We could’ve seen Shaco played in an international tournament.
After their win versus Bilibili Gaming in the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2024 Grand Final, Gen.G Esports spoke with the media to answer questions about the series, its meaning to them, and their preparation.
The Gen.G Esports post-event press conference was attended by the team, consisting of Kim "Kiin" Gi-in, Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu, Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon, Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan, Son "Lehends" Si-woo, coach Kim "KIM" Jeong-soo. Translations were facilitated by Jeesun Park.
"Peyz, what can you say about the success that you've experienced and what are you looking forward to in the future?"
"I think last year, I had four chances and I managed to grab two of them. This year, I want to make sure I grab all of the opportunities that come to me."
"Coach Kim, what do you think about Gen.G's growth and improvement in this MSI?"
"Here at MSI, we learned that the teams from other regions aren't afraid to try new and unique picks. We realized we could also practice new picks and tried them out: Maokai, Blitz, Nidalee, and Karthus.
We didn't get to show it today but Canyon even practiced Shaco. With this experience at MSI, we learned that we can always try to experiment [with] new things and practice a lot of diverse picks that we can actually pull off in matches."
"Lehends, thoughts on your MVP performance with off-meta picks?"
"I'm constantly thinking 'What is the best way we can win?' I always try many different matchups in scrims and practice modes. I think today was the outcome of that practice and hard work."
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Gen.G Chovy: "I finally won my first international title"
"Chovy, what are your thoughts right after the win? What do you think this means for your career?"
"At that moment, I was like 'I finally, finally won my first international title!' I was so happy this day finally came. I was getting a little emotional there. Now that I finally calmed down a little bit and figured I just won MSI, I'm pretty confident I would do well in any upcoming matches."
"Chovy, what are your thoughts on the golden road?"
"I want to make sure I win [LCK Summer 2024] first."
Gen.G Canyon: "I practiced a ton of other picks"
"Canyon, do you feel like you're the best jungler in history?"
"I'm very glad I was able to add an MSI trophy to my career. Speaking of career, I think you still have to achieve as much as you can until the end of your professional career.
"I think, what speaks about a professional player is their achievements, accomplishments, and titles. I want to make sure I win any possible tournaments ahead of me."
"Canyon, how did the team decide to go for the Karthus pick in Game 1?"
"I started thinking of new options when it comes to AP jungle picks because Nidalee returned in the meta. In the second phase, there were a lot of AP champions getting banned away. I was looking for another AP jungle option.
"I practiced a ton of other picks and Karthus was obviously one of them. We thought it would work against BLG because we analyzed them as a team that prefers to teamfight rather than play around sidelanes and Karthus would be a great pick into teamfights."
This win by Gen.G Esports automatically qualifies them to the League of Legends 2024 World Championship.