On the 3rd (KST), in the first round of the 2019 LoL World Championship Regional Qualifiers for the LCK, Kingzone DragonX defeated Afreeca Freecs 3-1 to head to the next round. In the match, Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan delivered one of his best performances to lead the team to victory. After the match, Cuzz and head coach Kang “Hirai” Dong-hoon were interviewed. Kingzone DragonX will be facing SANDBOX Gaming in the 2nd round of the Regional Qualifiers on the 5th.

How do you feel getting through the first round of the Regional Qualifiers?

Cuzz: It’s a fortunate thing that we were given a chance to compete in the Regionals despite that we weren’t able to reach the playoffs in the summer. Since we had a long time to prepare, we all did our best in preparation. 

Hirai: I’m glad that we were able to win today with a good performance, and again, I’m very happy that it was a good way for my players to gain confidence again. After the season was over, I increased the amount of practice drastically; I’m thankful that all the players endured that.

You were ahead in Game 1 but wasn’t able to win. How was the feedback?

Hirai: We had a new training program after the season. For Naehyun, we had twelve different programs running. Anyways, some of the things I emphasized to the team weren’t visible, so we went through some of the core points from Game 2; I think that’s why we were able to win.

Which game do you think was today’s main point for victory?

Cuzz: I thought the first game was the most important. Although we lost, there still were some positive assets that we were able to build on. Even if we did lose, I still think it was the most important game.

Some people say that in this Regional Qualifiers, you might be able to take down all the teams in order as SKT did. What do you think?

Hirai: They say man proposes, God disposes. We’re doing our best and waiting for him to respond. All the coaching staff and players really put in enormous amounts of effort. We’re waiting for a result that fruits from that. We’re taking the challenge in a humble but confident manner. Even if we put in everything, if it’s not enough, we’ll lose.

Cuzz: Since we start from Round 1, we can bring up our match performance. I think we have an edge.

Your next opponent is SANDBOX Gaming.

Cuzz: If we can improve just a bit more from what we showed today, I think we can win. What would be important is not to forget what we did well today while we prepare. My prediction is that if we win Game 1, I think we can win 3-0, if not, we’ll win 3-1.

Hirai: I think SANDBOX or DAMWON players will become the leaders of the LCK in the future. They do lack experience in best-ofs, but they’re very difficult opponents to face.

Can you frankly talk about the slump during the season?

Hirai: I don’t think I can talk about that now. What I can say though, is that if the players were able to solely concentrate on their matches and their performances, we would have done better. I think we proved that through today's match. We’re meant to think only about our games, and put in everything in preparation for the games. I’m doing my best for that to be possible.

Any last comments?

Cuzz: I’d like to thank the fans that are cheering for us until the end. I’ll do my best so that we can get good results in our remaining matches.