For LNG Esports, their Worlds dream almost shattered before the tournament had even begun. Due to an ongoing dispute with his former team EDward Gaming, mid laner Lee “Scout” Ye-chan had seemed unable to travel for the tournament, with the substitution of JD Gaming’s Yagao imminent.
However, a last-minute development saw the Korean given the green light to attend, and we sat down with him for an interview ahead of the Swiss Stage action.
Esports.net: So with all that’s gone on, now that things are resolved and you’re able to play – how are you feeling?
Scout: Yeah, I’m doing great, honestly. We are now no longer jet lagged and we’re ready to practise and ready to go.
Had you still been practising while the issue was going on? Were you still the one playing in scrims?
Scout: Honestly, it didn’t really impact our practise or scrims overall, so I think overall practise is going well. We’re doing our best to get ready for the matches.
Image credit: Riot Games
Lee Jones: From the outside, there aren’t many tipping you among some of the bigger favorites for the title.
What’s the aim for LNG at Worlds?
Scout: Honestly, as a professional player, my goal is to win it all. It’s never going to really change anything like that. For this year in particular, I feel like we are a team that has really high potential and very high ceilings. So I believe that when we are good, we are extremely good. So I think I’m really just looking forward to being able to showcase that.
Lee Jones: You’ll start Swiss off against NA’s Team Liquid, who have had a lot of praise for their macro game this year.
Have you seen much of them? What are your thoughts?
Scout: So Team Liquid have shown pretty promising performance at the MSI especially. So I think that that’s just one thing and we do have to be very wary of them. And since this upcoming Swiss stage is best-of-one, l and it’s going to be our first match, I believe that we just have to really be cautious of all these variables that we could see. We just have to make sure that we’re ready for them.
Read also: TL vs LNG - Can NA make the upset?
Lee Jones: TL’s mid laner APA is very well known for his trashtalk.
Have you got anything to say to him ahead of the match?
Honestly, I can’t tell you that I watched any of the trash talk or heard about it or anything, but I’d like to say; just go ahead and play well.
Image Credit: Tom Chansiraphet/Riot Games
Do you think the Worlds patch will suit LNG?
So this meta, the only difference from the playoff season would be that it has a lot of changes when it comes to the mid lane. For me in particular, just because I have a pretty decent champion pool, I don’t think it’s going to influence me too much.
Lee Jones: There’s been some controversy over the Swiss stage taking place in the LEC arena that only holds around 200 spectators.
What are your thoughts after arriving there today?
Scout: Yeah, this is actually my first time being at the Berlin Riot Arena, and actually our jungler has been and has experienced playing on the stage here in Europe, so he actually gave us a heads up that it’s going to be small. And yeah, I do believe that is quite small, it’s not that big. I’m just really looking forward to being able to go to the next arena.
What did you think of the Worlds song, Heavy is the Crown?
Scout: Honestly, I haven’t really gotten a chance to look into it too much. But compared to older Worlds songs where it’s more emotional, I feel like lately the songs have been more fast paced, I guess ‘hip’ in a sense. I personally don’t really prefer songs that have fast tempos. That’s just my overall opinion.
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