HLE Viper on their T1 win: “We were 100% confident that if we played the way we had prepared, we would win.”

Hanwha Life Esports finally clicks. Their team consists of three world champions and two players who reached the semi-finals. However, the LCK Spring Split 2023 did not start well as they lost an early three games. In this critical situation, Hanwha Life Esports fought back by defeating T1 2-1.

Head Coach Choi “DanDy” In-kyu stressed the importance of the bot lane before the T1 match, and Botlaner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon lived up to his expectations. Playing Varus, Lucian and Draven, Viper contributed a lot to Hanwha Life Esports’ victory. After the match he went to Inven for an interview.

They finally delivered the performance that fans of Hanwha Life Esports have come to expect. What has changed?

We focused on how we differentiate between scrims and in the LCK. After some feedback, we realized that we were often too cautious or too nervous in LCK compared to scrims, so we tried to improve some things in terms of communication and concepts. One of the biggest things was that we didn’t make as many shot calls in the LCK as we did in scrims.

You lost to Gen.G, KT Rolster and Liiv SANDBOX, but you beat the only undefeated team, T1. What do you think it means?

We believed 100% that if we played the way we prepared, we would win. Today was that day. Although T1 were undefeated, they had a weakness. We thought we could win if we prepared well.

It seems that with more resources from the team, you became more alive. In your opinion, what are the prerequisites for a great performance?

It is important for me to play calmly. In the game, what matters is where we focus our resources. In the last meta, the bot job is the most important one, so I get more resources. Many champions also performed with a strong lane – along with champions that have more of a supporting role like Zeri or Lucian. Ironically, these strong lane champions don’t have much value in the late game, so I have to give the entire early game more leverage in other areas.

Pushing champions like Jayce made more appearances this week. What do you think caused the change?

Champions like Jayce, Ziggs or Jhin are choices to appear. Winning on the course comes first, and point comes next.

The tides were very different in games 1 and 2. What turned the tide?

In Game 1, as in our previous games, our communication was inconsistent. From game 2 everything was done for us so that we could win.

It feels like your Lucian is stronger than when other players play against Lucian.

Lucian is a very comfortable champion for me – even better when I play him with Nami. However, we wanted to break this composition against T1. When they first picked Nami, we picked Lucian and Yuumi. They would have felt more uncomfortable playing Draven-Nami.

In Game 3, Draven and Kassadin were picked early. They are usually selected later in the design.

When we saw T1’s first two picks, we thought Kassadin would be strong against these champions. We chose Draven because we didn’t want to give up lane priority. He was the best to take the track lead among the remaining picks.

By the end of game 3, you haven’t died. Did you believe in becoming immortal?

After the draft, I thought we wouldn’t lose in a 3v3 match. Jinx and Soraka are not that strong in 3v3 matchups including the jungle.

you played with life How does it compare to other supports?

He has a lot of potential. Our bot duo will improve together.

Are there any teams you have watched in the LPL? How do you think EDG is doing?

It seems that Invictus Gaming is showing some interesting achievements. Although EDG lost recently, they have great players so I think they will do well.

You have played in different teams so far. Have a solution to improve Hanwha Life Esports performance?

We proved that we can play better today with our win against T1. The LCK season is very long and how we end it is the most important thing. We will be a team that can laugh last.