On 20st of July, DAMWON Gaming broke an old curse by defeating Griffin with a match score of 2-0. The team held 0-13 game score against Griffin before the series.

The following is the press conference with Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon from DAMWON Gaming.

This is your first victory against Griffin in your career. How are you feeling?

Nuguri: We were only able to win today since Griffin isn’t performing as well. When we played against them, it didn’t feel like they were the same team that dominated [the LCK] before. So I just feel dazed, unsatisfied. It would have felt better if we had won the final boss Griffin that used to be. And Griffin might return to that form any time. So I have a lot of mixed feelings. Dazed is a good word here.

DAMWON Gaming had a shaky start to the series. What was your in-game communication like? Was the fear of losing to Griffin creeping up on you again?

Nuguri: We had drafted a late-game comp. ShowMaker comforted me, saying “We have a good scaling comp, so focus on what you can do next.” Even when we lost some teamfights, we were confident that we could still win the games.

DAMWON Gaming has now risen to first place in the LCK standings through today’s victory.

Nuguri: We’re not even tied to the first place, we are at the top of the leaderboard. That certainly feels satisfying. We are even above Kingzone DragonX now. That being said, Gen.G has been looking very scary at the moment. The next match is Kingzone DragonX vs. Gen.G, and I think I’ll be cheering for Kingzone today. Gen.G is really good at the moment.

DAMWON Gaming had previously lost to Griffin thirteen times. Did it feel any different as you defeated Griffin for the first time in your career?

Nuguri: Today’s victory didn’t feel as sweet as I had imagined it. Griffin’s Nexus turned out to be just another Nexus, after all. It wasn’t different to other teams’ Nexus. [laughs]

What were your impressions of laning against Doran?

Nuguri: When I would meet Doran at the solo queue, my impression was that he is extremely skilled with ranged champions, such as Neeko and Kennen. Oh, he is good at Irelia, too. He’s placed very high at the Korean solo queue.

At the solo queue, he didn’t seem like a hyper-aggressive type of a player but he plays intelligently. As of his performance on the stage today, we both played to the flow of the game. It wasn’t too special.

Looking back, your recent defeat against Kingzone DragonX must be quite regretful.

Nuguri: I have so many regrets about that series of Kingzone. We decided that we lost because we let didn’t focus on the big picture. We weren’t focused on the overall games and played reactively, and got dragged around by Kingzone. After that defeat, we decided that we need to focus more on the key points within the game.

That defeat left a strong mark on us, the players still talk about the match now and then. We were on a winning streak, it was a match that we should have won at all costs. However, we as a team have so many areas to improve …

You and ShowMaker blind picked Jayce and Corki. What was your thought process behind it?

Nuguri: Kingzone had previously banned Jayce against us. So I had expected Griffin to ban Jayce this time too. But when Jayce was left open I didn’t hesitate to lock him in. Same goes for Corki [for ShowMaker] as well. There is no special reason, we drafted as the usual. I was confident that I won’t get countered even if I blind picked them.

Thank you for the interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Nuguri: There are so many great teams that are performing well this summer split, and it feels like we’re in a bloody war field. I’ll try my best to survive. I’m going to make sure I load enough ammo.