T1’s Lee “Kumayushi” Min-hyung says he suffered from burnout, but is confident in his team’s ability to win.
T1 won the second game of the first round of the ‘2023 LoL Champions Korea (LCK) Summer Playoffs against DPL Kia at 5 p.m. on September 9 at Roll Park in Jongno, Seoul, with a set score of 3-1.
Speaking to Cookie News after the match, Lee Min-hyung said, “I thought I would win today because I was playing better. However, my performance wasn’t as good as I thought it would be and I made a lot of mistakes. I think I need to work on that.”
When asked what he looked out for in his opponent, Min-hyung said, “I thought he had a favorite champion and combination, so I tried to banpick in anticipation of that.” “I paid special attention to Kim ‘Deft’ Hyuk-kyu because he favored ‘Kaisa,'” he added.
Lee Min-hyung also credited banpicking as a factor in their victory. “Our favorite champion tier and our opponent’s tier were different, so we were able to get the picks we wanted,” he said.
His use of Jaya’s ultimate to stay alive or lead kills at key moments was certainly impressive. “I don’t think I was particularly good at it,” Lee said, adding that his most memorable moment was “sucking in Jace and Apelios in the mid lane,” but he was modest about it.
T1 went on to lose the second game of the day. When asked what feedback he shared with his teammates, he said, “The second set loss was due to a bad bottom line after (I) got ganged and killed, and I chose to abandon the bottom and go for the messenger. That’s when I lost a lot of experience,” he said. He also cited this as one of the most disappointing moments of the match.
Despite the 3-1 win, Lee Min-hyung was not satisfied with his performance. “I thought we were strong enough to win,” he said, “We won, so we need to capitalize on the momentum. I hope we can give good feedback on our mistakes.”
T1’s performance has improved since Lee “Faker” Sang-hyuk returned from injury after 31 days. However, Lee “Faker” Min-hyung said, “My original form is neither good nor bad,” adding, “I think I got a ‘booster’ when Lee “Faker” Sang-hyuk joined the team at a time when my form was rising, and I quickly recovered.
Ryu Min-seok, a supporter who works with Lee Min-hyung on the bottom, recently revealed in a personal broadcast that he experienced burnout in July.
When asked how they overcame it together, Lee Min-hyung said, “I think most of the team members were similar. They all have their difficulties, but they seem to be holding on to the motivation of winning,” he said. He added, “I had my own struggles. I had a similar burnout. I felt like I lost my form,” he added.
“KT Rolster (KT) said in the last interview that they were wary of T1,” Lee Min-hyung said, “I don’t think they’ll pick us, I think they’ll go with Genji eSports (Genji).” However, he expressed confidence, saying, “I don’t think it doesn’t matter if we meet KT or Genji, and I 바카라 think we can beat them.” Shortly after the interview ended, KT, the No. 1 team in the regular season, picked T1, and the carrier matchup was finalized.
“I want to go to Daejeon for the LCK Summer Finals, not to mention the LoL World Championship (Rold Cup), and I want to win the LCK Summer, so I have a lot to look forward to,” he concluded, promising his fans that “we will show them a good performance so that they will think that they have been compensated for their bad performance in the regular season.”