CJ Entus managed to cling to its hopes of remaining in League Champions Korea by defeating SBENU Korea 2-0 in the promotional tournament Monday to remaining in the losers bracket. With this victory, CJ will play the loser of the winner’s final match between ESC Ever and Kongdoo Monster do determine which team will be in the LCK next spring.

CJ’s victory was mostly on the shoulders of top laner and team captain Park “Shy” Sang-Myeon, who orchestrated a comeback in Game 1 with a damage dealing Gangplank and dominated on Ekko in Game 2. Shy told Inven’s Im Hye-Sung about CJ’s tendency to fall behind in the early game and how puzzling it is even to him.

“I don’t know (why that happens),” he told Inven. “I think it might be the difference between practice and competitive games. During practice the team plays more aggressively and tries to make things happen, but then something changes when we step into an arena. As the team becomes too conservative, dying a couple of times makes things worse.”

CJ has been struggling as of late, as it placed dead last in the summer split of the LCK with a 3-15 record. Falling behind both rookie teams making their debuts in the LCK has made for a tough season for CJ ENtus and its fans. Still one game away from being relegated into the Challenger scene, CJ is still in peril.

When asked the 2-0 loss earlier to Kongdoo that sent CJ into the losers bracket of the double-elimination promotion tournament, Shy said that the defeat of Game 1 shook the team’s mentality because CJ was close to clinching the victory.

“After losing Game 1 to a comeback, the team was shook,” he said. “We should have pressured them and sieged the turrets down, but we threw the game by trying a Baron. When ahead, a team should go for turrets and inhibitors, not Baron.”

Shy also said that he hopes that Kongdoo loses to Ever “so that we can get revenge on Kongdoo,” and even in the event that they lose, he said it’ll be akin to admitting that Kongdoo is just the better team.

“We’re not an incredibly good team, and not that fluid either,” he said. “Nothing will largely change, so we’ll come forth by polishing what we have.”