KC Reapered: “Are we winning because we play worse teams? Yes. But do we look strong? Yes”

KC are through to the Worlds Swiss Stage. After a messy 3-2 against Cloud9 on day one, Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu’s side stepped up with two clean 3-0 over MVK to lock in their spot in the Main Event. DPM Esports caught up with KC’s head coach right after the qualification to talk about the Play-Ins as a warm-up, the side-lane work done during bootcamp, what this team can really achieve, and a Swiss Stage opener against a familiar opponent: AL.

How are you feeling after qualifying for the Main Event?

It does feel like we’re getting into Worlds the long way, but it is what it is, and we got a lot of positive things out of this journey. The bootcamp was positive, we’re getting stronger as a team, and we’re kind of slow starters, as I always feel. But we actually had a decent warm-up in the Play-Ins, so everything is good.

Do you think the Play-Ins were a blessing in disguise, a chance to warm up and slowly get better on stage?

If we had gone directly from our finals, that would have been great too *laugh*. But once we’re here, we should find a way through things and use that as fuel.

How are the vibes in the team? Is everyone still locked in, or is anyone feeling tired from the time difference and all the training before coming to NA?

We’re feeling great and very ready. It also feels very calm, because our first series against C9 was very messy, and we didn’t perform like we did in the MKOI match. Everyone recognized we were underperforming again and asked how we could fix it, how we could play like in our practice games. Every day, we try to push ourselves to be better versions of ourselves. It worked well in these play-ins.

Do you feel your players have stage nerves? That when they’re on stage against a team that could match them on paper, it’s harder for them to play like they do in scrims?

No, I don’t think so. It’s not just stage nerves, it’s everything combined: when they play well, they play well, and when they play bad we're giga sh*t. It’s preparation, confidence, some individual players, a lot of things we have to deal with and that they have to deal with themselves, so in the end, “stage nerves” alone doesn’t describe it perfectly. You mean we underperformed in a lot of our playoff games and important games, right? But we still believe in ourselves, we know we can play like we did at EWC and get something from this experience, and we actually believe in it. That’s why we’re here, and we’re ready to perform again.

Now that the first match of Worlds is out of the picture and your players have warmed up on stage, do you think you would look better as a team if you had faced C9 again, in the final for example?

Probably, yes. The first day we won against C9 3-2 and the second day we won against MVK 3-0, but in terms of how they played, C9 just played how they should play while we weren’t playing how we should, so we can’t even compare. They weren’t even playing particularly well or doing anything special, we were just underperforming and that’s why we looked bad. On the second day, we played our comps, what we should play, but MVK actually played well: it’s not just about the classic basics, they’re above that level, so I guess MVK is the stronger team. That’s what I thought, and if we met C9 again in these finals, we'd probably won easily.

What’s up with how you’ve been playing the side lanes since the start of this tournament? It’s something we haven’t really seen from you: the overloads, Canna and kyeahoo very coordinated with Yike, and very disciplined with TP timings too. How do you explain that improvement? Is it something you focused on in bootcamp?

That’s one of the things we recognized as our weaknesses: two-lane timers, overload timers, side-lane TPs. We played wide and played the whole map well, but once we had to make two-lane plays or overloads, we didn’t look good as a team, so it was one of the goals we had to fix in bootcamp, and it showed up great. I guess we just improved.

So that’s something you focused on specifically during this bootcamp?

Not only that, but yes, it was one of them.

Without saying too much, what are the other specific in-game things you really focused on?

It’s just individual gameplay, the same thing as before EWC. If you don’t know what to do, you rely on your teammates and start losing your momentum and mentality, so you follow the call without seeing how it plays out, you play it anyway, and then you lose the game. That happened a lot in our playoff run, so it’s just another day where we have to stand up, push our standards high, and everyone just plays his game.

You played teams considered worse than you on paper, like C9, so it’s hard to rate you after these Play-Ins. You’ve been with the players since bootcamp and the Summer split. Do you genuinely believe this team is much better than it was a month ago in the LEC playoffs?

Yeah, we’re a much better team than in our playoffs, for sure. Even though we played teams that are worse on paper in the Play-Ins, where we weren’t supposed to be, what matters in the end is that we’re showing how we want to play the game and how strong we can be, and I think we showed some good stuff as a team. If you watch the games: are we winning because we play against worse teams? Yes. But do we look strong? Yes.

Knowing this, and having scrimmed against some of the best teams in the world recently, how far do you think this team can go?

I don’t know. The first goal is just to pass the Swiss Stage, one step at a time, then we make the quarterfinals, see who our opponents are, and go one more step to the semifinals, one step more... Everything is one step at a time. You can’t think too far, because there are a lot of best teams here and we don’t know what’s going to happen, what kind of scrims we’re going to have, or what kind of mentality or problems we’re going to face. At the world stage, playing against the best teams and the world’s best players, it’s always important to adapt better and level yourself up as a player, or your mentality as a person, everything matters.

Four years ago, at the last Worlds in the US, the biggest upset in Worlds history happened with one of your former players: Deft and DRX. Do you think this team can reproduce that?

There’s always a possibility, you have to believe. I believe it’s not zero percent, so there are always positive things you can think about.

You play AL, a team you already beat at EWC and scrimmed a lot. Is it a good draw since you know each other so well?

Yes, it’s a very good draw for us, and we have no fear against AL. It’s not to disrespect them, like “we’re going to beat them again”, but we know them, they know us, and we can play our best games in the Swiss Stage, so yeah, I’m happy with the draw.

Do you think they’re better than they were at EWC, coming into this tournament? They’ve changed toplaner and won the LPL since then.

They were probably a better team in their own region, but to be really fair, when was the last time AL performed great on the international stage? I don’t remember that well.

Last year at MSI they finished third, and they went 3-2 against T1 and Gen.G. And at Worlds last year, they lost to T1, the eventual champions, in what was the closest series of the tournament.

Okay, pretty good, that’s actually right. But I’m still happy with the result *laugh*.

Last question: do you have a final word for the French fans?

It’s been a long journey, and we’re still running, still pushing ourselves to be at the top and to be the best, so don’t miss it and keep rooting for us. Thanks as always for your support, it gives us a lot of energy, so I hope you keep supporting us and we’ll try to deliver results.