HLE had a surprise victory against T1 when the performance of the super team members went down, Viper believes that the LCK season has just begun.
HLE got their 2nd win in the LCK Spring 2023 and it is especially important when their opponent is T1, the team is on a 4-match winning streak. Even, T1 has overcome opponents that are rated higher than HLE, GEN and DK, in the previous matches. It was a tough match and HLE did it by playing extremely well, hitting a double with T1 and finally winning. With a 2-1 victory, Viper and his teammates at the super team HLE were able to clearly answer, “the race has just begun”.
Viper, you have finally delivered the performance that fans have come to expect from Hanwha Life Esports. What changed in the match against T1?
We focused on our difference from other teams in scrims and in the LCK. After some feedback, we’ve discovered that we’re often too careful or too nervous playing in the LCK compared to scrims. So we’ve tried to improve some things regarding communication and picks. One of the biggest things we didn’t do was call for teamfights and communicate more in the LCK, we did a lot better in scrims.
You lost to Gen.G, KT Rolster and Liiv SANDBOX, but you beat the only undefeated team, T1. What do you think that means?
We 100% believe that if we play as prepared, we will win. Today is that day. Although T1 is unbeaten, they have a weak point. We think we can win if we prepare well.
It seems that you competed more explosively when you received more resources from your teammates. What do you think is the condition for you to put on a great performance?
The important thing for me is to play with a relaxed mentality. In the game, it’s up to us to focus our resources. In the recent meta, bot lane is the most important, so I get more resources. In addition, many champions with strong laning abilities have appeared — alongside more carry-on champions like Zeri or Lucian. Ironically, strong laners don’t have high late game value, so I had to get better in every early game and make a positive impact on other lanes.
Chess champions like Jayce have appeared more this week. What do you think caused this change?
Champions like Jayce, Ziggs or Jhin are the preferred picks. Win the laning phase first and then the poke phase.
The situation in game 1 and game 2 is quite different. What do you think makes this difference?
In game 1, like the previous games, our communication was not consistent. Starting in game 2, things got better, so we were able to win.
Feeling that your Lucian is stronger and more pressured than when other players use Lucian.
Lucian is a very comfortable champion for me — that’s shown better when going with support Nami. However, we wanted to break T1’s lineup in game 2. When they picked Nami first, we picked Lucian and Yuumi. They will definitely feel more uncomfortable having to use the Draven-Nami pairing.
In game 3, Draven and Kassadin were picked early. They are usually picked during the 2nd pick and ban
When we saw T1’s first two picks, we thought Kassadin would be strong against those champions. For Draven, we picked this champion because we didn’t want to give up our laning advantage. Draven is the strongest pick among the remaining champions because both sides have banned a lot of ADCs.
You didn’t lie down in game 3 until the game was over. Are you confident that you will be immortal?
After the picks and bans, I thought we wouldn’t lose in a 3v3 match. Jinx and Soraka are not so strong in 3v3 confrontations including junglers.
You played with Life. Compared to other supports, how is he?
Life has experience and still has a lot of untapped potential. The pair of bots we will develop together in the near future.
Is there a team at the LPL that catches your attention? What do you think EDG is doing?
It seems that Invictus Gaming has been putting on interesting performances. Although EDG lost recently, they have great players, so I believe they will do well.
You have played in several teams until now. Do you have any solutions to improve the performance of Hanwha Life Esports?
We proved that we can play better through today’s win against T1. The LCK season is very long and how we end it is the most important thing. We will become a team that can smile last.