In the lower-bracket Round 2 of the 2026 LCK Cup, held on the 20th at CHZZK LoL Park in Jongno, Dplus KIA defeated DN SOOPers 3–1 to keep their run alive. On the day, Shin “Smash” Geum-jae proved his carry potential with Ezreal in Game 1, Aphelios in Game 2, and Ashe in Game 4, and was unanimously selected as POM (Player of the Match). Speaking in the post-match POM interview, Smash said, “Every time we won, I kept wondering when I’d finally get a POM. I’m really happy to receive one in a series like this.”

Dplus KIA’s regular POM winner has usually been “ShowMaker” Heo Su, who has taken the honor an incredible four times in six matches. On that, Smash laughed and said, “It is a little disappointing not to get POM, but I always thought the players who got it played incredibly well. So whenever ShowMaker got it, I really had nothing to say.”

Regarding their match against Gen.G Esports, the team that sent them to the lower bracket, he said, “We felt we had prepared very thoroughly, so the result was disappointing, and we talked about that a lot. We worked hard preparing for this match, discussing what to do next in-game and in terms of draft/ban.”

He continued, “Watching yesterday’s match, I felt DN SOOPers were no joke. I think the scariest teams are the ones that come up from below after winning, so I thought that if we slipped up, something could go very wrong. I tried to focus on each game one by one, and came in thinking  that if we prepared well and executed well, we could get a good result.”

Dplus KIA had generally preferred the blue side with first selection up to this point, but against DN SOOPers they chose first pick for the first time and played from red side. He explained, “We’d played on blue side so much that we even joked among ourselves that we had a ‘blue-side demon.’ We started talking about how it might be good to try first pick, so we gave it a shot. Since we won Game 1, it felt natural to choose first pick again in Game 4.”

He also gave feedback on the losing composition in Game 3. Smash said, “In Game 3 draft/ban, every lane had a favorable matchup, and jungle also had the better early-game matchup, so from the start we were trying to play a tempo game where we pressed them down. But it didn’t work out as well as we expected. Once we fell behind, the composition became bad. There were execution issues.”

Smash is also known as an AD carry who is usually active in making calls and shotcalling. When asked about that, he said, “I talk a lot in official matches and in scrims too. If you can stay focused on what you need to do, I think it’s fine to talk a lot. But if you’re getting pressured or missing things, then it’s probably better to stay quiet and just focus on dealing damage, so I try to do it depending on the timing and situation.”

Now they are just one step away from Hong Kong. Their next opponent is powerhouse T1. Smash said, “Back in Super Week, we lost 0–3 in a pretty helpless way, so I was left with a lot of disappointment. But I didn’t expect we’d meet again in an elimination match like this. T1 is my affectionate former team, but in the next match, regardless of that, I absolutely want to win. I’ll do my best.”

This article was translated from the original that appeared on INVEN.