Diple Kia defeated Nongshim Red Force, the lowest place, 2-0 in the 8th week of the 2023 ‘LoL Champions Korea (LCK)’ spring season regular league held at the LCK Arena in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 10th. With a record of 11 wins and 4 losses (+15), it overtook Gen.G (11 wins, 4 losses, +14) and regained the sole second place.
Diple Kia continued to win 10 sets in a row, finishing the first set in 24 minutes and the second set in 25 minutes. We met with Kim Hyuk-kyu, who contributed to the team’s victory with Ash in the first set and Barus in the second set, and heard the secret to the team’s recent rise and the team’s process of resolving burnout.
-We won 2-0 to Nongshim and achieved 5 consecutive wins in matches and 10 sets in a row.
“I am happy to be able to continue the fight for second place in the regular league. Players are also feeling that the atmosphere of the team and the content of the game have improved since the loss to Liv Sanbak. I hope we continue to maintain this upward curve.”
-As Kim said, the team has changed 180 degrees after the complete defeat against Liv San Park.
“After the fight against Liv, I felt that all the players, including me, were mentally exhausted. So, the players talked about ‘Let’s make the game a little more fun’. From then on, everyone seems to have let go of the burden to some extent.
In-game, ‘Showmaker’ Heo-soo has improved noticeably by actively appealing to ban-picks and things related to mid-jungle. Heo-soo has some actions that he did to be considerate of the team. Heo-soo is remembering things he missed last year or even before that, and he is doing well.”
– Why did the team suffer from burnout even at the beginning of the season?
“In Diple Kia, everyone is used to winning. I have all the periods where I took winning for granted. The pleasure you get from winning the game is getting less and less, but the story you hear when you lose is always the same. When such a process is repeated, little by little mental illness occurs. Actually I don’t think there is any way to solve this. You have to win the game again and come up with a performance that you are satisfied with. Then the game becomes fun again.”
– Kim, a veteran among veterans, must have gone through a similar process, how did you overcome it?
“I don’t know exactly what process Heo-Soo went through. However, there was a time when I felt the same way. When I eventually got good at the game again and was satisfied with my performance, the game became fun. It’s hard. I go through such a period because I am not satisfied with myself, but I can only get out of it if I am satisfied with myself. You have to go through a really difficult and painful process.”
-I played Ash in the first set today. He is now a champion considered a supporter.
“Ash is often banned in scrims, and he is highly regarded as a supporter. So, it’s been a while since I played Ash. However, he thought the champion control method was relatively simple, and since he had played a lot in the past, he could use it anytime.
When my opponent picked Nautilus with the 4th pick, I decided to make a bot combination with ①Sivir/Ash ②Ash/Heimerdinger. I didn’t want to play Sivir, so I suggested doing the ② combination. When I play Sivir, it’s easy to play in lane, but I’m reluctant to choose because the champion’s performance seems to be poor.”
-When I chose Veigar, I expected to use it as a non-distance dealer.
“I was thinking of using Veigar as a ranged dealer. However, I thought it would be better to pick Heimerdinger in a ban-pick situation like today. And when I saw the combination of Nongshim, I thought it would be nice for the opponent to play Vega, so I took it away.”
-He is one of the veterans who went through the 2018 non-AD meta. Would that experience help?
“In 2018 and now, my thoughts are the same. I think there are very few laning compositions where the non-won deal itself is good. It seems to be effective because the players are not familiar with the new champion and are inexperienced in dealing with or dealing with champions they have not seen in their lineup.”
-In the 2nd set, I chose Barus and chose the ‘lethal speed’ rune instead of ‘Meteor’.
“Since the Reiners picked Kennen and Renekton, it seemed that DPS would be lacking when taking Baron Nashor. I felt I had to fill the deal to get Baron Nasher. Looking at the opponent’s composition, everyone had high health and defense, so I felt the need to increase DPS with the lethal speed effect.”
-After facing Brion on the 12th, you will be matched against the top teams, T1 and Gen.G.
“I think it’s a good stage to judge whether we’ve improved over the course of a season. T1·Gen.G is a strong team both in terms of ban picks and in-game. I’ll try to find a way to catch them. In the last game, even though we had an advantage in the beginning, we couldn’t come up with a fight structure, so we over-placed people on the side and got turned around. I think I’ve fixed enough of those weaknesses. It will be an interesting game.”
Reporter Yoon Min-seop flame@kmib.co.kr
