On the 5th of July (CST), in the Rift Rivals 2018, SKT T1 defeated Machi E-Sports. With the exception of minor mistakes in the early game, SKT was able to win the game without much trouble. Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan’s performance on Rakan was splendid, and Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s Galio appeared in the right place at the right time to lead the team’s victory.

Being asked if he wasn’t nervous on his first international competition, Park “Thal” Kwon-hyuk answered, “It felt like I was playing in Korea, I wasn’t nervous.” On the same question, Park “Blossom” Beom-chan expressed the pressure he was feeling by saying, “When I saw the other players that had a lot of experience in international stages underperform during practice, I got nervous.”

“I didn’t think of revenge; I just wanted to win this time,” said Faker, being asked if he wanted to get back at the teams that beat SKT and added,  "I want to win this championship and make SKT known as the world's best team again."

Bae “Bang” Jun-sik spoke of SKT’s recent poor performance. “There are still a lot of matches left. When this split is over, and if our record is similar to our current record, we could get discouraged, but I’m pretty sure that we’ll do better.”

“I want to say that I was frustrated at the meta change rather than to complain about it.” Said Bang. “As a pro, and as a gamer, I think the current version and meta is fun. I’m not completely happy that the ADC champions are reappearing.” Many thought that Bang didn’t like the current situation, but he explained that it was rather a frustration than complaints.

Lastly, Thal said, “I know that I’m criticized a lot. I was intimidated for a while, but I’ll do my best to do well again in the LCK after having good results at this Rift Rivals.”