Yeah, I can only put it on nerves, but I don’t exactly know what’s making us play differently on stage. For example, in the second game against LYON, we were in a position we can’t really lose if we execute our composition properly, but we failed to do so on stage. Those kinds of things can be attributed to nerves, but I wish I knew the exact problem. If we knew, we would be fixing it right away. All we can do is get those reps on stage so we can go over when we VOD review. When we review our game, we can see we had basically won, but there were only three ways we could lose this dragon teamfight, yet we made these decisions. By showing these examples, we can improve and gain confidence to execute what we’re supposed to on stage next time.

Huhi: Yeah! This will be the first Esports Nations Cup, but the idea of representing a nation to compete is really cool. I’ve always dreamed about it. As an American citizen, if the opportunity comes, I definitely want to represent the US to try to win and make the US proud. I’m definitely interested in playing.

Huhi: I only have a US passport. I don’t have anything else. I’m only a US citizen right now, so I can definitely represent the US.

Huhi: We’re definitely not in a great spot right now. If I remember correctly, we have to win the upcoming two matches to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. Excluding the first week, we’re pretty confident because we’ve been playing against the hardest teams. As long as we stay focused on what we’ve been improving on, we can at least make it to the playoffs. Once we’re in the playoffs, the best-of-five series will come to us as an advantage. The more time we have, the scarier the team we will be. Make sure to keep cheering for us. We also qualified for EWC, so you can also support us there. I’m always grateful for our fans.”