In the opening match of the 2019 World Championship, 3-time World Champion SK telecom T1 was victorious. Responding to Fnatic’s Garen-Yuumi duo with an unexpected Kayle pick in the bottom lane, SKT was able to start off their Worlds run with a win over the European powerhouse.

Riot Korea has interviewed Kim “Khan” Dong-ha following the match.

We will be interviewing SKT’s Khan, who was victorious in his recent match against Fnatic. Congratulations on your victory! How do you feel about your win against the LEC 2nd seed Fnatic?

Khan: Since this was the opening match, there was some pressure on us to do well, and since our group is being called a “group of death”. I have been hearing opinions that it will be a difficult one to be in. Because of that, I’m glad we were able to win our first game.

A lot of people were claiming that Group C is the group of death, personally, do you agree with that sentiment?

Khan: Even if you call it a group of death, our current situation calls for us to overcome our obstacles. If we are unable to, we won’t be able to win later on anyways. The group of death is just a group, and we will do our best on stage.

In today’s match, a lot of people were expecting the Tristana to go to bottom lane after it was picked, but it was swapped with the Kayle instead. Can you tell me how this draft came to be?

Khan: From our practices, instead of being restricted with the mindset that a certain champion must go to a specific lane, we tried to widen our horizons in regards to flexibility. Having incorporated this idea into our preparation, I’m glad it worked out well on stage.

Not only the draft, but the macro displayed in today’s game has been quite clean, showing confidence in every movement. Were you trying to show how the LCK style of playing is done?

Khan: The LCK style of playing is to play calmly in every situation, looking for advantages while cutting your losses early. The ability to calculate your odds quickly is a characteristic of the LCK as a region.

You will be facing Royal Never Give Up tomorrow. Do you have any wor

Khan: A lot of people said this was the group of death. Honestly, this only applies to teams that can not keep up. Since we have our eyes on the prize, we are not worried about the group we are in. With our victory secured today, we will make sure to win our next games as well in order to get out of the group stage. Thank you!