Huhi: A matter of time before Golden Guardians shows “true form”

For a while, it looked like underdogs Golden Guardians were going to defeat Team SoloMid. Then TSM came back with a few plays that completely changed the game.

But Golden Guardian’s Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun is still confident in his team. In fact, this match only made him even more positive that Golden Guardians will be in the playoffs. WIN.gg spoke with Huhi about his return to the LCS stage and his team’s goals. 

Every time you guys go against Team SoloMid it’s really intense. What is it about the two teams that make for such an exciting match?

Huhi: In this game, it was going so back and forth and either team could’ve won. When teams face TSM, they always try harder for some reason. Maybe because TSM has such a big fandom. We really want to win versus them to gain some fans, too. There’s definitely that aspect.

And for me personally, the TSM coaches are my previous coaches. Whenever I see them in the hallway, we’re looking at each other like enemies. We don’t say anything until the games end! 

Is GGS vs TSM a new LCS rivalry?

I wish I could say that! I think we’re trying to earn a lot of fans and trying to grow our brand. We want to get back up there and be a playoff team. 

What are you doing to get there? 

We think winning is the easiest way to get more fans, but it also takes the most effort. We’re doing our best in practice. And we’re also trying to show our personality with unique content. When I first joined the Guardians, it was really refrshing compared to other teams. I really like those videos. 

You joined at the beginning of the summer split. How does it feel to be a part of Golden Guardians? 

It feels really good. I’m getting back in the rhythm of playing on stage. I wanted to take time off this stage and join the acadamy team. But they gave me a really good chance after seeing my potential. They wanted to help me improve as a player. Right now, it’s the fourth week and I feel we’re slowly getting back into the rhythm and getting used to the stage again. 

How does it feel to be back on the LCS stage? 

It feels really nice. It’s more stressful. All the games matter if you want to make the playoff and be a top contending team. It’s more stressful but also better for me. I’m trying to use it smartly. I don’t want to burn out, but I want to take this opportunity to improve as fast as I can.

TSM stole the third baron and Broken Blade went for the back door. Walk me through that moment.

Our weakness is late game calls. I think in scrims, we didn’t have that many moments where somebody is back dooring and we’re contesting on the objective. We didn’t have as much practice in that situation. We did make a wrong call, but we had to commit or nothing would happen and we would lose the game without doing anything.

Contractz was just really confident that we had to do this. And I agreed with him. Sometimes it happens that you missed the smite and lose the team fight, and you end up gtting back doored. 

What was the moment when you knew the game had shifted in TSM’s favor? 

I felt like even towards the end, I was still confident we could win the game. I think we weren’t flexible on how we wanted to win the game, though. We wanted to force a team fight and win the game that way. TSM was just playing really well around that, not giving us the fight that we wanted. If we had been more flexible, and been a team for a little longer and knew those things, we could have grabbed that win. 

You are still in playoffs position at the moment but the schedule is not getting easier. How are you preparing to face OpTic?

Even TSM was one of the harder competition we faced. But we are pretty confident with ourselves, even after today’s game. We should have won the game. So we are confident. To other people that don’t know us or how we operate, they may not understand why. But we are still confident and think we can get a W versus OpTic. 

You go against 100 Thieves next week. What are your expectations for that match?

I think 100 Thieves are trying to bounce back. But I don’t think we can drop a game versus a weaker team. We really want to go into the playoffs. If we are even confident about Team Liquid and TSM, I don’t think we should be scared of 100 Theives. We are just going to play for ourselves. 

What are the Golden Guardian’s strengths this season? 

A lot of teams are playing towards bottom more. It’s kind of a joke at this point. We say the better bot wins. Whoever has strong bot lane has a lot of advantage in the game. And I think a lot of teams in the top have a solid bottom lane. 

How are you liking the transition to support? 

I really enjoy it. I still feel like I’m on the way to figure it out completely. I’m not completely adjusted. That means I have more things to learn and can improve, for sure. I really enjoy the new way I can communicate and play the game, compared to mid lane. There, I can only focus on my own play. In support, I have to look around for everyone and see how I can help mid laner or AD carry. Sometimes I even sacrifice my life for them. It’s been a fun experience. 

Do you feel being a mid laner has helped you bring anything to the support role that sets you apart? 

Yes, for sure. Nowadays, a lot of bot lane people play mages or bruisers. So I feel that’s one of our advantages. If there’s any way where we have to play a mage bottom, I can play those and FBI can play the support. We’re really flexible in that way. 

How are you liking the duo with FBI? How is that going? 

It’s been going really well. I think our biggest focus is how to transition scrim performance to the stage. This past week, that’s the only thing we focused on. Even today, it wasn’t a great showing but we defintiely improved on that from last week. We’re happy with how the process is going. It’s just a matter of time before we show our true form on stage.