The regular-season champions of the 2019 LCK Summer Split, Griffin, met SK Telecom T1 in the finals. With 5 days left for the finals, the two teams gathered to speak with the media about the finals.

Griffin had been to the LCK finals twice but failed to win the championship in both. In their third LCK season, Griffin reached the finals for the third time, aiming for their first championship. In the media day, head coach Kim "cvMax" Dae-ho, captain Choi "Sword" Seong-won, and support Son "Lehends" Si-woo spoke with determined expressions.



How will you be aiming to play in the finals?



cvMax: SKT had an amazing run and got up here. We’re kind of nervous, but at the same time, excited. We met at the finals in spring; this time, we’re ready to make the finals more interesting.

Lehends: Obviously, all I’m thinking of is winning. The finals are important, but there's Worlds as well, so I’ll make sure we consistently give top tier performance.

Sword: We lost 0-3 in the spring finals… It’s time to return the favor.



In terms of making the finals more interesting, what score do you predict?



cvMax: I said 3-0 last spring… I’ll say 3-0 this time again.

Sword: I’m set on the thought of having a 3-0 revenge... I’ll make it happen.



What do you think the strengths of your opponent are?



cvMax: SKT’s strength is that they have good balance. All five players play the game really well. Without too much irregularity or unconventional picks, they know how to play. With their stable fundamentals, they create variations well. What I felt watching the postseason matches of SKT was that Faker is now more balanced. The trust between teammates seem firm and I think that made the team stronger.



(To Lehends) How do you think of LEC’s Garen-Yuumi?



Lehends: I saw the match. They even won. I never thought of Garen-Yuumi before… The two champions have better balance than I thought. Personally, I think it’s a very viable comp.



Griffin probably wouldn’t be able to forget the 3-0 from spring. Is there anything that you tell the players in that matter?



cvMax: I think Game 1 is important. Whether we win or lose, we can calibrate in the following games through the data we gained from Game 1. SANDBOX and DAMWON also fought very fiercely in the first game, but lost the following games helplessly. If we’re able to calibrate well on what went right and what went wrong in Game 1, I think the following games will go well.



SKT showed many different picks. Does that pressure Griffin in any way?



cvMax: Personally, I’m not pressured at all. Rather than the statistics, I trust my instinct. Even if we get biased, if a certain champion feels good, I use it. We’ll be using the picks that we think are good.





Griffin understands the non-ADC bot lane better than most teams. Are you considering to pick one?

cvMax: It’s not that we say ‘we need to pick a non-ADC!’ We just look at the opponent and pick whatever champion that seems good. Depending on the situation, we can pick a non-ADC.



Compared to the spring finals, Effort has been playing on stage recently instead of Mata.



Lehends: For me, the difference between the two is that Mata has strong laning and outstanding macro. Effort is the same, but his laning is a bit stronger.





SKT is a team with vast experience. Compared to that, Griffin lacks experience in big competitions. What do you think?



cvMax: That’s correct. I do think experience affects performance, but I don’t think it’s big enough to be a reason to lose. There are many other reasons that we might lose; it’ll be more important to improve in those areas.





Griffin was runner-up in two straight finals.



Lehends: The reason we lost at the finals was simply that our performance wasn’t good enough. Now that our prowess is a lot better, I’m not worried.

Sword: It’s always all about the results. Usually, no one remembers who came second, but at least we’re remembered because of that. (Laughs) I’d like to win this time, though, so we can get out of that ‘curse’.



What is the main point to watch in the finals?



cvMax: During the laning phase and whenever there are objectives to take, if you watch the team movement of both teams, the games should be more fun to watch.



Do you pledge to do anything if you win the championship?



cvMax: There’s a personal thing and a team thing. The team thing is that we’ll maintain our prowess so that we can get good results at Worlds. The personal thing is since I’m originally a streamer, I’ll be bragging about the finals on stream.