Newbee Gaming's Coco: 'When I came to China, I was worried about avoiding relegation'
In a surprising 3-0 sweep, Newbee Gaming upset Invictus Gaming in the first round of the 2017 League of Legends Pro League Spring Playoffs. Despite coming into the match with a one game disadvantage because of seeding, Newbee convincingly ran over Invictus’ reconfigured lineup to advance to the next round.
Following the match, Newbee Gaming met with press to answer questions on summoner spells, the unexpected victory, and their thoughts on EDward Gaming, who they will face in quarterfinals. The following questions have been translated from Mandarin Chinese to English.
In the second game, Lin “Lwx” Weixiang ran Cleanse on ADC, and Zhang “Mor” Hongwei ran Heal on support. Why did you decide to go with this setup?
Mor: The enemy bottom lane champions both had CC, and our mid laner was counter picked, so it would be hard for me to use Exhaust or Ignite effectively. They also had a lot of AOE, so if the ADC can Cleanse, and I can Heal him, it’s a good setup.
Before today’s matches, did you think you’d 3-0 iG?
Coach Lee “Hiro” Woosuk: We expected the opposite result, but today everyone on the team played very well.
In the second game, Lwx built Blade of the Ruined King on Caitlyn. Why?
Lwx: Because right now Blade of the Ruined King has been buffed, and I also had the Fervor of Battle keystone.
Baek “Swift” Dahoon, as the central member, what kind of role do you play on the team?
Swift: I don’t play a special role on the team, it’s just that I’ve been on the team for a while, so when we play, the team focuses more around me.
Mor, as the team’s shotcaller and leader, why do you think the team played so well today?
Mor: I think it was okay. Today our form was good, and the cooperation of the entire team was also pretty good.
Today, how did you approach clean sweeping iG? What were the key points for your success?
Swift: You have to have confidence in your teammates. Today, the enemy team also left open a lot of champions we’re good at, so there was also an element of luck.
Shin “Coco” Jinyeong picked Jayce in all three games, and he’s very fond of the champion. The enemy team also picked three different champions against Jayce. What are Jayce’s strengths at the moment?
Coco: The first two games, Jayce complemented the composition well. In the last game, we thought they would ban Jayce, but when they didn’t it. Since we were doing well with it, we decided to pick it again.
Today, Lwx played against Ge “Kid” Yan, one LPL’s veterans. Did you have some kind of psychological pressure? Why did you play Caitlyn so aggressively?
Lwx: The pressure wasn’t too large because Kid is still transitioning back from the jungle role. As for Caitlyn, I’m just used to playing her like that.
In the next round, you play against EDG. Does the coach have anything he’d like to say to EDG?
Hiro: I hope we can play an interesting match. I want to cheering them on because right now we have a lot of hope.
Coco and Swift are old teammates from CJ. Did you think you’d be able to get such good results together this year?
Coco: After my contract terminated, Newbee contacted me. When I came to China, I was worried about avoiding relegation, and I didn’t expect we’d make playoffs. Right now I just want to work with the team to get better results.
You can follow Kelsey Moser on Twitter @karonmoser.
