On Mar. 10, in the 2024 LCK Spring Split, KT Rolster defeated Nongshim RedForce 2-1. It wasn’t a swift victory for KT Rolster as they lost Game 2, but they managed to keep their focus and secured their eighth win. The Player of the Game in this match was Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon. He joined Yoon Soo-bin after the match to discuss the game.

Congrats on today’s win. How do you feel?

It was a bit tough playing the first game of the weekend this morning, but still, the outcome is beautiful, so I'm feeling good.

You received the solo Player of the Game twice and reached 700 points. You're tied for fourth place. 

I think I was lucky to receive it.

You played Rell in the Game 1. It’s Rell’s sixth consecutive win on Patch 14.4, yet this is the first time you picked Rell. What’s the reason?

I'm confident playing other champions into Rell, but today, I felt we needed to pick Rell based on the draft situation.

Your jungle pathing in the early game was impressive. What was the plan?

We had a very strong level 1 composition. The opponent, Vi, was weaker in that regard, so it was easy to take advantage of it.

You also stole the Rift Herald. How was that planned?

At that time, Deft was pushing bot. We didn't actively try for the Rift Herald because we had six Voidgrubs, but I thought I could buy some time. It ended up being a steal because I already scaled well.

Game 2 was a bit difficult. What was the most challenging aspect of facing Nongshim RedForce?

I think Nongshim RedForce has good team cohesion. We were cautious when we couldn't see everyone on the minimap.

In Game 3’s draft, it felt like you were taking away champions that the opponent handles well, like Vi or Zeri. What was the drafting strategy?

We took Vi away because we thought the opponents didn’t had many options left, and Deft knows the bot lane matchups well, so we went with that.

We also saw Gromp making a kill. Did you expect to win at that moment?

When the kill happened, I didn't really think about winning. The enemy Kai’Sa ran away with low health, but when the kill log came up, we just assumed it was Gromp. Instead of thinking about winning, I was more excited about the +300 gold.

Deft got a pentakill at the end. It's his first pentakill in LCK. How did you feel when your teammates all contributed to it?

Deft hadn't gotten a pentakill in 11 years. I got it twice. [Laughs] When Deft yelled penta, I really wanted to steal it, but I decided to be nice and held back.

(*Note: Deft had 3 pentakills in the LPL, Pyosik had 1 in the LCK and 1 in the LCS.)

How did Deft react?

He was just happy.

Your birthday is next Tuesday. Happy early birthday. If you have any gifts you want to receive?

I think I’ve been receiving much more love since coming back to the LCK. It’s much more than I expected, so it's a gift for me to have so much support.

What are your thoughts on the next game?

Just like we prepared for today’s match, we won't be complacent and will analyze the opponents well to show a good performance in the next game.