In the 2019 LCK Spring Split Day 29 match between SK Telecom T1 and Kingzone DragonX, SKT boasted better macro and shutout KZ 2-0. In the match, Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong performed well with Alistar and Tahm Kench and contributed to the team’s victory.

The following is an interview with SKT support Mata.

It was an important match for you to stay in the top 3. How do you feel about today’s win?

Before the match, we talked a lot about how we would play rather than what rank we’re at. I’m happy that the games went well as we practiced.

How was it playing against your former bot duo, Deft for the second time?

I wasn’t able to punish him in lane; he rather punished me. (Laughs) But I think we endured well with an unfavorable matchup, so I think we both (Deft and I) did pretty well.

Which moment do you think determined the outcome for Game 1?

Kingzone didn’t have the initiative in macro, so we had more choices to pick from. When Jayce went in, we were sure that we would win if we were able to stop the opponent from recalling.

Early in the split, you said that it’s important to build up the synergy with your new teammates. How much is the team synergy at now?

Personally, I think we’re at about 90%. We’re continuing to improve, and I think a lot of people are noticing now.

There were a lot of bans concentrated in bot lane, and Kingzone picked the Xayah-Rakan duo. Did you predict they would pick them?

We prepared the picks and bans thinking Kingzone would pick a hyper-carrying-ADC, but they didn’t. As for the Xayah-Rakan pick, we thought there was a possibility of them pulling that out.

Your next opponent is Griffin. How do you think it’ll go?

We’ve played two games in Round 2, and since Griffin saw those matches, they have a slight advantage. But if we prepare well, we can win. In the previous match against them, I played Alistar and gave up a kill because of a mistake. I’m regretful that I wasn’t cautious enough and I’m trying hard so that I wouldn’t make the same mistake.

Any last comments?

Many fans are criticizing us because of the loss against DAMWON Gaming. I hope everybody knows that we’re always doing our best to deliver the best performance we can, so please cheer for us more so that we can gain more strength to do our best. We’ll show an enjoyable match against Griffin.