Jae-hyuk “Carpe” Lee is one of the most notable players in the Overwatch League Season 1. He led the team to victory even when the team was breaking, and with Carpe’s help, the team was able to make it to the grand finals. It is no surprise that Carpe was chosen as a member of the national team. He is a relentless player, always giving his best performance in both preliminaries and finals.

What is more surprising about him is that he joined the national team with two of his friends. If you look at one’s friends, you know what kind of person he is, and Carpe’s friends are no less skilled than him. Just like Carpe, Fury and JjoNak have been selected as MVPs and have won the first season. The three pros have spent a lot of time together, and are healthy competitions for each other in the league. The three friends have helped each other and were able to win the championship as members of Team Korea.

Now they have to return to their own teams and compete against each other in Season 2. In addition, Carpe now has one more friend-and-rival in the league, Min-sung “Diem” Bae. Diem has proven his skills in Contenders China and fans are excited to see their matchup. Below is our interview with Carpe on his friends and his thoughts on moving on to the next season of the league.

Q. Hello, it’s been a while. How are you spending your time in Korea after the Overwatch League and the Overwatch World Cup?

Good to see you. I was preparing for the Overwatch World Cup after the Overwatch League, and took a break for a moment.

Q. You still have some time left for Season 2, but you are already in America.

We had to work on teamwork with the new team members and prepare for the next season, so we gathered up a bit early.

Q. Like you said in your last interview with Inven, you have been chosen as a member of the national team and won the championship this year. How did you feel when you were selected as a national team member and won the championship?

When I first joined the league, I didn’t expect that I would join the national team. I was really happy when I found out I was selected, and felt even happier that I won the championship.

Q. You are friends with JjoNaK and Fury, two other members of the national team. How did three of you become friends?

We met in Overwatch. We naturally became friends because we saw each other in Competitive a lot. Now we are close enough to share feedback about the league match and scrims when we see each other in Competitive. We are a positive influence for each other. The three of us have different roles, but it looks like our styles are now a bit similar to each other because we play games together a lot.

It feels great that I won the World Cup with my friends JjoNak and Fury. It was a lot more fun because I got to be with my close friends.

Q. The three of you are recognized as some of the best tank/DPS/support players in the world. Did you know that all three of you would be in the same national team?

I didn’t expect that all three of us would be in the national team. But we did talk about how nice it would be when we all make it to the national team when we were playing games together.

Q. Let’s talk about the DPS role, which is your position. There are many skilled DPS players in the Overwatch World Cup. What do you think is the reason you were able to survive the competition?

Everyone in the Overwatch World Cup is an extremely skilled player. What I did was simply show my play style. I think that’s the reason I could be in the preliminaries and in the finals. Like Fleta once mentioned in one of his interviews, my strength is that I can create an unexpected event that can turn the game around.

Q. I see. What do you think about Fleta then?

Fleta is a great flex. He’s good at different types of heroes so he makes the game a lot more smooth for DPS players.

Q. Who was the most memorable player in the Overwatch World Cup?

Guxue from Team China, who I met in the grand finals. He knows when to dive as Winston and cuts off the enemy DPS really well.

Q. There must have been some hard times during the Overwatch World Cup. How were you able to overcome the hardships?

Of course there were times where things didn’t work out. But my teammates did as well as they always do, so there weren’t any problems that I wasn’t able to overcome.

Q. You’ve been staying in the USA for a long time. Do you miss Korea? If so, when do you miss Korea the most and what is the thing that you miss the most?

I do miss Korea when I’m staying in the USA for so long. I miss Korean food and my home. I miss my family the most.

Q. Let’s hear about the team. How is the Philadelphia Fusion doing right now?

We are adapting to the new meta and everyone is practicing really hard.

Q. Any predictions for the next season? What hero will you be playing the most?

I think the meta will change a lot next season. I think I will be playing Zarya a lot during the early season.

Q. There is still a lot of time left for the league, but Ashe has been added recently and Brigitte was nerfed in the PTR. First, have you played Ashe already? What’s your opinion on her?

I played Ashe during scrims recently. She has good mobility and high DPS. I think she will be seen a lot in the league.

Q. Some people are saying that the dive comp with Winston, Dva, Genji, and Tracer will come back since Brigitte is nerfed. What are your thoughts about this?

Even though Brigitte is nerfed, the triple tank/triple support comp might be used more because Brigitte’s total healing has increased.

Q. Which team do you think will be the top teams in Season 2?

I haven’t played any scrims with the new teams yet so I can’t tell, but I think the original teams will do well.

Q. 8 new teams have joined the league and now there is less time to analyze the opponents and a lower number of total matches. What is your opinion about this change?

There will be less number of total matches, so there will be more time to prepare for strategies. I think we will see more unexpected compositions and strategies.

Q. What is the team that draws your attention the most for the next season?

The Shanghai Dragons. I think they rebuilt the team pretty well. They have a lot of former Kongdoo Panthera pros now, so the triple tank comp will work really well for them. Everyone in the Shanghai Dragons is a skilled player, so the team will be much more powerful.

Q.Among the new pros that will debut in the next season, who do you think will be the dark horse?

Min-sung “Diem” Bae in the Shanghai Dragons. Diem and I knew each other since we were young, and we’ve been playing games together for a long time. We have matching IGNs (Carpe and Diem, as in “carpe diem”) because we both aimed to become pros when we started playing Overwatch.

Diem is a skilled player who has won the 2018 Overwatch Contenders Season 1 and in Season 2. We still play games together, and I knew he would join the league for Season 2.

Q. You have achieved two goals, joining the national team and winning the championship. What is your next goal?

Winning the Overwatch League, which I couldn’t do last season. Also, I want to be the season MVP.

Q. This is the last question. Would you like to say anything to the fans of Philadelphia Fusion?

I want to thank you for supporting me in the Overwatch World Cup. Please keep on supporting me when I’m playing for Philadelphia Fusion as well. Thank you.