Photo by: Riot Games

For a second split in a row, Invictus Gaming will try to claim what’s eluded them their entire franchise history: a LPL title. Next Saturday, Apr. 20, iG will meet JD Gaming in a best-of-5 and will hope that they don’t lie dead next to Team WE, RNG and FPX, all teams JDG slayed on their way to the finals.

After iG’s semifinal victory over Topsports, their players sat down with members of the press for a conference.

* * *

To TheShy: You picked Ryze in both Game 1 and 2. How would rate your performance comparing to Rookie’s?

Judging solely on today’s performance, I think mine was better.

To Rookie: As a “flex champion”, Ryze can be played on both mid or top. What do you think are the differences between your Ryze and TheShy’s Ryze.

I think it really depends on the jungler. When I play mid Ryze, I can perform really well if the junger helps me. TheShy has a more aggressive playstyle and therefore from viewer’s perspective he’s more flashy and often makes big plays.

To TheShy: Zoom was instrumental to JDG’s victory over FPX yesterday. Did you watch that series? What do you make of his performance?

I didn’t watch the whole series, just the second half of Game 5. Watching him play makes me feel we should work harder.

“Watching Zoom play makes me feel we should work harder.” — TheShy

To Rookie: If you qualify for MSI, you’ll get to meet the legendary Faker and SKT. What do you think of their line-up at the moment? Are they the definitive super team in the world right now?

Everyone watched Saturday’s match of SKT versus Griffin, and so did I. In general, I feel that SKT are no longer “Faker’s team”, as now they are strong as a unit. It’s difficult to predict the outcome of our match-up against them; I think we are slightly weaker.

To Ning: You picked Rek’Sai in Game 1, a jungler champion that is very common this patch. What is her advantage? And you showed your rune for Rek’Sai during stream, why did you choose Zombie Ward?

Rek’Sai is strong at invading the enemy jungle and she can synergize well with Viktor’s W. Her passive reveals enemies’ positioning which means we can get more things done at the level 1 invade. As for the Zombie Ward, it helps Rek’Sai to take advantage of vision control of the map.

“I think we’re slightly weaker than SKT.” — Rookie

To цoach: You just stepped in as the coach of IG and fans are confident that you can keep these players disciplined. How would you rate their performance today? In terms of coaching, which team issues would you prioritize solving?

We have already secured top four placement, so even though they made some misplays today, I think at this stage of the season the result and the winning matters more to us. As for issues, they are really good players and I think I will focus on improving their individual skill as well as making some drafting adjustments.