T1 defeated Nongshim RedForce 2-0 in the second round of the League of Legends Champions Korea Summer 2023 at the LCK Arena Gran Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on Thursday. It was T1’s most dominant performance in a long time. In the first set, they won the game with a well-developed ‘Zeus’ top lane rumble, and in the second set, they dominated the top and bottom lane battles early on to complete the 2-0 victory. In a post-match interview, acting head coach Im “Tom” Jae-hyun shared his thoughts on the game and his plans for the next match.
▶T1 Acting Head Coach Im “Tom” Jae-hyun
“We had two losses last week, so the team’s mood was pretty low, but I’m happy that we won 2-0 against Nongshim today, so we got the points and played well. 먹튀검증
I got my first win as an acting coach, so I don’t really attach much importance to that. Just as a team, we’ve broken the losing streak and we’re in a good mood, so I think we just need to play well against DPLUS Kia.
In the first set, we struggled after the midway point, and sometimes when we need to put up a fight or when we have an advantage, we sometimes do it in a hurry. We’ll try to improve on that and give feedback to the players so that they can relax and play with less pressure.
The team also talked about the lack of communication after Lee “Faker” Sang-hyuk left the team and when Choi “Zeus” Choo and Yoon “Phobi” Sung-won went to the sidelines. As a team, we talked a lot about how we didn’t keep the basics and how we should have been comfortable while giving and receiving, but we were all too bold at that time.
Our next game is against DEPLUS Kia, and they seem to be playing well, so I think we need to be very alert and not take it easy while preparing. We want to win so we can keep the good momentum going. In the last game, DEPLUS Kia changed their supporters, and while I personally think Kim “Kellin” Hyung-kyu is better in the line-up, when Yoon “Bible” Seol came in, I could see that they were a more determined team, so I think we need to prepare for the game with a strong focus on the bottom line.
As for Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyuk’s return, former coach Bae ‘Bengi’ Sung-woong said it would be around two weeks, but I think we need to talk a little more because we need to see the condition of his wrist. If it’s okay, he can come back, but right now we need to check the exact condition, so it’s difficult to say whether he will play next week.”