After an incredible series on Day 4 of First Stand 2025, I sat down with KC Yike to hear his impressions on the series against HLE.
KC Yike – First Stand Interview, Day 4
Davide: Hi, Yike. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to take the win, even though I think you put up a really great series against probably what we could consider now the best team in the world.
How do you feel right now?
Yike: Yeah, for sure, sad. But I mean, for sure it’s like I’m very confused. Not confused, but like surprised with the fact that we are playing much better now than the last two days or the first two days. And yeah, so there’s for sure some like some kind of happiness even though we lost, which is a bit weird, but I’m still happy that we showed like much better performances today and yesterday even though we lost today.
Davide: I kind of want to talk about this because obviously we’ve seen the changes. You won against Top Esports and the version of KC we’ve seen the last two days, compared to the one we’ve seen on the first two days, is an 180 degree, I would say, especially because I think you were one of the ones who struggled the most.
Can you tell me if anything changed in detail? Was it draft? Was it communication? Was it anything else?
Yike: I mean, it’s hard to know. I think there were a lot of things that probably affected me personally. Like I couldn’t really tell what it was, but for sure the last two days we liked in draft we adapted better. One thing is that we probably didn’t know the meta as well as the other teams because we were very late. After the LEC ended, we had to fly two days after, three days after, and we could never like understand the meta and people understood it better than us. And personally, for me, yeah, I was really underperforming and I was not really sure why. Maybe it’s like jet lag, maybe it’s stress. I couldn’t really tell what it was. So I felt very bad. Like I felt very, very bad for the two days I lost. So I’m happy that I got my redemption, I guess like yesterday for sure and today doing at least better than the last 30 days. So, yeah, at least there’s some improvements.
Davide: You previously mentioned in the past interviews that there was like a lack of preparation as one of the problems that caused the team to kind of underperform. I have a broader question, though. Considering that potentially, aside from First Stand, you also have upcoming international tournaments such as MSI, then the Esports World Cup and also Worlds coming up.
Do you think that the current League of Legends competitive scene has a saturated calendar? Are there too many games? Are we playing too much?
Yike: Yeah, I mean for sure it’s getting a lot schedule wise and there’s not a lot of break time, especially for the team that is winning. It was the same for me and G2 that there was a lot of just time of traveling, playing all of that. For example, after the first round we’re gonna have maybe one week and then it’s LEC starting again. That’s for sure a bit annoying in a way but there’s not much we can do about it. We just have to adapt better and that’s the main thing we can do.
This is actually the second time you have faced Hanhwa Life after you played with G2 against them last year at Worlds. Do you feel anything different? Considering they changed the top laner?
Yike: Yeah, I mean the team macro-wise seems similar. They seem like they know how to play the game. They know the best timers to walk up, they know the best timers to play on the map, all of that and it makes sense that they’re the best team in the world right now. So team wise they’re still like very strong. They didn’t win worlds last year. So I think adding Zeus can for sure be an upgrade in a way. And he’s like very talented. The best thing about him is he has his champions… You know, playing Vladimir, playing all the weird champs he has, and he’s very good on these champs as well. So for sure, it looks like an upgrade I guess. But yeah, the team is just always going to be strong.
Impressions on players, the meta, and Fearless Draft extension
Now that you’ve played against all teams at First Stand, aside from Zeus, which you have just mentioned, do you think there was any other player that stood out really for you? It could also be within your team.
Yike: I think the CFO team was actually doing good. Like I was surprised with how well they played. I mean obviously we played bad, I played bad. But they were not playing. It was not like we were only griefing. They were also playing well so it makes sense that they won. They deserve to win that day. And they all look like they look good together as team, even though I know maybe two of them alone. Junjia, I think he’s very good. I know Doggo is also good, but I didn’t really know the other four players. They exceeded my expectations.
Davide: Let’s talk a bit about the game, the meta overall. Ever since after the first two days, we started seeing a little bit more of a proactive version from yourself. You started picking like champions like Sejuani and Ivern.
Do you think that having this kind of like ganking spam, ganking champions is a direct consequence of the anti lane swap mechanic or did you find something that worked for you guys in particular?
Yike: Yeah, I mean I think I just personally found out like the way I can play and the way probably the game , jungle wise, should be played. And in the beginning, I think I was playing it very wrong, so I adapted and I’m happy I could do it fast because we had no break days.
I figured out what champ might be stronger and weaker. I played Sejuani, Skarner, Ivern, and had these jumps. I knew I could play them very well. I took a lot of time to do some small research and just figure out what the best is.
Davide: I don’t know if you’ve read about Fearless Draft being extended throughout the whole season. I want to hear your opinion on this because some people from the community have said that Fearless Draft doesn’t actually have much of an impact when it comes to BO3s, especially if games end up early with a 2-0 score.
Do you think that, instead of the fearless draft, what if we were to bring the Ironman format, with picks and bans carrying over? Would that be something that you would love to have and would you consider about as a positive thing?
Yike: Yeah, for sure, it could be very interesting. I mean the thing is, we only did one split and one international with Fearless and so far it looks fun. I agree with you that Bo3s it doesn’t really change much. It’s gonna usually be the same champ. Sometimes there’s like one, maybe two champs that are different, but usually it’s gonna be the same champs. That’s the boring thing with best of threes. But as soon as he gets to Bo5, I know it’s going to be like it’s going to go a bit crazy. So I don’t really mind about this new thing, we have to probably see more of the fearless first.
Caliste and Vladi are the rookies from KC at the first international tournament. How do you think they have settled so far? And with someone who has already two years of international experience, have you done anything to help them or was there anything that you actually managed to help them on?
Yike: I think they both did very good and to help them out, I mean, I think the biggest thing is just to really make sure that everyone’s comfortable. The last two days we made sure that everyone was comfortable. I’m very happy with how they came into the tournament because some people can get very stressed. The first time I went to MSI I was very, very stressed but I think they handled it much better than me. And yeah, it looks like they don’t really need as many tips as I needed so that’s nice to see.
Davide: I remember you talking about in the past about how you needed to improve your mental.
Do you think, in that regard, your personality has changed ever since becoming like a top tier player in the last few years or have you remained more or less similar to what you were in the past?
Yike: No, I think I became much different. I feel like I learned so much mental wise and how to handle my stress, how to handle everything. I feel like I have a good own preparation with myself individually and I’m very happy with that because for sure I knew before I was very bad with it and I feel like a new person now and that I learned like so much and I’m happy with that.
We’ve had expectations for Karmine Corp as a team considering the roster that was put together, but at the same time we also knew that putting rookies with veterans would need time. It’s obviously good to see this for the EU region but we have now to put the hopes on other teams, unfortunately.
Is there like one last thing you want to say to the KC fans that are watching, both from home and also the ones that are shouting outside the arena?
Yike: Yeah, I mean I just want to say thank you so much. Flying all the way to Korea, cheering on us and cheering on me. I knew the first two days were very rough so the fact that you guys kept cheering with us online and offline in the arena is just amazing to see. I appreciate it so much. It really helped me and I think it helped everyone in the team. So thank you so much for supporting us.
