On March 21st, Griffin put an end to its losing streak by defeating Hanwha Life Esports. Griffin had stumbled from its grace in the previous week by suffering back-to-back defeats against Gen.G Esports and Afreeca Freecs. However, Griffin once again returned to form against HLE by shutting down the team with a 2-0 match score.

Son “Lehends” Si-woo, the support player of Griffin, was all smiles as he walked into the interview room. “It wasn’t as bad as you might think”, Lehends said as he described the team atmosphere of Griffin. The team had taken the losses as a learning experience, and was already ready to make improvements.

Griffin has once again kicked off its race to secure the first place in the LCK. You’ve just walked out of a 2-0 victory. How do you feel?

Lehends: I feel great that we’ve won. Our previous two losses were due to our poor performances, no doubt about that. We won because we learned a lot from our mistakes and we rediscovered our focus.

Speaking of focus, what aspects did you focus on improving after the two losses?

Lehends: When I speak of learning, perhaps a part of it can be from the opponents. However, it was more about learning about ourselves, what we should have done and what we shouldn’t have. We regrouped as a team and found a new direction.

In game one, you drafted Morgana and linked that pick with active jungle activity on the bottom side of the Rift. Was this a team decision?

Lehends: It was a play that we had strategized for. Our initial plan was to apply pressure to the lane, not necessarily get a kill, but things turned out well and we got the kill anyways.

You’re playing a lot of Morgana recently. She has also been slightly buffed after her recent visual rework, and I would like to hear your opinion on Morgana.

Lehends: I think Morgana is a pick that requires the player to have faith in her teammates. She is such a passive champion so she is nearly useless when your team is losing. Even in a winning situation, she isn’t able to make plays on her own, so I think that you have to have confidence in yourself and your teammates for you to get the best value out of Morgana. She does have definitive strengths if played right.

What kind of support player would you label yourself as, such as a roaming support or a utility support?

Lehends: I’ve never really given that much thought. I don’t think I’m a specific type of supporter, just that some situations require supports to play in a specific way. This can depend on the opponent’s composition and our composition, so I think the type of play should be decided on a situational basis. I have to take the risks of the current situation and use that information and decide whether to play defensively or play offensively.

If I have to categorize myself, I like to roam, so I guess I would be a roaming support.

You play a wide variety of champions, including ones that can initiate team fights. Speaking of which… I’ve heard some rumors about you and Blitzcrank. Your preference to play “the yellow tincan” has been mentioned in a few interviews. Would you show the world your Blitzcrank if the situation allows it?

Lehends: I really like Blitzcrank, I really do. But even I must agree that he isn’t really a good pick. He’s really off-meta in the current state of the League. He’s a pocket pick at best.

However, when all the stars align I think I will be able to play Blitzcrank.

When Griffin lost to Gen.G and Afreeca, it is true that the two teams stepped up to the occasion, but it is also true that Griffin looked a bit shaky. What do you think of Griffin’s performances last week and what do you think caused the poor results?

Lehends: I agree that the opponents played well. There were also issues from our side too. Our teamwork wasn’t at its best.

As for my observation on why we lost … I think we didn’t want to lose so much, that we were only focused on defending our current ground. We didn’t want to lose so badly, we were too afraid to lose. That, ironically, was the biggest reason why we lost.

In recent articles, analysts wondered if Griffin was having a bad performance because the team has issues with proactivity during the early game. Do you personally agree with this statement?

Lehends: I don’t think so. We only evaluated our performance by what we did, what we didn’t do, what we should’ve done, and what we should’ve done in different situations. Whether we should be playing passive or aggressive in a certain situation with a certain champion. We just talked to each other a lot.

What did you talk about?

Lehends: We talked about personal things, the things inside us.

Every team deals with losses differently. Sometimes, team performance might impact the team atmosphere itself. Was this the case for Griffin, and if so, how did the team collectively try to deal with the situation?

Lehends: We just came together as a team and did activities together. We went out for meals together, talked a lot, threw jokes at each other. It wasn’t as bad as you might think. Of course, we were stressed, we had dropped matches. However…We clearly knew what the problem was, and we were confident that we could fix it.

We are drawing near the end of the spring split, and all the teams are fighting to secure their spot in the Playoffs, to climb higher in the standings, or to avoid relegations. Griffin, amongst all of this, will be looking to secure its first place and a direct ticket to the finals. Your next match is against DAMWON Gaming. What are your resolutions?

Lehends: As I had said in previous interviews, we are only focused on how we perform. We can still be okay if we lose, but we like how we played. In that case, we’ll give constructive feedback and get better. So please continue believing and supporting us, and we will repay with a good performance.