Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok said he wants to be more like Bae “Bang” Jun-sik — at least when it comes to being on time.
SK Telecom T1 defeated KT Rolster 2-1 in Tuesday’s League Champions Korea match and the latest iteration of the “Telecom Wars.” The match showed a dominant performance in Game 1 by KT and a brilliant comeback victory in Game 2 by SKT. In the post-match interview with SpoTV, Faker and Bang were invited as the MVPs of the match, and when asked what side of Bang he wanted to emulate, Faker answered without much hesitation.
“I’m late quite often, but Bang is hardly ever late,” he said. “I want to be more like him in that regard.”
That’s a staunch difference from their last post-match interview that included many playful barbs, but the rapport between the players sure seems clear.
As for the match, Game 2 was particularly difficult to watch for fans of SKT, as KT (after winning Game 1) had a strong lead and looked as if it could easily transition into a 2-0 win. But a number of strategic team fights led to KT’s downfall, and SKT capitalized on some shaky decision making. One standout moment happened when KT tried to force a risky Baron, for which SKT heavily punished them.
Game 3 wasn’t all that different in terms of the early game, as KT took the lead but SKT pulled through yet again by biding time and forcing strategic team fights. Bang credited the Game 3 victory to Faker, saying that the mid lane lead allowed the team to get ahead in the late game.
“We were behind in the early game, but Faker had the lead in the mid lane, and that bought us a lot of time,” he said. “That allowed our Fiora to scale and take the split-push advantage away from the Rumble. The bottom lane was in a dangerous position too, but he roamed and allowed us to farm much more safely.”
As for the question about which of Faker’s features Bang wanted to emulate, Bang said that no one practices quite like Faker and that it’s amazing to see even as a member of the team.
“I think his amount of games played is amazing,” he said. “Even as a player of the same team, it’s kind of astounding to see how he can play that many games.”
Cover photo courtesy of Riot Games