On March 19th (KST), Samsung Galaxy swept Kongdoo Monster 2-0 in the first matchup of Day 35 LCK Spring Split 2017, held at Gangnam Nexon Arena. Specifically, Sungjin “CuVee” Lee on Nautilus and Gragas was a force to be reckoned with and contributed to the team’s victory.

Below is the post-match press interview with CuVee.

How do you feel about the today’s victory?

I expected this series to go easier since it’s the one right after kt Rolster. It feels good to get a clean win.

Compared the last season when you were one of the most distinguished presences within the team, your exposure this season doesn’t quite live up to the last year’s. Any thoughts?

I guess playing tank champions to fit the team comp makes for less memorable plays. Whether I like it or not, playing tanks require team coordination as well as other roles rather than focusing on my individual plays. I admit that I somewhat lack in that regard. Also, many of my favorite champions from the last Worlds were heavily nerfed, making it hard for me in terms of champion pool.

Why did you decide to play Gragas in Game 2 even though he isn’t known as an optimal pick?

I chose Gragas because he’s decent in lane against Nautilus and most enemy champions didn’t have mobility skills. That’s why I went with him. I also was thinking about playing Maokai but ultimately decided on Gragas based on the head coach’s suggestion.

In Game 2, there was a major blunder during a split pushing, which ended up costing Baron after the ADC got picked off.

When I was split pushing, I told everyone to be careful of Nautilus who just got back in the lane. Then, Ruler died after saying how he made a mistake. [laughs] I tried my hardest not to give up Baron, but the enemy ended up taking it. We didn’t say much inside the booth at the time, but we told ourselves that we should never make mistakes like that after the series.

There are only four games left in the regular season. Your next matchup is Jin Air, which is on the rebound even though it’s near the bottom of the standings.

I think we have to win every remaining match to get second place. With any luck, kt may lose to some other teams and shoot us into the second place. [laughs] I tend to think that we can win against pretty much any teams. I won’t let my guard down, though.

Are you jealous at all that many people praise Crown for his dominant form these days?

Not really. It was only possible because we helped each other to get there. We work together as a team.

If your plays were heavily influenced by Ambition last year, this year shows more or less equal representations. What are some unique strengths of Haru and those of Ambition?

Ambition makes games more consistent because he rarely throws, so he can snowball without a fail. Haru makes a quick work of snowballing, but sometimes rapid snowballs give the opponent windows for counterattack. That said, Haru knows how to snowball for sure.

Kongdoo played Ekko two times - once top and another in mid - in the series today. How do you feel about him?

Going with a tank build for Ekko makes him an easy-to-ignore character with limited CCs. I was puzzled to see the enemy Ekko going a pure tank route. I’m not sure if he’s a good champion now. I tried to make damage-oriented Ekko work many times, but it’s not very good either.

Many people point to Rumble as the Tier One top champion these days. How come you don’t seem to prioritize him as much?

I do think that Rumble is a top tier champion, but I haven’t played him as much because he’s not one of my mains. I don’t need to fixate on Rumble since I’m doing well on others.

Anything else you’d like to say?

I don’t come off as flashy these days, but I think it’s because I’m working as a part of the team. I hope you see and rate us as a team rather than judging by individual plays.