On day 45 of the 2021 LCK Summer split, Hanwha Life Esports defeated T1 2-0 and kept their hopes alive to make it to the regional qualifiers. The LCK regional finals is a gauntlet style tournament that will take place on Aug 31, over a 3-day period.

The mid laner and adc for HLE, Jeong “Chovy’ Ji-hoon and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu respectively, joined the press room for a post-victory interview.

Congratulations on grabbing the last victory of the team’s regular split. How do you reflect on the season?

Deft: It was definitely a tough season for us because the results didn’t go as we wanted to. Even though we played poorly, our journey isn't over just yet, so we’ll have to keep practicing.

Chovy: We still have a chance to make it to the regional qualifiers, so we’ll have to keep working on the problems that we have both individually and as a team.

Tonight, the team looked very different from when the team was in a slump. What changed tonight?

Deft: Both the draft and execution needs to be there, but at least one of the two didn’t go right in the games that we lost, and the mistakes kept repeating itself. 

You blind picked Leblanc in game 1, and got counter picked with Lissandra. What can you tell us about the Leblanc vs Lissandra matchup?

Chovy: Lissandra is definitely a counter pick, but I have so much experience playing against Lissandra, so I didn’t feel too pressured about it. Plus, she’s been nerfed over time, and I even practiced 1 vs 1s in the Leblanc vs Lissandra matchup before the start of the series tonight [laughter].

What’s the one match that you really have regrets about?

Deft: I think that our games against Gen.G and DWG KIA are the ones I regret the most, because they were games that we definitely should’ve won. I think that if we won those series, we would’ve definitely had a different momentum and atmosphere within the team.

Chovy: I also have regrets about our series against Gen.G. We were very far ahead in game 1 of the series, but we played poorly. That loss really hit me hard this split.

HLE still has a chance to make it to the regional qualifiers. What are some of the things that the team needs to improve to be able to make it to Worlds?

Chovy: We need to be on a level where we can compete against on the international stage. We have a lot of work to do, both as a team and individually.

Deft: We’ll need to practice to become more flexible, and be able to adapt to different situations that we’re given.

Lastly, is there anything you’d like to say?

Chovy: I’m really glad that we were able to play better in the end, and if we can somehow make it to the qualifiers, we’ll make sure to be in better form by then.

Deft: I really wish that the opportunity for us to make it to Worlds will come, and we’ll all be practicing hard while we wait.