This year will be different.

On the 6th of October, on the 2nd day of the League of Legends World Championship Group Stage, TSM took a proud victory over FW.

FW started the series off strong with a 'first blood' and 'first tower', but TSM's toplaner, Hauntzer, constantly made superplays that prevented Maple and MMD from doing what they desired. 

It was a rollercoaster of a game, and the game hit the 40-minute mark before we knew it. As the global gold gap closed between the two teams, TSM took the next step, a step that FW was trying to take the entire game. FW took many leads throughout the game but was struck down again and again by Doublelift and Hauntzer. In the end, TSM secured their late-game Baron and Elder Dragon, to eventually, the game itself.

The following is an interview done between Sjokz and Doublelift, a player who unloaded damage after damage on the last fight that decided the victor of the first game of Group D.

Q. How did you guys get back to the game? 

When we were really far behind in the early game, we were just really good at anticipating their next play and always trying to get a trade or stalling out their play.

Our biggest mistakes before were constantly trying to teamfight because we're notorious for being a good teamfighting team... but we couldn't just smash our heads into them and hope to win, so we had to be more cautious. 

We were stalling the game out until we got our item spikes. With Trist, as soon as I get four items, I can 1 vs 5, so we were just waiting for that.


Q. I like how you've mentioned your previous weakness. Have you guys matured enough to take the next step this year?

Last year, I was just playing really bad, and our team didn't have the right mentality. I don't think Worlds teams are significantly better than the NA teams - other than the Korean teams, obviously. This year, we treat every team with a lot more respect, and we've been taking a more humble approach. I think we're learning a lot more from being humble.


Q. There is a lot of hype on TSM. How are you keeping calm?

Other teams are praising us and overhyping NA as usual... but we're not the team that pays attention to that anymore... by saying things like: "yeah, we're the shit!"

This year, we're just being really cautious and trying to live up to the hype. Otherwise, our fans are going to be really sad.


Q. Match predictions on FNC vs IMT?

I think IMT is going to smash FNC.