"I Just Realised I Can Play for Myself" — Yike on The MKOI Series, Synergy With kyeahoo, and Lessons From Last Year
Karmine Corp
Karmine Corp have slain their demons. In a thrilling best-of-five that went the full distance, they eliminated MKOI on their home turf in Barcelona, silencing thousands of their fans in the process. This Sunday, they face G2 Esports in the grand final of the LEC Versus. Voted MVP of the series, Martin "Yike" Sundelin sat down with RFT to reflect on the day's roller coaster, his evolving playstyle, and what lies ahead.
How are you feeling after this intense series?
I'm very overwhelmed. It was a very long day and a very fun day for us. MKOI is a very tough opponent — usually we always go the full five games against them. It was a roller coaster today for sure. Towards the last game, everyone was very stressed and very nervous, but we managed to get a very solid draft, and I got to play my Kha'Zix. I'm happy that I could pull it off and win the game that way.
Loading tweet...
Was today's story about you pressuring mid, and bot being more of a roller coaster?
I don't recall everything that happened in botlane, but I know kyeahoo (Kang Ye-hoo) had very good games. Playing around him and relying on him today was very easy for me. He got some solo kills and played really well. Botlane was more volatile — some games we killed them and we won, and then maybe on other games we lost. Maybe I could have helped more, but overall I'm happy with how we played. I think we probably learned a lot from the matchups in bot and mid.
Loading comments...
Do you think the current meta is heavily centred around mid lane?
Midlane is very important. It's always been the key role in competitive League of Legends. kyeahoo had the edge today, and tomorrow might be harder against Caps (Rasmus Winther) — we don't know how it's going to go. But playing around mid and communicating around mid is very important. So far, we've been improving a lot on it. kyeahoo is very good at saying what he wants, what he needs, and how he wants to play. When he gets ahead, he really takes over the game. The Ryze game he played — he just solo won that game, for example. If we keep it up, I think we're going to be very good.
How did you manage to achieve such synergy with a Korean player so early in the year?
The main thing is that we just talk a lot. We talk in reviews, we talk after games. He talks to me, I talk to him, and we figure out how we want to play and what we want to do. He's very vocal about what he wants. In reviews, if he thinks Busio (Alan Cwalina) or I did something wrong — or not wrong, but not the same as he would — he's going to speak his mind, and then we're going to discuss it. I think that's very important for midlaners: to have strong opinions, to have a big voice. And together you find a solution.
Photo Credit: Hara Amoros/Riot Games
Are you using ChatGPT to communicate better maybe?
No, he used it maybe two times for something very specific. But overall, his English is getting very good so fast that he doesn't need it.
You've individually shone a lot this split. Do you think it comes down to the changes the team made?
It's a combination. The changes were good for me — kyeahoo and Busio have been playing very well and making it easy for me to play. But I also think I improved a lot individually. I figured out how I want to play the game.
Last year in KC, I had a very bad way of playing the game compared to every other jungler. I felt like I fell behind in every game. I feel like I sorted it out this year since the bootcamp started, and I'm back to the good jungler that I used to be.
Could you elaborate on that?
For sure, it helps having new opinions from our new mid and support, but the coaches are also helping me a lot. Reapered (Bok Han-gyu) and Zeph (Quentin Viguié) are individually helping me a lot. They make sure — and I have to make sure as well — that I play for myself. That I'm in a good state before I just sacrifice myself for the team. That's what I learned mostly.
I just realised I can play for myself. Even if we lose somewhere, I can still carry the game. That's how I used to play before. I got back into that mentality. It's a combination of everything: players, coaches, and myself.
Loading tweet...
How much has Reapered helped you and KC so far?
For sure he helps. When we watch game reviews, it's him hosting the review. He finds a lot of plays — very interesting plays that I usually don't see from other coaches. More specific plays, more specific things we can do differently. That's very good. The big thing for me is that he comes to me after the game and shows me a lot of points during the game where I could have done something different — said something different, played something different, done something different. Very much min-maxing. That's good for me, because even if I have a very good game in scrims, he still finds ways where I can improve. It's really nice to see.
Last year was very difficult for you... Was it only about KC's results?
Last year, there were just a lot of expectations on us. After we won the Winter split and went second at First Stand, we thought we were the best team in Europe by far. And then it didn't go as we thought. We got third place in LEC spring, we missed out on MSI, and then we thought, "Okay, we're still going to make Worlds." Then we lost out on Worlds too. We had too many expectations, which we shouldn't have had. We should just take the games, take the split step by step.
No matter what — whether we win or lose the split tomorrow — I just want to focus on the next game we're going to have. Whether it's First Stand or the spring split, just focus on that and keep improving, making sure we're as strong as possible for the last tournament, which is Worlds.
Photo Credit: Hara Amoros/Riot Games
Tomorrow you face G2 in the final. They swept MKOI last week while your series today went the distance — do you think the lower bracket momentum can carry you, or will G2 be a step up?
The momentum is definitely going to help us, but I know G2 is a strong team. They have the same players as last year, and they look much stronger in playoffs than in the regular season. It's going to be a hard best-of-five against them. No matter what, I'm just going to go in with my team, and we're going to play our game. We are good. If we play our game, we're going to win.
Can you share your secret about 50/50 smites?
I don't know how to explain it. It's just a feeling. It's just me, I guess. I can't really find a way to explain why I do it. I just see it.
A win tomorrow means First Stand. Last year, KC exceeded expectations at the international event but struggled for the rest of the season. What lessons from that experience will help you manage the year ahead if you qualify?
The biggest lesson is that we can't get over ourselves. The ego, the mindset — maybe we worked less because we won Winter, maybe we talked less to each other, had fewer meetings, because we thought we were good enough. So the biggest lesson is: no matter what, whether we win or lose, we're going to keep working as hard as we can. Every split, be as good as we can, so we can win everything. We want to win every tournament we go to, that is the goal.
SMITE KING