On June 9, T1 swept Hanwha Life Esports in their first match of the 2021 LCK Summer Split. In this match, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok played Nocturne and Lee Sin, champions that he never played before in official matches. They were his 67th and 68th champions played in his career. After the match, Faker joined the press room to talk with the media.

Congrats on winning the first game of the season. How do you feel?

I feel good and satisfied that we were able to have a clean 2-0 victory from our first match, but since our next match is only two days away, I’m trying not to get too relaxed.

Hanwha Life Esports is also one of the favorites to head to Worlds, yet T1 dominated them today. What do you think about today’s match?

It’s still early in the season and each team prepared different strategies. I believe any team can win against or lose to any other team. Although today’s win was dominant, it’s too early to say that our performance was great.

Is it alright to think that today’s best 5 is the summer season’s best 5? Or could there be changes moving forward in the season?

Since we have 10 players on the roster, I think any one of us could start. But I think Daeny said that the roster won’t change as frequently as spring.

You played Nocturne and Lee Sin today. If spring was a mage meta, is the summer AD?

The meta changed from spring to MSI to now. It changed a lot, so many different things are appearing. It’s too early to define the current meta and since each team interprets the meta differently, we need to see more games.

You laned against Chovy today. Chovy had said that he hoped to play against you. How was it facing Chovy?

I didn’t focus too much on the opponent laner today. My main focus was on the team as a whole. Especially, there weren’t that many fights in mid lane, so I don’t have much to say.

Your next match is against DWG KIA. How do you think it’ll go?

It just the beginning of the season, so that match wouldn’t decide the standings, but the game itself could affect the results later in the season. We prepared a lot so that we could have our revenge from the spring split.

It’s been a very long time since you’ve played offline last. How does it feel?

Since we’ve been playing online for a long time, it really feels different standing on the stage. When I played, it felt different. To me, playing offline is much more fun and motivating.

People say that your performance got much better, and some say that your mindset seems to be different. Is that true?

In the spring split, I felt that I lacked a lot. I was quite determined that I’d be improving those parts. Also, it’s been really long since I won Worlds, so I really want to win Worlds again, and I’m working hard to do so.

Even to Faker, it’s been a long time since you played in front of fans or sat in a press room. Were you any nervous?

[Laughs] I’m not nervous now. When I was on the stage, I did feel more tension than playing online, but I enjoy that tension. Today’s game, playing offline felt really good.

When you said “it was as if we’re one!” through the comms, what did it really mean? What do you think about the team synergy with the current player?

In the spring, the roster wasn’t fixed. When we played experimental picks or tried to decide which direction to play, the synergy wasn’t that great, but today, that all worked out really well. That was why I said that.

Any last comments?

Our start this summer is really good, but our next match is against DWG KIA. As much as we think the result of our next match is extremely important, we’ll work hard so that we could surely show what fans expect from us.