SK Telecom T1 continues to assert its dominance in League Champions Korea after taking down Samsung Galaxy on Wednesday with a 2-0 sweep. As usual, Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok’s performance on Ryze and Azir played crucial roles to the two victories, and considering his long break and scheduled appearance in Taiwan, he didn’t drop a beat. Faker actually said that the experience was a very good one, writes Inven’s Jang Min-Young.

“(The visit to Taiwan) didn’t impact my game play too much,” he told Inven. “I actually had a very good time in Taiwan during the days between our last two games.”

Inven asked Faker about Ryze’s recent rework, seeing as Faker not only played as Ryze, but also because he’s considered one of the masters of Ryze in the mid lane. With the LCK not yet on the patch where the remake is implemented, Faker says he still needs some time.

“Ryze turned into a damage-centric carry into a utility based champion,” he said. “He’s turned into something completely different. There still needs to be more experimentation.”

With Azir being played less in the LCK, many players considered Azir to be much weaker than before, but Faker still showed dominance as the Emperor of Shurima. Of course, according to Faker, it’s all in the hands of the player.

“Azir is difficult to get in position and changes depending on how the player is feeling,” he said. “It’s ultimately a skill showdown. Jungler ganks and vision was crucial (against LeBlanc.) There wasn’t a big difference between the players in mid lane, I think I edged out a little in terms of trades.”

With SKT now close to first place again and winning the summer split, Faker must feel confident in his team’s chances, but when asked, he turned to a rival team.

“I think right now the ROX Tigers have a better chance of winning the summer split,” he said. However if I can bring back my game play from the earlier stages of Round 1, I think we can take first place of the regular season.”

With their next match being against the Afreeca Freecs that delivered the first upset defeat to SKT, Faker said that he “wasn’t feeling great” during their games, and assured that if he “could play one player’s worth of a performance” SKT can definitely win.

He ended the interview by saying that he’s still unsure whether or not SKT can beat the Tigers in another matchup. He praised the Tiger’s recent improvement and promised to work hard to defeat the now revitalized ROX Tigers.

Cover photo courtesy of Riot Games.