Hello Lava! Congratulations on your double MVP. We should talk about Game 1 and your pick. You locked in Fizz for mid; it’s not a pick that’s easily seen in LCK.

Lava: When the opposing team plays the Nunu-Karthus comp, there are two ways to counter it; push the lane hard or constantly engage fights. We decided to counter their comp with a pick that constantly starts a fight, so we decided to go with Fizz for continuous skirmishes.

What are your thoughts on Yi-Taric and Nunu-Karthus comp? Which mid-jungle comp do you think is better?

Lava: I personally think that Yi-Taric is better.

You’ve been awarded MVP for Game 1, but in Game 1, Lindarang also contributed a lot to the victory.

Lava: Lindarang really carried the game in Vladimir, yeah.

Game 2 was a very difficult game. We saw SeongHwan, the jungler, get caught out and die quite a few times.

Lava: We decided that even if a few get caught out, we’ll be fine as long as we don’t hand over Baron.

It sounds like you didn’t mind SeongHwan dying too much.

Sangyoon: In movies, extras can die but it doesn’t matter as long as the main character survives, right?

Lava: We didn’t miss him too much even when SeongHwan was missing from the game.

Sangyoon: A little useless, to be honest.

Lindarang: Uh… he got caught out a few times. (And it didn’t matter?) No, it didn’t matter.

Wow, didn’t expect you guys to all gang up on SeongHwan like that. And how about Sangyoon? Lava, recently you’ve criticized Sangyoon’s performance on Ryze; what’s your thought on Sangyoon’s Ryze after today’s match?

Lava: Sangyoon has been practising Ryze a lot, I do think he’s gotten better since. I’d rate his Ryze 9 out of 10 now.

Sangyoon: He judges my Ryze even though he’s not that good on Ryze himself! Do you want to know why Lava doesn’t play Ryze in matches? Because he’s bad at Ryze!

Your team has recently re-branded to HLE, acquired by Hanwha Life Insurance. In a recent interview, you shocked everyone by saying “It’s all about the beef now”. You’re now getting supports such as new uniforms and team bus, and you mentioned that the CEO bought beef even when the team had lost a game.

Sangyoon: In (our first day of Summer Split) we had lost the match against Griffin. Usually, when you lose a match you just eat something and head home to practise. However, that night, the company took us out and we spent 1,600,000 WON (Approx. 1,500 USD) at that dinner.

Really?

Sangyoon: Yeah, these mega-corporations are pretty amazing.

The whole team must have a huge headcount. Wasn’t the company looking nervous when they paid the dinner bill?

Lava: These big companies are just…Different. Didn’t even seem to be a big of a deal for them.