SEN Impact heading into the LCS stage. Credit: Riot Games
The newest kid on the block, Sentinels, had their League of Legends debut during the second series of Day 1 during LCS Lock-In. This series was far from clean, but Disguised and their rookies emerged victorious after three intense back-and-forth games.
The Elite Society will look to correct course on Saturday, January 31st, when they face Dignitas. Going into his 11th year competing in North America, Sentinels’ top laner, Jeong “Impact” Eon-young, shared his thoughts on a possible timetable for his team’s improvement, stage nerves from not having a stage match in so long, and reminiscing about facing his current Head Coach in a final.
What were your thoughts coming off your debut against Disguised?
Jeong “Impact” Eon-young: “I was more focused on what I could do, rather than the team’s situation. I failed during the first and second games because I felt like I ran it down. I haven’t played on stage in around five months, so I was slightly nervous during game 1. I’m just happy to play on stage again.
Nervous? You had a great solo kill during game one so you seem confident from the outside.
Impact: That was a good solo kill, but I’m conflicted, he was just trolling in lane! Castle (Cho Hyeon-seong) deserved to be solo-killed at Level 1. I can see the difference between a good and a bad Renekton player, and I don’t think he is good. After the solo kill, I wasn’t nervous anymore.
Your mid laner, Isaac “DARKWINGS” Chou, has four Korean teammates. What language do you use to communicate?
Impact: I speak both English and Korean. For example, if I need to convey specific and detailed information, like, ‘I’m going to push this wave, recall, and come back to help establish vision control. I will get vision control for you guys’, then I have to use Korean. If it’s something simpler, I use English because everyone on my team will understand.
Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin arrived in NA with some hype after forming part of KT Challengers, and Cho “Rahel” Min-seong has several years under his belt competing on the West. Could you share your first impressions working with them?
Impact: HamBak and Rahel are still rookies who have played easy games. They haven’t played in high-pressure situations where you have to devise smart and creative plays to find winning situations. Today (vs DSG), they showed around 30 or 40% of their real level and were maybe slightly scared. They can definitely improve because they’re good players.
How difficult was preparing for this week when visa issues delayed the arrival of two players?
Impact: I didn’t care about losing or winning. The problem was not trying enough to get into winning situations. We need more time, around two months, to play better. When you can’t communicate well, you need to know the game very well. We have language issues complicating how players perform, because not every player knows the game that deeply. During the third game, I warded the bush top side, and noticed Xin Zhao wasn’t hitting crab. I told my team to be careful of a gank bot. They didn’t see and died to the gank. Avoiding being easily punished by these small details becomes harder for a new team. We need to fix these kinds of issues so we can play League of Legends, because I felt like we weren’t playing League.
Toplane meta appears to be versatile. You played Gwen, Mordekaiser, and Ambessa.
Impact: Everyone says that the laning phase has become more important, but I think top laners are more valuable. I picked Mordekaiser because, even if my lane is slightly losing against Sion, that’s the only champion that can save our draft. Playing Viktor against Akali, we couldn’t stop her from going in, so I thought, ‘Ok, I will pick Mordekaiser’. You can pick a variety of champions now. You can blind pick Gwen and K’Sante if the angle is good. It moves like a cycle that depends on the first three picks. You can play whatever, but Rumble is maybe too overpowered.
Do you remember the LCS Final between Team Liquid and Cloud9 in 2018, where you played against the Swole Bros?
Impact: Yeah. I played Sion three games, and I won. I remember.
You played against Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer, who is your current Head Coach.
Impact: He told me about that final, too! He said he can’t believe he picked Malzahar against Irelia. He died at level one or two because Malzahar W can be one-shot by Irelia with her Qs and full stack her passive, which proceeded to one-shot him. We are together now. He also told me, “Sion is so broken.”
There’s a possibility you face Team Liquid, your former team? Could you share your thoughts on their performance against Cloud9?
Impact: I thought they could win, but the way they played, it had to be nerves. Their mid-game didn’t make sense. Their draft game 2 was not good because Orianna is not with that draft. I don’t think Sion can do much in that game, even if Cloud9 selected Renekton and Nidalee. Team Liquid should have gambled on picking Gnar and getting some value. What can Sion do? If I were on the game, I would have been praying to botside, “Please win the lane.” They can improve, but they are also a new team, as only the botlane stayed. I think they need time, too.”