C9 Summit on MSI in Korea: “I have to win so that I can go. I want to be able to have good results that’s in my history to have my legacy”

After a strong finish in the group stage, Cloud9 fans were in for a surprise when 100Thieves 3-0’ed them in the playoffs upper bracket. But Cloud9 roared back to form with an impressive 3-0 against Golden Guardians in the lower bracket. As we head into the final few matches of the Spring Split, Esports.gg’s Devin "PiraTechnics" Younge caught up with Cloud9 top-laner, Park "Summit" Woo-tae at the LCS studios.

Q: Congratulations on the win. Not only did your whole team look better, but you looked better this series. Is it a relief to get that 3-0 after being slapped last week by 100T?

C9 Summit: I'm relieved that we won and we really had to win, so I'm very relieved. 

Q: After last week it seemed like a lot of people were saying Cloud9 had some more troubles that they didn't realize. Perhaps Summit can be stopped in the top lane after all. Did losing and getting camped the entire series change your mindset in how you approached the top lane this week?

C9 Summit: There was a roster swap which changed the strategy drastically.

Q: It seemed to work as you were able to dismantle Golden Guardians. I know in the announcement video there was a lot of talk about bringing Isles  instead of Winsome as an improvement to the team's communication. How do you feel it affected your ability to communicate with the team today?

C9 Summit: Definitely the communication part did become better after the roster swap. And I think having too many Koreans, we just default back to speaking Korean without thinking. And with the roster swap it helped us to become better as a team.

Q: It seems this may be a permanent change, at least for the time being. Now going into next week you will be facing off against either EG or Flyquest depending on who wins tomorrow. Who do you think will win that series and who would you prefer to play against?

C9 Summit: That series it's really hard to tell who's going to win. Both of their top laners are scared of me so I really don't care. [laughs]

Q: You've been such a dominating player in the laning phase all split long. Obviously last week was a little bit different cause you were forced on to a champion, Renekton, that you had not been playing very much in the Split. Do you feel like, after today's games, where you had a much more dominating streak, that those players should be right to fear you?

C9 Summit: So I really don't mind how people think of me. But at the same time, I can see that the top-laners when they play against me, they play really weird. They don’t play how they're supposed to and I catch that really quick and respond to that. 

Q: Now if you win your next series, regardless of your opponent, you'll be going to Houston to play at least in the top-three and possibly for the finals. How important is it for you, in your first split in North America to make it to that big stage of a live event with fans?

C9 Summit: In order to go to Houston, I would really have to win next week. My mindset is that if we lose next week then I'm going to retire.

Q: Whoa okay! Alright! It sounds very very important.. I have one more question to ask about that because of how hard you got camped by 100Thieves last week. Do you want revenge for that and maybe on Ssumday in particular?

C9 Summit: Like I said before about other top laners, he is also scared of me. We are going to have a really good draft strategy and I'm going to play very well against them.

Q: Okay, sounds like there's a lot of confidence against any top laners. Do you feel very confident that you can make the runback get the finals, get the victory and head off to MSI?

C9 Summit: MSI is taking place in Korea. I have to win so that I can go. I want to be able to have good results that's in my history to have my legacy.

Special thanks to C9 David for assisting in the translation.

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