Dodo on Liquid LCS struggles: “We just have to go back to the start”

Team Liquid probably lost its chance to compete in the 2020 LCS Spring Split playoffs with their defeat at the hands of FlyQuest. Though the team hasn’t been mathematically eliminated, a number of upsets will need to occur in order for Liquid to make the cut.

This is not something coach Kang “Dodo” Jun-hyeok likes to dwell on, but it’s hard to stay positive at this point. Despite this, he told WIN.gg that he believes in his team and that they just need a new identity and bit of confidence. 

What do you think went wrong today against FlyQuest?

In general, a lot of bad individual plays. We had some good spots to take the fight, but some of our players weren’t confident enough to take it. 

Why do you think there’s a lack of confidence? 

There was pressure. They didn’t think they were strong enough to take the fight. 

For a while, you guys were looking really strong. What was different for you guys between last weekend and this weekend? Did you work on anything in particular or was there a change of mindset? 

We worked a lot on trying to be proactive. We wanted to be more aggressive, hence the picks we went with today. But there were early game mistakes today, including Impact getting ganked at level two. We just made too many mistakes in the laning phase. 

It’s now unlikely you’ll make it to playoffs. Do you still have hope right now? 

Yes, the chances…There are two scenarios where we can still make it. Obviously, we are waiting to see Immortals game right now. It’s out of our hands. 

How does it feel to have it out of your hands?

It definitely sucks, not being able to control your own destiny. 

What would it mean to you if you didn’t make it to the playoffs? 

It would definitely be a big disappointment for myself, for the team, for the org. We would just have to figure out what to do going into the Summer Split. The year is not over. We want to do everything we can to come back strong. 

You’re facing Cloud9 tomorrow. How do you see that match going? 

I think Cloud9 definitely is the strongest team right now in North America. Whatever happens, the chances we have to make playoffs…We have to give everything we got and still play confidently. 

Now that you guys have finally been playing with the core roster, what do you think needs improvement? What do you think is off with the roster now? 

I think we just need to find a solid team identity of how we want to play the game. C9 plays super aggressive early. Some other teams play through their bot lane. I think we are kind of a bit confused right now as a team. 

Why do you think that is?

A lot of different factors. We were trying out different playstyles. Some failures, some success. We want to try new things. There’s a lot of complicated stuff going on right now. 

Do you think the current roster is strong enough to make a comeback in the Summer Split? 

I definitely think so. The five players we have are all strong players. They know how to play the game. We just need to find a really good identity as a team. 

Some people have been saying Tactical was looking better than Doublelift. Why did the team decide to put DL back on the starting roster? 

DL was showing a lot of improvement after we decided to play some games with Tactical. There’s strengths and weaknesses to both players, but with how we wanted to play the game, we wanted to keep DL in the roster to play through bot. DL was playing better and we just wanted to keep playing with him. 

Do you still think it was the right move? 

Yeah, I think we definitely could have tried out different strategies with Tactical as well. And we would love to. But with the standings we were in and how important the last few games were, we just wanted more stability as a team instead of trying different stuff with different rosters. 

What changes do you think have to be made? How will you get the team prepared properly this time around? 

We just have to go back to the start of how we want to play the game and find a solid identity as a team. We need to prepare for that going into the Summer Split. 

Last year you guys were the top team with a clear identity. The only difference right now is Broxah. Do you think he has a different playstyle than the team is used to? Or why do you think the team lost their identity? 

There’s small differences between how Broxah and Xmithie plays. But this split in general, I think there was just a lot of unfortunate things. Broxah couldn’t play till Week 4. We couldn’t build any identity with him at the start. Individual performances were bad. Just a lot of unfortunate things that stopped us from identifying a playstyle for the team. 

Is there anything you wanted to say to Team Liquid fans who are still supporting you through this journey? 

First of all, it’s disappointing and I feel…I feel sorry for all the disappointed fans. But we are very thankful that you guys are still supporting us and we’ll do everything we can to make sure we come back strong.