On the 23rd (KST), Hanwha Life Esports took on Griffin in Week 3 of the 2020 LCK Spring. With a set score of 2-1, HLE took down Griffin to pick up their 3rd match win of the season. HLE is a team that sometimes drafts very unorthodox team compositions, but tonight, they played very standard team compositions. With it, they proved that they're a team that's flexible not only in draft but execution, and with tonight's victory, they solidified themselves in 6th place.

The mid laner for HLE, Kang “Tempt” Myung-gu joined the Press Room to talk about the match victory against Griffin, working with his new teammates, and how he's on the prowl for Player of the Game (PoG).

Thoughts on the victory?

I’m really happy that we won tonight’s match. If we lost, we would’ve been 2-4, but we won and we’re now 3-3, so I’m glad that we at least have a 50% win rate.

You played Taliyah tonight, and she’s a champion that you continue to put on a good performance with. Can you tell us about why you picked Taliyah tonight?

The enemy played Orianna, which is pretty immobile, and a lot of mid champions were banned, so not only am I confident on Taliyah, there was nothing else to play.

How does Taliyah fare in the current meta?

If Taliyah can be proactive in the early game, then she’s a great champion. However, against the meta champions, if she can’t do anything against them early, she’s not that great, so she needs to do well early.

How do you rate your own performance on Taliyah?

I don’t think I played well early, but I think I played alright.

On broadcast, Lehends yelled, “Griffin without Lehends!” What was the backstory behind it?

Lehends just yelled it out because he was excited. I thought he was a bit weird, but it was pretty funny. 

Speaking of Lehends, this is your first season playing together. What kind of a player is he?

He’s really good. His in-game calls are really good, and is very proactive in trying to make plays. 

In the last interview with him, he seemed full of confidence, and even felt responsible for leading the team. Does he actively show those traits?

He’s the captain, so he’s trying to bear a lot of responsibility and lead us very well in-game. Outside the game, he’s a very fun guy overall. He really likes to joke around with the rest of his teammates.

HLE is 3-3, and it’s a record that may not be satisfactory for you. While some players may feel pressure with the win-loss record, HLE seems very relaxed, in which you guys are looking further ahead into the future. Is there a certain goal that the team’s working towards?

Although our head coach says that we’re going to take over the Summer split, and we’ll start to perform well from Summer, we, the players, all want to do well in the Spring split as well. 

Despite such goals, you didn't seem too down when the team lost.

The games we lost were crushing defeats, so we were just left dumbfounded. Although we feel really bummed out by our losses, we lost without being able to do anything, just like our games against DRX and Gen.G.

Among the teams that beat you, is there a team that you really want to get your revenge on?

Although I want to beat all the teams that previously beat us, we lost 1-2 against Afreeca, so I really want to beat them in Round 2. 

Who’s the player that brightens up the atmosphere for the team?

It would have to be Lehends. He’s a very fun guy.

It seems that CuVee is also a very bright player, and it seems that he really follows Lehends, even saying stuff like, “Listen to Lehends!” Is he really like that in real life?

Lehends makes a lot of in-game calls, so he may say stuff like that during the matches. However, he’s not like that outside the games. We’re all equals outside the game.

Your next match is against DAMWON. How do you rate your lane opponent, ShowMaker?

During last year, and even in the last match, he played very well. I know that he’s a good player, and he’s very good in lane. I think that mid lane will be the key point against DAMWON. If I play well, we’ll be able to beat DAMWON, so I’ll make sure to really practice to beat them.

I haven’t thought about his weak points, but just like Chovy, everyone puts so much importance in laning phase, so I don’t think he’s an exception. I have to do well in lane in order to smoothly transition into make team-ccentric plays, so I’ll make sure to play out the laning phase well. 

Lastly, can you share your resolution for your next match against DAMWON to your fans?

I played 6 games so far, yet I haven’t received Player of the Game (PoG) yet. Although I’m not bummed out about not receiving PoG, if I play better, the team will naturally play better as well, so  I’ll make sure to practice harder to receive PoG against DAMWON.