Afreeca Freecs mid laner Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng joked to his former teammate Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho that he will get in the way of Smeb’s worlds aspiration in the League Champions Korea regional gauntlet.
Afreeca kept its dreams of a worlds berth alive Monday if a 3-2 win against MVP in the first round of the gauntlet. In a video interview with Fomos, Kuro shared a joke he had with Smeb how he won’t make it to worlds if their two teams come head to head.
“When Smeb told me to make it up to the finals, I told him that if I make it there, he won’t make it to worlds,” he said, laughing. “I want to make it there like he said. I hope it’s a fun game, and I hope we both have a good match regardless of the results.”
Smeb’s team, KT Rolster, is waiting in the final match of the gauntlet, while Afreeca will have to defeat Samsung Galaxy to get there. Although Samsung has been long regarded as one of the top teams of Korea, the evaluations of the players have been not as favorable, such as Samsung’s mid laner Lee “Crown” Min-ho. Kuro said that he pays little attention to such views, preferring to make the call himself.
“Saying a player’s form is falling is an outsider’s judgement, and I don’t trust in that,” he said. “I trust in what I see, and the player himself knows what shape they are in the best. I don’t want to pass judgement based on what other people say.”
Afreeca also showed the ability to out-surprise MVP in their match, picking a jungle Lulu for match point, winning the game and a ticket to the next stage of the gauntlet. According to Kuro, the pick was well prepared but under different circumstances.
“We did practice jungle Lulu, but we had different picks when we practiced with her,” he said. “We took a risk against MVP, and though I initially thought that it might not work out, I’m glad that we made it work.”