

(Sake warming up. Source: Inven)

First of all, congratulations on your victory at Spring World Championship. You guys are finally the “official” world champions. How does it feel?

We won many tournaments in the past, but I don’t think we’ve been as happy as we were during this Spring Championship.



Although it’s great to be at the top of the world, the Summer is starting right away as the Spring Season ended, so we won’t let this achievement get over our heads. We will start afresh with the mind of a challenger and work even harder, since Blizzcon is our ultimate goal.



In the Grand Final against EDG, you had a very close base race in Game 1. How did the team feel in those last moments?

We knew the bottom lane will be heavily pushed, so we knew going in that we were ensured a good trade even if we were to lose the engagement. That’s why we played more aggressive there, and even when we lost the team fight, we all kept saying “we are fine”, “we got this” once we saw how far pushed the lane was.

Looking back at the Spring Season, when was your most memorable moment?

It’s definitely when we held the trophy. That trophy was the reason why we all worked so hard, and it was especially great because it showed that all the hard work we put in paid off.

Many foreign fans are curious about MVP Black’s work schedule. How does a daily life of a MVP player look like?

We wake up at 12:30PM and get brunch. We start practice at 1pm, and take a break at 5pm for dinner. We begin another round of practice at 8PM. From 1AM, it’s individual training time, and players go to bed at around 3-5 AM.

Many feel the team got even stronger after recruiting Rich. What affect did Rich have to the team both in and out of the game?

First off, Rich has a really positive personality so our team got a lot more lively compared to MVP Black of 2015. In-game, he is a very consistent player. We tend to try executing things that require a lot of trust and coordination, and those have been working flawlessly these days. There’s been so many positive improvements both in team synergy in-game and in the team house living together that it’s hard to describe all in words.



(Spring World Championship - Street Fighter Style. Source: Inven)

We saw a huge dominance of Korean and Chinese teams in this tournament. What do you think was the reason the western teams struggled this time?

For this Spring Season, I think the Korean meta was the strongest, followed by the Chinese.



I think the main reason NA/EU teams had a hard time was because their season ended early so they came into the World Championship with an outdated meta. They tried to emulate the Korean meta once they got here, but we were already well adjusted to our own meta, so we were much better off.



I think the results of last Blizzcon had a part in it too. Korea stopped at Top 4, and China’s performance was underwhelming, so I think the NA and EU teams were focused more on studying each other rather than watching out for KR/CN teams.



NA and EU will be coming back stronger for the Summer Season, so I’m a bit worried.

After WCA last year, you said that Korean teams were following behind the foreign teams a lot. How do you feel about the Korean scene now?

I think Korea is pretty good if we look at the top few teams, but I think we are still quite behind when we look at the region as a whole.



When it comes to average strength, I think it’s EU > NA=CN > KR.

Was Lunar Jaina and Star Princess Li-Ming successful in infiltrating Sake’s Wallet?

Nope. I still only have one skin, which is Ranger-General Sylvanas, and that was a gift, not something I purchased on my own. I was tempted by Lunar Jaina, but it fell 2% short of my expectation.

People around the world can’t wait to see even more MVP action in both China’s Gold League and Korea’s Super League for the upcoming Summer Season. Any words to your fans?



We are really honored to be invited to China’s Gold League, as my memory’s still fresh from the great battles we had against the Chinese powerhouses this season. China has been MVP’s biggest threat these days, and I think we will have some epic matches when we crash. We will try our best to live up to the expectations of the Heroes of the Storm fans in China.



For Korea’s Super League, the brand new teams that are coming up this season are looking very promising, and I expect TNL to be rising up once again. We are always really grateful for our domestic fans who travel from far to come watch our matches live. Playing great games is the only way we can repay them, and I hope we were able to repay some part of that during the World Championship. We won’t stop here, and will go into every match as a challenger in order to strive for even greater heights. Please continue loving MVP!



I would like to say a big thank you to all the fans around the world that support and cheer for MVP Black. We always play with our fans in mind, and we will continue pushing our limits. The fear of disappointing our fans is what keeps us strong, and drives us to work harder and harder everyday,



Please keep cheering for us.

Thank you.





(MVP Black with the Trophy. Source: Inven)

The Spring World Championship 2016 in Korea was quite a blast with several great matches and awesome production by OGN . Our world champion,showed sheer dominance and mastery of the game at a level above any other team in the competition. Now, everyone around the world is trying hard to crack the secret formula to MVP Black’s success.We had a chance to interview MVP Black’s Captain Lee "Sake" Jung Hyuk at the beginning of the season, and we are back again this time to see how he felt about the Spring World Championship.If you want to reach out to MVP Black and show them your support, feel free to visit one of their streams on Azubu: Streams.