After the first round of the S12 group stage, the situation in Group C was slightly different from what we expected before the game. DRX, who has won all the way from the finalists, lost their first opening game, but won all the next two games, which also made them temporarily ra

After the first round of the group stage of

S12, the situation in Group C was slightly different from what we expected before the game. DRX, who has won all the way from the finalists, lost their first opening game, but won all the next two games, which also made them temporarily ranked second in the group with 2-1.

Recently, DRX's head coach Ssong was interviewed by foreign media. As the DRX coach of this year's World Championship, he led the DRX charge behind the scenes, and he is no stranger to New York audiences. When ROX Tigers lost to SKT T1 (now T1) in the 2016 World Championship semifinal, Coach Ssong was part of the ROX Tigers coaching staff, and he went through a long journey back to Madison Square Garden .

From then until now, coach Ssong has been in North America for three years. After defeating GAM in the last game of the first round of group stage, he was interviewed by The Loadout. During the interview, coach Ssong revealed the direction of the team he worked hard to cultivate after becoming the head coach in February, revealed his own experience in coaching, and put forward his current views on the North American region.

The Loadout: Coach Ssong is very grateful for accepting the interview and congratulations on your victory today. I just want to ask your thoughts first, how do you think the team has performed so far after the first round of round play?

Ssong Coach: I think the team has always performed well. If you regard the team's recent performance as a curve, it is rising, so I have a very good feeling about it. I believe we will perform better in the future.

The Loadout: What factors do you think are causing this upward momentum of the team?

Ssong Coach: We started with the finalists in Mexico, and from there we experienced a lot of altitude sickness, our players’ condition and just adapting to the jet lag.

Fortunately, we have a while to adapt and have more buffering periods, which actually has a very positive impact on us. And in trying to figure out the version and analyze everything about other teams, I definitely think this has a huge impact on our uptrend.

The Loadout: I think the upward trend of DRX even started before the World Championship. You have experienced a very difficult battle, which shows that this team has real tenacity. Can you tell me the character of the players you are responsible for?

Ssong Coach: As you mentioned, we went through a tough battle to get here, so it was a challenging journey. To stand out from the regional qualifiers, I know I have to make everyone more confident in each other and we have to be a more disciplined team. Therefore, we communicated a lot with the contestants, and there was a lot of feedback within the team, and the same was true between the contestants.

I think this might be the starting point for us to build more trust with each other, we were lucky enough to pass the regional qualifiers and now we are here for the World Championship.

From all this experience, all this trust building and the tenacity you mentioned, I think we are at a good node right now, and although we may lose 1-2 games, we will not waver and we will continue to maintain a good mindset to meet the following game.

The Loadout: You have also shown strong resilience and returned to New York to compete in the World Championship. This is your first time since you participated in the competition with ROX Tigers in 2016. And you must have walked a long way to get back here. So, what changes do you think you have changed during the period of 2016 and 2022? Whether as a coach or as an individual?

Ssong Coach: Between 2016 and 2022, a lot of things happened and a lot of things went through, and I have been part of many different teams. Through these experiences, I have met many truly excellent and talented contestants.This makes me really think about what kind of thinking process the players might have, what kind of decisions I have to make to get together with the players and then create the best results, and what approach I have to make when discussing feedback with the team.

So throughout these experiences I was able to figure out how to get the best run-in in the team, which is just a question I keep thinking about. I think I know now how I have to make a decision, whether it is to lead the team to victory or just for the [interest] of the team. This is one of the things I grew up as a coach, and it is something I am very confident about. I've definitely become a more responsible person, too.

The Loadout: Finally, we want to talk to you about the current North American competition area. What do you think of the current North American competition area?

Ssong Coach: North America has not performed well this year, but I do believe it is moving in the right direction in terms of development. We are currently seeing a lot of rookies performing very high in the LCS.

I definitely think they have an idea to know what direction they want to go, and I hope this is also one of the processes to increase the player's foundation. When it comes to things related to the game, such as team battles and operations, I do think North America lacks in this sense. But if it takes the time to solve its problems and shape itself into a better division, it can definitely improve.