The Afreeca Freecs have surprised the world in the worst way possible by starting the group stages 0-2 at the League of Legends World Championship. Not long ago many considered the Freecs to be a contender for the title. Now, things look more than a little shaky. We caught up with Afreeca's mid laner Lee "kur0" Seo-haeng to get his thoughts on the rough start.
ESPN: Kuro, thank you so much for your time on this interview. How are you feeling right now?
Kuro: Honestly, I feel despair.
ESPN: Today you've picked Vel'koz, one of your comfort champions. What can you tell us about that pick?
Kuro: It was the coach's suggestion. I picked him because I was also confident in the pick. We did have drafting issues today, but at the time we believed the game to be doable.
ESPN: Afreeca Freecs looked very reserved in the early game. What was being talked about on comms?
Kuro: There were talks on us having to snowball early game. At the time, we discussed that we will still do well when it came to the late game. However, I think we assessed the situation wrongly.
ESPN: Afreeca Freecs has a rest day tomorrow before the next match. What will your team be doing to prepare?
Kuro: The atmosphere in the team is terrible at the moment. We'll have to work on improving the spirit within the team. I think that [Afreeca Freecs] is lost on finding our true self. So we will have to put in effort in order to find what makes us ourselves.
ESPN: Could we please ask what your "true self" is?
Kuro: Our game style ... let's say style. I think we are lost on finding our playstyle. I think it's something that we have to find.
ESPN: This might be a difficult question, but Afreeca has started group stages off on two losses. What do you think is the likelihood of Afreeca Freecs advancing to quarterfinals?
Kuro: Honestly, given our team atmosphere and the in-game performance, I think there's no chance that we can make it to quarterfinals. However, we still have four matches left. We play the day after tomorrow, and then we play three matches on Monday. If we practice with proper direction, defeat Vietnam and win all three matches on Monday we could advance. I think it's not impossible.
ESPN: Next, you'll be facing Phong Vu Buffalo of Vietnam. What are your thoughts on that match?
Kuro: Honestly... I came into today with strong resolutions, but you feel helpless when things go bad on their own. I don't know. I really don't know at the moment. As I had mentioned, we must find our true self tomorrow then win against Vietnam to raise the team spirit once again. I will try to win all four coming matches.
ESPN: Thank you so much. Do you have any last words?
Kuro: Worlds is a big stage, right? So you have more people cheering for you then ever, more fans supporting you. So we must not show them us going through a difficult time, not anymore. I promise to work hard, and show them [Afreeca Freecs] winning.