"I know how to move forward from here. Let's see how fast we can improve" — Reapered After KC's Upper Bracket Exit

Five series for five losses this year. KC and G2 have become one of the most lopsided head-to-heads at the top of the LEC, and another 1-3 defeat in the Spring playoffs upper bracket sends KC into the lower with their MSI dream still alive — but hanging by a thread. Head coach Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu sat down with RFT.GG right after, honest about the problems he sees, careful about the ones he can't name yet.

How are you feeling? How is the team feeling?

Yeah, it obviously sucks. We've been losing to G2 like five times in a row now since last season's playoffs. We've been prepping against them for quite a long time. Game one and three we almost came back, game two and four — there's no shot to play the game. Obviously it feels awful for everyone.

It's just time to treat my players well and make sure there's no mental block building up versus G2.

Why were games two and four unplayable?

There are some issues that I may not want to talk about in an interview. But yeah, there is a deeper problem we saw clearly, and we recognise the problems right now — it's just not easy to fix in a moment. We just have to keep going.

Was the preparation this week only about G2, or also about becoming a better team in general?

It goes both ways. It's not just one or the other. Obviously we need to cover our weaknesses and we are shaping our players' form and strengths. At the same time, playing G2, there's a special feeling against us. So we prepped both ways — and we failed this time. What can we do? We have to play better for the next chance we get to play against G2 again.

Your struggles in the early game against them have been pretty consistent — even going back to LEC Versus. What was your read on the issue in that department against G2?

It does feel like there is something we are not very good at, or something that is especially present when we play against G2.

Something maybe more emotional, because the game explodes too much, too often, to an unplayable level.

That's not the only way to talk about it, but everyone can see that against G2 the early game is exploding in a lot of different ways. We have to look at it and move on. But I'm pretty sure it's something specific against G2, not against other opponents.

A lot of fans have criticised KC's vision game — I saw the LEC even did an entire segment after game two about a vision spot that allowed G2 to turn the game in their favour. Is that something you've flagged and are working on?

Yeah, we work on vision plans every game. But in order to have a proper vision setup, you have to recognise where you can be and where you can't be. We draw that line — sometimes the same line as them, sometimes differently. The problem right now is that if we go to contest vision at the wrong timer or in the wrong area, we get punished. And then there's no vision game anymore. Early game right now is just everyone follows and everyone dies in the same spot — there's nothing to gain.

Do you think your playstyle as a team means you sometimes accept harder conditions in the early game to be strong in mid game and teamfights? Is that something you consciously build in draft?

Not really. We're not playing for mid or late game teamfights intentionally. If we're behind, obviously the other team has a better chance in late game — but that comes from the laning, from the jungle fights, from the early skirmishes.

Right now, we're just naturally behind. And everyone should be very angry about how the game has been going in games one to four.

We are going to work on those areas, but it's not something simple.

Zeph told me before LEC Versus that what would define whether you were a great team was how you'd bounce back when you'd struggle. Was today your shot to prove that — and did you fail?

Yeah, today was one of those shots. We came here to prove ourselves, not just to play games and lose. In the end it was a failure. But at the same time — I'm still imagining what the games would look like if we had the early game advantage. Because in every single game we're struggling early and they're 5k up, no matter what champions they have. It's hard to say exactly what the problem is. But luckily, I think I've seen the problems right now and I know how to move forward from here. Let's see how fast we can improve.

Given that against G2 nothing has really changed since LEC Versus — sometimes you come back, sometimes you don't — aren't you worried the team isn't growing the way it should?

It's hard to say at this moment, obviously. I know we're struggling against G2. But it's not the case against other teams. So I'm thinking more about how we want to play against G2 and how we want to approach our early games specifically — rather than about the general picture.

Do you think there might be a mental block starting to grow?

Yeah, I mean, it is what it is — we've lost five times in a row, and they've been the better team. We have to overcome that. That's the only way to prove ourselves.

We're going to find a way. We're not here just to lose games and play for fun.

Are you still confident you'll make it to MSI?

It's not that I underestimate the other teams, but it does feel very extreme against G2 specifically — that's what I saw today. From here, what we learned, we carry on. Losing is losing, we can't change it. But playoffs keep going and we still have one more shot to make MSI and even play against G2 again for the championship. It is what it is. We're going to give our best for our last chance and see how it goes.