Today’s match foreshadowed the upcoming competition for the first place spot. On March 25th (KST), the first matchup of Day 39 of the 2017 LCK Spring Split saw a huge upset by Samsung Galaxy which achieved a perfect 2-0 victory over SK Telecom T1.

Samsung couldn’t have asked for a better start in Game 1, dominating all early lanes. SKT, on the other hand, drafted a late-game comp but failed to build enough momentum for snowball. At the 26-minute mark, global gold deficit ended up over 10K in favor of Samsung. With the successful Baron bust, Samsung outplayed the opponent on every level. 

From the onset, Game 2 was favored for Samsung like the previous one. However, SKT’s counter-attack was fierce. SKT made a 4-1 trade at the toplane and picked off Crown’s Syndra in the mid, evening the global gold. However, Samsung decisively won the Baron fight after catching Ahri out of position and destroyed the inner turrets and bottom inhibitor, effectively ending the series.

Below is the post-match interview with Minho “Crown” Lee, who grounded the team in Game 2.

How does it feel to win the today’s match?

It feels better than usual that we got a perfect 2-0 victory.

Did you expect a 2-0 victory over SKT T1?

I always have this strange hunch the night before a match, and it’s a pretty good one at that. Before I got to the stadium, I had a feeling that we’ll either win 2-0 or lose 0-2.

What did you talk about among yourselves after the match?

As usual, we happily talk about each other’s plays after we win. We were so glad that we won today and talked about the games like we do.

Your Ryze in Game 1 was incredible, especially your use of the ultimate. Any thoughts?

I consistently worked on my Ryze before I went to Worlds. I had enough confidence on the champion except for using his ultimate. I still try to frequently use it and hope for the best. Sometimes I don’t take the full advantage of the ultimate, but I think I’m getting more out of it these day because I’ve used them so many times before.

In Game 2, your Syndra plays against Ahri was exceptional. Care to elaborate?

Ahri is a pretty good pick against Syndra because Ahri’s engagement with Shen’s ultimate makes a dangerous situation for Syndra. I tried my best to be not in that position, but I’m a little disappointed that I got picked off once. I didn’t try to play defensively and always had the best case scenario in my mind.

In Game 2, how did you bounce back after getting an unfavorable 4-1 trade at the top?

Since we were faster to join up from mid to top, we kept passively engaging them while backing off. I thought we had the upper hand in numbers but ended up losing because the opponent fought better than us. Even after the trade, I thought it was 50/50 since we accumulated many leads before. I tried to remain level-headed.

Anything else you’d like to say?

There aren’t that many matches remaining. I hope you continue to root for us in what’s left of the regular season. I’ll push myself harder to get good results.