Interview: OMG says they can beat SSB, and Cool misses Faker at Worlds

This Thursday, the second half of the League of Legends Season 4 World Championship group stages will kick off in Singapore. Chinese teams Edward Gaming and Star Horn Royal Club have already punched their tickets to the quarterfinals, and OMG is looking to make sure that all three of China’s teams make it through groups by beating out the competition in Group C this week.

As they prepare for that battle, Chinese gaming site Duowan caught up with the team for an interview. The players, needless to say, were a bit busy, so team leader TT took the lead in answering most of the questions.

Q: OMG is in Singapore for the group stages, and groups A and B have concluded. Did OMG pay attention to any of the performances in groups A and B, especially those of Edward Gaming and Star Horn Royal Club? Edward Gaming struggled, and couldn’t seem to resist against Samsung White. How do you feel about this? Are the Koreans just unbeatable?

TT: The players and coaches all watched the A and B group stages. We also all discussed the results together; since our group matches weren’t until later it was a good opportunity to look closely at the data from A and B and to analyze a few things. We did watch the matches between Samsung White and Edward Gaming, and at the moment I have to admit that the gap between China and Korea is quite large. But that doesn’t mean Korean teams are totally unbeatable. We’ll face Samsung Blue in the group stages on the 25th, and we’ve got some special plans, so I think we’ve got a definite chance to take the game. As far as the ultimate result of this tournament, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Doing the homework on your opponents is important. Have you done any focused research on how to beat your group C opponents? Which ones are you placing the most importance on?

TT: We’ve looked carefully at every team in group C. We’ve looked for the weak spots in each of the different teams, and we’ll use different tactics depending on the opponent. In terms of the matches against Samsung Blue, we’ll of course have to play our absolute hardest, to the point that it’s possible we’ll bring out some of our ‘big guns’ [by this I think he means new/surprising picks or tactics -Ed.]. Against Samsung Blue you’ve got to put everything into going for the win. After all, they’re the first place team in Korea, and we want to win a match to show the strength of Chinese teams.

How do you plan to train in Singapore? Are you playing on the Garena servers or doing something else?

TT: Riot has given us a place to train backstage, so we go there to train every morning until 12:00 at night when the room closes. As for who we’re scrimming, it’s other teams in the tournament, like Europe’s Alliance and America’s Cloud 9.

I want to ask Cool: this year your old opponent Faker isn’t here, but you’ve got to face up against this season’s more fearsome Dade, how do you rate him? Right now, do you think OMG can beat Samsung Blue?

Cool: First of all, I’m very sad that Faker couldn’t be in the finals, it makes the competition a little less exciting. I haven’t played Dade much, but in my opinion Korea’s mid laners aren’t that different [from each other in terms of skill], so often you just have to see how they perform on the stage that day. Finally, currently I think that if everyone is in the right mindset and plays their role and we’re united, then I definitely believe that we have a chance to beat Samsung Blue.

Dada77, OMG’s support role has seen a lot of changes, and ultimately you’ve been chosen as San’s bot lane partner. After your training, how are you feeling about that partnership?

Dada77: We’re still getting used to it, because in terms of style there’s a big difference. The previous style was always passive, not pressuring, being afraid of getting caught by the enemy jungler. But now we dare to pressure, to trade, and to not fear the jungler. Recently my cooperation with San has gotten a lot better, so basically we’re not scared of any bot lane.

Strong words. Can OMG back them up? We’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.

(via Duowan)

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