It’s an emergency for the LCS at the 2022 LoL World Championship. Among the nine games played by the three teams in the group stage, they’ve won zero. The last game in the first round for 100 Thieves was against RNG. The 100 Thieves went ahead with the initiative from Can "Closer" Çelik’s Viego, but their lead was demolished after losing a dragon teamfight. After the game, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho joined Inven Global for an interview.

I saw the day 1 pictures — your eyes seemed red. Are you alright?

I’m alright. It’s just because of some allergies and dust.

It’s a difficult situation for 100 Thieves as you’re 0-3. How’s the atmosphere?

Since we’ve lost all the games, it’s not that good. Still, we’ll need to do as much as we can till the end.

Despite your losses, your individual performance seemed to shine. What’s been positive for you?

We’ve been scrimming with strong teams, and I’ve been facing good top laners, so I learned a lot. The LCK and LPL teams are really good — players like Zeus or 369.

The games against Gen.G and RNG were quite alright. What was the reason for the losses?

We lost confidence a lot, so we kept on trailing to the opponents. We were rather intimidated as we played. In that regard, feedback was about playing more actively, more constructively.

Do you think it’s because you and your teammates got nervous?

I don’t think we’re making mistakes because we’re nervous. Whatever tournament we play in, we need to be tense.

Peanut said in an interview that the LCS teams know how to benefit but blow their lead with one big mistake. What do you think?

I agree. I think it’s because LCS teams often get sucked in in teamfights. The LCS or LPL teams position themselves really well and check the spells very precisely, but the LCS can’t catch up with it. Usually, when you lose a big teamfight, the game is almost gone. I think that’s why LCS teams are underperforming right now.

Heading to this Worlds, what was your and the team’s main focus?

Last year, we were eliminated with a 3-3 record, so our goal this year was to reach the knockout stage. But it’s a huge red light for us since we’re 0-3. I want to show more positive performances in round 2.

It seems that Aatrox is really strong in the top lane. There seems to be no counter. How is the meta?

Aatrox is a very good pick, but regardless of the Aatrox, I think the top lane has less influence over the game compared to other lanes. There are things that I can do or can’t do depending on the meta, so I always need to adapt.

When you played Gen.G, you met “head coach” Score, who was your old teammate. I know that you and Score are close. Did you have a chat?

Frankly, I wanted to sit and chat with him for a while, but since we’re in the same group, I need to be more careful. We just said hello while moving around. Mafa is there too, so I wanted to go and mingle, but that’s a bummer. On the day we faced Gen.G, we met at the elevator, and we just encouraged each other by saying play easy.

How is Champions Queue? The best around the world is participating, so I wonder how it is.

It’s much, much better. The games are worth watching, and since the best players around the world are playing each other, it’s much more fun. There are a lot of quality games as well. It’s kind of like the Worlds of solo queue.

Since the LCS is playing at home, there would be more cheering from the crowd. I know that you enjoy the roar of the crowd. How does it feel to play Worlds on home ground?

Although it is our home, there are a lot of Chinese fans. When we played against RNG, there were a lot of people cheering for them. Since it’s LCS home, if we played well, we would get a positive boost from the fans, and the fans would be happier, but we’re in a horrible situation now. That’s so unfortunate.

They say NA is always better in the second round. How do you think it’ll go?

We still have the last spark left, so we’ll do our best to advance in the end.