Suning.SwordArt: “We learned how to restrain G2’s style.”

After Suning secured their quarterfinal spot at Worlds 2020 as Group A’s first seed, we caught up with Support SwordArt and talked to him about their performance and who they want to face in the quarterfinals.

Suning ended their groupstage with a 5-2 record including a tiebreaker win over G2 to advance as first from their group. Worlds veteran Hu “SwordArT” Shuo-Chieh was an integral part of their success. Here is what he had to say:

esports.com: “Hello SwordArt, thank you very much your time. Congratulations on reaching the quarterfinals of Worlds 2020. Today’s Suning looked much stronger than the one that faced G2 Esports on Day 1 of Groups. What was the main difference?”

SwordArt: “In our first match against G2 we still did not quite understand their playstyle. Some of our players were also a bit more nervous. But after that loss we actually thought that we would have a good chance to win the rematch.

We also felt that we had to keep up the tradition of LPL teams defeating G2. Clashing with them today, we once again felt that we had a good chance of defeating them, so I think we might have just learned how to restrain their style.”

You just mentioned that nerves might have been an issue. After all you are the only player on Suning to have played at Worlds in the past. What was your advice for your teammates?

Since week one only has one match per day and the second week has three matches in a single day, I just told them that week two of the group stage is much more important. So we need to really prepare for those three drafts on the second week. Another thing I prepared them for was the short downtime between each match on the second week, as you need to reset your mental state for the match right after.

Now that you have secured your quarterfinals spot, which other teams would you like to see advance?

It would be great if all the other LPL teams could advance out of their groups as first seed too. Then we don’t have to eliminate each other in the quarters.

Which opponent among the other teams at Worlds 2020 would you think are the hardest matchup?

Although their playstyle is similar to ours, I would probably say DAMWON Gaming. We will try our best to use the few days we have during the break to properly research all possible opponents.

Starting in the playoffs the matches will be played as Best-of-5 series. What is the main difference between those and the Best-of-1s of the group stage?

For the Best-of-1s in the groups you really need to be on point as it can decide everything. Compared to that in Best-of-5s you can experiment a bit and also prod your opponents more, before having to go all out for the final games.

In Group A you also met Machi from the PCS. As a former LMS-player how did you feel about meeting a team from your old region?

Since I played in the LMS before I understand their plastyle well, so we were able to handle them quite nicely. I still think that they performed well in the group, but they had problems dealing with late game scenarios and could not make it out because of that.

Thank you very much for the interview and best of luck for the upcoming playoffs.

Thanks.

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