English version - SKT Blank, MSI, Interview S6

[M Zedd] : First of all congratulations for today, you did also two wins like yesterday, how do you feel right now, knowing that you will go the final stage and that you got the first seed for the Worlds ?

Blank : I feel spectacular, and when we were going into the four defeats in a row, I heavily thought that we could never make it to the finals stages. And now that we are actually qualified, I’m really happy and I will do my best to win the tournament.

[M Zedd] : Do you feel like the first seed for the Worlds is really important for the regions to get to the quarter finals/semis, or it is not really important if you are a good team, because whatever happens you will beat the others ?

Blank : I think that the Worlds seed is incredibly important. SKT is really strong, but there could be stronger teams coming up later or there could be someone right now. The global standard is growing up, everyone is getting better, and I think the system like this one is really important to win the Worlds.

Scene of the MSI, with the match CLG v RNG on stage

[M Zedd] : As the jungler you were pointed as the weakness of SKT by a lot of people, most of them on internet, with some of them saying  « get back Bengi » : how do you feel about that ? Is it hard for you to hear people asking your replacement ?

Blank : When we were going into the four defeats in a row, I made sure that I was not seeing a single thread, so I was not disturb by those things.

[M Zedd] : Between your four defeats in a row and your four wins in a row, what happened, what did you do to come back at your great level ?

Blank : First of all, my teammates, my managers and more importantly my family & friends, all cheered for me, so it gave me the energy to work it out. After that, we went through all the games and I was enlightened by all these roots and plans we were working on the matches, and I’m really happy that those things worked out.

Few people of the crowd, watching at the RNG's match

[M Zedd] : Currently, there are mostly three junglers played at the MSI : Nidalee, Kindred & Graves. What is your opinion about these three champions, why are they that good and played at the MSI ?

Blank : I think that those pick dominants come from the top champions like Ekko & Maokai which are AP champions. Assuming that the mid is AP as well it would be very preferred that the jungler goes AD for the damage balance and thus, I think Nidalee is being a little bit suppressed, besides Graves & Kindred which are really strong in early and late game.

[M Zedd] : So what would be your options when you play Graves or Kindred in the mid game to get the advantage ?

Blank : What I actually meant is that they are good throughout the game including the mid, but there is a difference between those two : Kindred is really strong during the early and mid game because of the strong ganks and high AD and she is as good as the others junglers in the late game. Graves, is about the same, but in the mid game and late game he can do a crazy amount of damages while building also tanky.

[M Zedd] : You beat RNG today, you are going to face them again on Friday for the BO5 to get to the finals : do you feel confident about the games and what are the weaknesses of this team ?

Blank : Today, how we beat RNG is really helping us so I’m really confident about facing them again. I think RNG is almost an impeccable team, almost close to perfect so there is not much to discuss about weaknesses but the thing I can mention, is that the team is build with Korean players and Chinese players, so there could be some lack of communication.

[M Zedd] : Last question, CLG is one of the biggest surprises of the MSI, what do you think about this team and the North American scene in general ?

Blank : First, I was really checking out at Immortals because they were going on a winning streaks, but with what happened (TSM has beaten IMT, which were beaten by CLG) I think the NA LCS is overall really strong. The scene is really competitive and really strong, so having that kind of perception looking at today is not really surprising of how well CLG is performing.

[M Zedd] : Thank you for this interview, good luck for next week, and I hope you could make it to the finals !