The turnaround from their two opening defeats to finishing runner-up at First Stand has seen Karmine Corp carry out one of the best tournament comebacks in the history of League of Legends. While an opening game victory in the grand finals against Hanwha Life Esports looked to signal that a monumental upset was on the cards, the Koreans turned things on from game two onwards to claim a dominant 3-1 win and become First Stand champions.
KC has done EMEA proud and leaves the tournament having provided their region hope that they can match up with elite Asian teams in the remainder of the season. They spoke to the media in a post-match press conference following the defeat.
Esports.net asked jungler and leader Yike for his thoughts on the team’s turnaround having started so disastrously only to later reach the grand final.
Image credit: Riot Games
“Super proud of the team, the fact of going 0-2 and knowing that we have to beat the on paper two strongest teams in the tournament, and probably in the world, like Top Esports and Hanwha Life. We all knew it was going to be a hard task, but I’m really happy that no one stopped believing, everyone just kept believing that we can win. We kept the very strong team atmosphere we have, like making jokes and just having fun together. And yeah, I’m really proud of everyone.”
Later, rookies Vladi and Caliste were asked on their experience leading EMEA and having the region’s expectations placed on their shoulders during a historic run.
Vladi began by explaining the “boost of confidence” that he earned throughout the tournament as KC’s comeback progressed, learning to not be afraid of trying new champions and playstyles in the current First Stand meta, and to be confident while doing so.
“I want to be aggressive, and I think I also learned to not be nervous playing against the top teams. After I played against Team Liquid, for example, I think I was playing pretty weak because I was scared, or I wasn’t playing with confidence. But I think, as I said, just going through the next games, I didn’t care at all and I played with no fear. I think we managed to go pretty far”
Image credit: Riot Games
For Caliste, confidence was also the key as he revealed his thoughts on improvements made following the opening loss to Team Liquid.
“I would say I will be more confident, and I think I already showed it after the Team Liquid match. It’s mostly skill-wise, I think I will learn a lot from each game. I’m getting better individually and better at the laning phase, better at being more confident learning new stuff.
“I think I learned a lot of things about specific matchups and also ways of playing the mid game. And I think, mostly, when I will come back to Europe I will be more confident and I will be able to play more aggressive. Just being more confident in my individual skill. Because I think Viper and JackeyLove, they are really confident, and I think I tried to show up against them and show my individual skill and I think I will do it in Europe when I come back and it will probably be easier.”
Source link