In the second match of the opening day in the 2022 LCK Spring split, T1 faced off against Kwangdong Freecs and took a clean 2-0 victory. As a team considered to be one of the favorites to win the Spring split this year, T1’s team synergy proved to be too much for KDF.

T1’s mid laner, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, joined the press room for a post-match interview.

How does it feel to start the season with a 2-0 victory?

I’m glad that we’re off to a good start. The series didn’t feel particularly hard, and moving forward, it’ll be important to keep the momentum going. We focused on improving on an individual level, because we thought that our opponents tonight will know us quite well tonight.

How did the recent changes to the game affect the meta?

With the recent changes to Teleport, the laning phase became that much more important, because you can’t freely teleport to other lanes pre-14 mins. In comparison to the previous seasons, I predict that there will be less variance.

It felt like the team was being very safe with macro tonight.

It was our first match, and since KDF are pretty good at responding to our plays, we agreed to play safer tonight.

What can you tell us about taking the Resolve tree as your secondary runes tonight?

Due to the changes to the runes in the mid lane, I think that this meta heavily focuses on the laning phase, so the Resolve tree looked like the way to go.

What kind of a team do you hope T1 will be in 2022?

I hope that we’re a team that performs well consistently. Whatever hardship we may face, I hope we overcome them as a team.

There’s a lot of attemtion on the Asian Games this year. What are your thoughts on potentially representing your country this year?

Playing in the Asian Games would be a great honor. Before I tell myself, “I really want to play in the Asian Games”, my priority is improving my form. If I achieve my goals, a ticket to the Asian Games will come naturally.

Lastly, a word to your fans.

I know that there are a lot of fans anticipating great things from me this year. I failed to win Worlds three seasons in a row, so I hope to show my appreciation by winning Worlds this year. Furthermore, the live audience is finally back, so I’ll work my hardest.