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On June 19, T1 defeated kt Rolster 2-1 in Match 1, Day 5 of the LCK Summer Split 2022. After losing Game 1 vs KT both wins of T1 were comeback wins as both games stayed neck and neck to the end.
After the match, Inven met up with T1 support player Ryu “Keria” Min-seok. Even after the win, Keria’s expression was one of disappointment as he explained how he and the team could have done better against KT.
“We’re relieved to have won, but our performance was very disappointing. From the draft in Game 1 to how we should have kept the lead in Game 3, we were crushed by our opponent’s plays that we honestly should have expected. Very disappointing.”
T1 transitioned Camille to the support role while Kassadin-Diana was drafted as the team’s two AP threats. The early game lead that had turned KT into a loss for T1. Despite this, Keria said Game 1 was winnable if the team composition was “well done”.
“After the durability patch, I felt like any champion can have a decent laning phase as long as the champion works well. That’s why we prepared Camille Support and we even got great results with her in training. We didn’t plan on playing them tonight, but we ended up playing them anyway. Looking back I don’t think it was a Camille support tonight. We’ve never tried the Diana-Kassadin duo, but we thought the duo was playable, so we gave it a try.
We weren’t too confident about our team standings, but we felt that if we played well, we could win the game. That’s not really a good sign. After Game 1 we just played our standard game, one lane requiring no babysitting while the other champions were scaling champions.”
There were moments when members of T1 got caught on the side lanes in Game 3. It felt like a domino effect as things fell apart after someone got caught.
“I’m usually the one who makes a lot of back street calls. Not only was the pace slow, but there were many champions who found it difficult to deflect macros off the sidelines. So as long as I had the enemy movement in the lead, we could dodge the pickaxes. Since MSI, however, there have been more champions thriving in the back alleys, but the pace is also faster. In the end, it was difficult for me to keep track of enemy movements alone, so I think this is something everyone needs to do.”
T1 have only played two games so far but many have said they looked disappointing. Keria was also very objective about the team’s performance, stating that he wasn’t happy with it.
“The quality of our gameplay is very low. I hate it. We have to play smarter. We have to be good at what we’re good at and not give the opponent room to make good plays.”
In addition, he expressed his disappointment that the current support player role doesn’t suit his playstyle. “In the current meta, it’s difficult for support to make their own games. It’s different from my play style and it makes me a little angry. It’s hard to make a difference through roams or tower pressure. Right now, support’s role is to follow the jungler, prioritize targets, and take care of the carries to hit their power peaks. Almost like a nanny.”
Most recently, he shared a word with his fans, ending the interview:
“Winning this split is an obvious goal for the summer, but the way we’re playing I can’t tell if we can win the summer or not. We have to work harder to fix our mistakes so we can be the championship team in the summer. Thank you to everyone who came to the fan meeting. They only happen when we win, so we have to keep winning. We will improve our gameplay so that both the fans and I can enjoy the fan meetings.”
