Photo by: Score.gg

JD Gaming surprised experts and fans as they eliminated Team WE from the LPL Playoffs in today’s round 1 match. Sticking to their beloved teamfight-heavy playstyle, JDG beat the odds with a 3-1 score and now move to play Royal Never Give Up for a spot at Rift Rivals 2019.

After the match, JDG sat with members of the media for a press conference.

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To Yagao: After you guys lost the last game against WE, did you expect that you could beat them so easily today?

That game was our last one for the regular season, and no matter win or loss, we still needed to play against them today. So we planned to play some tricks at that day to draw out their strategy, and we did it.

To LvMao: Your team lost to RNG at their home stadium in the regular season, and the day after tomorrow you will play against them again. Do you have any words to say to them?

No tough words, I just hope we don’t lose the game too bad with a 3-0.

To Coach: What improvements did you make after a 3-game losing streak during the last weeks of regular season?

We played a lot scrims with the current line-up so that that our players could build a good synergy.

To Imp: It’s your first season in JDG and you managed to get to the second round of playoffs. What do you make of the next games?

We will prepare well for the games and do our best.

To coach: Team WE rallied in the last weeks after struggling early and many attributed this to beishang’s great play. What was the key to winning the series today?

First, our players pulled out an amazing performance with a line-up they are good at. Secondly, WE still used the same draft as their last series of regular season. I think they didn’t prepare well for today’s game while we did better than them.

To coach: Team WE are known for being a defensive, turtling team that often wins in the late game. Was part of the strategy to go super aggressive on them

I think today’s win we owe to our players’ amazing performance. Our opponents picked up an early game line-up while ours was strong at late game. So we didn’t go aggressive on them during the early game, we just played at the same level as they did in the early game. And we also did a good job countering their line-up today so our players were more confident playing against them.

To coach: Picking Ryze and Vlad in game 2 is a questionable draft against a late-game team such as WE. Why go for those two champions and did you expect the Yorick counter up top?

Because our players are confident in those champions. But as coach, I didn’t stop them from picking these champions and that was my fault. We still could’ve taken teamfights with this line-up, though.

To LvMao: You haven’t played Rakan in a long while (since January). Why go for him in today’s match?

He hasn’t been good in the last few patches but now he is playable and he is my signature champion.

To Imp: You shut down Mystic hard in both games 1 and 3, which you later snowballed into victory. Do you think this was they key to toppling WE? Shut down Mystic’s hyper-carry potential?

I was just lucky today.

To LvMao: Since the first game, your led the team with good tempo on Rakan as you got the first blood on Vayne and then stole the kill on Rek’Sai from your teammates. What were your team members feelings at that moment?

I didn’t steal the kill, and I think our opponents haven’t played Rakan for a long time as they regard him as a weak champion in the early stage. And also their line-up was not strong during the early stage.

To Coach: Your team lost to WE in your last game of regular season. What adjustments did you make in the meantime to win today’s game?

For Game 1, we expected that they’d pick Lissandra so we chose Galio to counter her as our origin plan. And since we made full preparations and played well, we won that game.

For Game 2, we were in a disadvantage during the draft phase, but today our players were playing pretty well, and each player has a wide champion pool so we still managed to draft a line-up they are good at.