SK Telecom T1 regained first place in League Champions Korea’s summer split Saturday after taking down KT Rolster in a 2-1 win. SKT’s Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok almost predictably was nominated as the MVP of both of his winning games. In a post-match interview with casters Kim Dong-Jun and Lee “CloudTemplar” Hyun-Woo, Faker said that he wasn’t any more confident than he was facing the ROX Tigers.
“I’m very happy that we won unexpectedly today, since I thought it would be difficult to gain a victory as I did two days ago,” he said.
CloudTemplar asked Faker about SKT’s bizarre ability to consistently win against stronger teams while being upset by comparatively weaker ones. According to Faker, it’s all about the mentality.
“I think the stronger teams get very nervous when they face us,” he said. “And when we face weaker teams, they play with a lot of guts, so we tend to have a harder time against them.”
When asked if Faker himself ever gets nervous, he did prove that he was indeed human like the rest of us.
“I think I have a tendency to get nervous when I shouldn’t and don’t get nervous when I should,” he said.
Caster Kim Dong-Jun then brought attention to the almost pentakill that Faker got as Anivia, which was made even more significant as it was later revealed that Faker was one kill away from his 1000th during his OGN/LCK career. In retrospect, Faker seemed a little annoyed.
“I wasn’t expecting a pentakill at all at that moment so I didn’t really feel much,” he said. “But after I found out that had 999 kills it felt…off.”
Going to more game specific questions, CloudTemplar asked about SKT’s play around the enemy Cassiopeia, and how they all dodge her ultimate in almost choreographed fashion. Faker revealed that it wasn’t an uncanny ability, but champion awareness.
“I don’t think it’s instinct that allows us to dodge her skills,” he said. “When we usually initiate it’s when Cass is in front by herself, and when she’s in that position she is forced to use her ultimate, which we can predict and move accordingly.”
He also added while watching the play by play that “anyone could have dodged that” since she was so far ahead of her team, to which the casters could only laugh in response.
Caster Kim Dong-Jun then asked about their next opponent, MVP, which is on a tear right now. Faker had nothing but praise for the rookie team.
“MVP has gameplay that is closer to an LCK pro team, unlike a new one that just got promoted from the amateurs,” he said. “I expect our match against them will be just as hard as the ones against the Tigers and KT, and I am concerned about their current forward momentum.”
Faker ended the interview by saying that he was dissatisfied by his performance “even though (he) was nominated as MVP” in both games, and promised to practice harder in the coming two days.