On August 12th, Afreeca Freecs defeated former World Champions Gen.G in a dominating 2-0 performance to advance to Round 1 of LCK playoffs. Afreeca dominated Gen.G by focusing on the early-game play style that crushed the late-game strategy Gen.G became known for during the Summer Split.

Afreeca surges ahead into the next round of LCK Playoffs, where they’ll battle Kingzone Dragon X. We interviewed Kuro, who discussed the sudden rise in Afreeca’s performance, his resolutions to topple down Kingzone and why he believed that maybe this time, it was fated for the LCK veteran to go to Worlds.

Hi Kuro! Congratulations on the Wildcards victory today. Could you please introduce yourself to the fans?

Kuro: Hello, I am Kuro, the mid laner for Afreeca Freecs.

Before the match begun, many people predicted Gen.G have a favourable matchup against you. However, the results turned out to be a 2:0 victory to Afreeca Freecs. What’s the reason behind Afreeca’s sudden performance.

Kuro: I think we had a good performance today because we played without pressure.

Could you please elaborate onf “we played without pressure”?

Kuro: We are a team that’s sitting on 10 wins and 8 losses, and Gen.G is a team that’s sitting on 13 wins and 5 losses…Yet Gen.Ge qualified at 4th place while another team came 1st place on the same 13 wins and 5 losses. So it almost gives you that sense of relief; that even if you play well, you may still not have the results you want.

Afreeca Freecs had a jinx of not being able to win a game in Wildcards. Today, you broke that jinx. Were you conscious of this when you came to the match today?

Kuro: I knew of the jinx, but it didn’t bother me.

In Game 1, Afreeca Freecs drafted an interesting comp where you played Varus while Kramer played Swain. Can you tell us more about this role-swap?

Kuro: Mid lane Varus was a pick that I’ve always told the team that I’m confident in. So when the chance to pick him finally came today, I raise my hand, and…I think it turned out to be a very good pick. It went well, from the lane phase to the late game. There were some team mistakes during mid game; however, other than that, the mid lane Varus pick went really well.

While Kiin also played Quinn at top lane.

Kuro: Our team always experiment with different picks. Quinn was one of these picks that stood out for Kiin, and he was also confident in playing Quinn.

Talking of Kiin, he’s a young player yet been such a reliable, overperforming addition to Afreeca Freecs the whole year. CloudTemplar said in a stream that “The best thing that Afreeca Freecs has done this year is bring in Kiin”. What’s your personal opinion on your teammate, Kiin?

Kuro: Kiin is a very young player. It’s been only a year since he debuted. Yet he’s now in the spotlight, is talked about, plays well and has people’s attention. He’s even the representitive for South Korea for 2018 Asian Games. I don’t have to worry much about him.

Kuro: Kiin’s just a kid who’s really good at the game. Recently he’s become a bit emo, but other than that…Yeah, I think Kiin is really good. A cute kid.

Your next game is against Kingzone DragonX. For last game against Kingzone in Summer Split, Kingzone beat you on 2:1. The next match will also be a repeat of Spring Split Finals, where Kingzone also overtook you. What’re your predictions on your next game against Kingzone?

Kuro: We’ve lost against Kingzone in the last few matches. (Afreeca Freecs has not won any matches against Kingzone in 2018) I don’t have many memories of beating Kingzone. But just maybe…I’ve lost all these previous matches against Kingzone because I was meant to have this one. Maybe this was fated. Maybe God was like, “I’ve been letting you lose (against Kingzone) all these times so you can win this one match. Kuro, go to Worlds.” So I’m determined to win the next match.

Kuro, you have a few close friends in Kingzone. Is there anything in particular that you’d like to tell them?

Kuro: I don’t have anything in particular I want to tell them. I’ll just be playing the game against Kingzone without pressure. I hope all of us play without pressure and show good performance, so we have an awesome match.

Any last words you’d like to add?

Kuro: I didn’t have that much expectation on Playoffs. However, we had good performance and good results, so I think I’m hoping again. I won’t expect too much, but play without pressure, enjoy the game and do my best. I hope I can truly make the “gym leader run”.

Do you have any message to the English-speaking fans around the world?