PSG Talon exceeded expectations for the Pacific Championship Series representative at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational by qualifying for the Knockout Stage, but after a hard-fought semifinal against Royal Never Give Up, PSG Talon was eliminated 3-1 and will have to settle for a top 4 finish. After its loss to RNG and subsequent elimination from MSI 2021, PSG Talon addressed the media in a post-match press conference.

Helper, in your first split as head coach, you brought PSG Talon to the MSI semifinals. How are you feeling?

I'm feeling grateful. It's very meaningful for me to have been together with the team at this big event.

Doggo, you have achieved the biggest accomplishment as a substitute in LoL esports history. After finishing this journey, you will be returning to your original team Beyond Gaming. What would you like to say to your teammates?

Wait for me to come back, and I'll tell you then.

Helper, after the match you said that playing RNG in a best of one was completely different from playing RNG in a best-of-five series. What was it like playing against RNG in a best-of-five series?

Before I would evaluate RNG in a best-of-five, I want to say that we had a very limited amount of time to prepare for the series, so, as a result, we also had very limited strategic options. Therefore, I don't really think I can evaluate RNG in a best-of-five series.

Doggo, what has this tournament meant to you?

At the very beginning, I didn't perform well. I had some improvements throughout the tournament, but right now, it feels like we are back to the lowest point.

Hanabi, do you feel that despite losing today, PSG Talon's performance was enough to raise the overall expectations for the Pacific Championship Series heading into the World Championship?

I will say our performance today was decent, but we are not the only team to represent the PCS region. Also, it has taken a long time for the PCS region to achieve this result.

Kaiwing, the team looked a bit disjointed in game 1 today, as indicated by the lack of initiation in play from the team. Can you explain what happened?

RNG played four games of Morgana in today's match, and Morgana is a champion that does very well at restricting the opposing team's engage. In today's series, we didn't really do that well in terms of shotcalling, to be honest. I was kind of too rushed in my engagements, so it didn't go smoothly for us. Also, I would say that Wei had a pretty good performance on Morgana. His Black Shield usage was very timely.

Helper, PSG Talon exceeded expectations at MSI 2021. How does it feel to have guided your team to this result knowing that it was a better placing than most expected of your team?

First of all, I'm not sure how other teams or players were thinking, but I thought our team would do well because we were pretty destructive and powerful in scrims. Because of this, I had faith in my team. Our goal was reaching the semifinals, but at the beginning of MSI, I think we were underperforming because our team didn't get to play offline matches against strong teams.

However, even though our players were getting a little tilted or nervous on stage, they were able to overcome that mindset throughout the tournament and make it to the semifinals. I'm grateful for that, but at the same time, if we had more time, I think we could have done better, so that's a bit of a bummer.

Maple, you said that you wanted to face RNG because both RNG and PSG like to teamfight. Now that you've played best-of-ones and a best-of-five against RNG, how are you feeling about this matchup?

I would say in this best-of-five, RNG performed better as a team than we did. The games we lost to them were pretty regretful. I think we had a chance to win against them if we made improvements to some specific parts of our game, so it was a pity that we did not win this best-of-five today.

Helper, in recent international tournaments, we've seen PCS teams adapt to the meta faster than other regions. You couldn't win today, but you still competed in the semifinals against one of the best teams in the world. Based on your performance at MSI, do you think that at Worlds PSG Talon can break the PCS' losing streak in international best-of-five matches.

I've heard that the PCS struggles mostly with best-of-five series, and to prove that wrong through results. Once again, I just want to say it is a bummer that we didn't have enough time to prepare. Our players are very talented and they performed very well, so I'm sad that we were not able to try out different tactics in the limited amount of time we had between rounds.

However, I'm pretty sure we can overcome these kinds of weaknesses if we get another chance. Next time, I think we will perform better and achieve better results.

All images by: Riot Games