The last LCK team at the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, T1, fell to Bilibili Gaming, and concluded their trip to London. T1 had a rough start as they lost the first two games. They struck back as they won game 3, but they lost game 4, which became the last game T1 played at MSI 2023. After the match, T1 head coach Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong joined Inven for an interview.

It was your last game at this MSI. There should be some regrets.

We always aim to win the championship, but we didn’t even reach the finals this time, so it’s very regretful. The preparation and result both weren’t that good, so I have a heavy heart.

Looking back at today’s series, you invested many bans in the jungle. What was the reason?

We thought Maokai, Vi, and Wukong’s tier was high, and thought that if we used two bans, we’d get priority. Dividing the good picks among us felt good, but due to that, they used Lulu in all of their games. Not being able to prevent that affected the games.

All MSI long, the tanks were preferred in the top lane, but you played Jax today, seemingly trying to force a sword vs. sword matchup. Was that because of Bin?

It did play a part, and we also thought that Jax could play a major role in the game. We originally played tanks often, but as we played against JD Gaming, we thought it was alright to make a game where we fought often.

Annie was one of the key champions at this MSI. It seems each team evaluates her differently. You didn’t ban her against JDG, but you banned her in game 4 today.

At first, if we pick a tank against Annie, we could reduce her utility, and we could benefit through that. As we played the game, we felt it wasn’t easy, and Annie seemed to raise the tiers of the other lanes. As a result, we didn’t save enough ban cards, and it was difficult to respond properly.

You won game 3, though. How was the feedback after the first two games?

We almost won game 1, and it was alright. In game 2, we took Maokai while giving the opponent Jinx and Lulu. At first, what we thought was that it was alright to get in position with Maokai, and that we could burst Lulu that way. However, it wasn’t as easy as we thought, and that made the Jinx-Lulu comps power peak, so we couldn’t fight properly.

What’s the biggest reason for the loss today?

Not winning the game we could have won, and the bad drafts in the games we lost.

How are the players accepting the loss?

We’ll have to talk about it, but I feel that they are quite disappointed. It’s always hard to accept losses. The homework is to overcome it well.

The LCK vs. LPL matchup ended in a 3-game losing streak for the LCK. Why do you think this happened?

Everything is important, but the most important part was the tier lists in best-of series. The other things are not that far apart.

What did you learn personally and as a team through MSI 2023?

Personally, I need the courage and confidence to turn the direction completely when a plan doesn’t work out in a best-of series. As a team, I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Any last comments?

I’m sorry to the fans for getting eliminated at the MSI this way. We’ll think more deeply about today’s loss and prepare for the summer season well.