On the 15th, Nongshim REDFORCE defeated BNK FEARX 2-0 during the first round of the 2026 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) regular season at LoL PARK in Jongno. Although BNK FEARX secured their first win in their previous match, they were unable to extend their winning streak after today's loss to Nongshim. Conversely, after recording two losses in the second week, Nongshim bounced back with a clean 2-0 victory today, bringing their season record to 3-2.

After the match, Head Coach Choi In-kyu remarked that they had "missed many of the opponent's setups" during their previous losses. We caught up with him after the match for a more detailed discussion.

Q. Could you provide a summary of today's match.

Head Coach Choi In-kyu= I'm happy we won 2-0. While we did suffer some setbacks in the late game despite early leads in both sets, we were able to effectively leverage the strengths of the champions we selected during the pick-ban phase.

'Sponge'= I'm glad we won 2-0.

Q. The first set was a fast-paced skirmish. What do you think was the turning point?

Head Coach Choi In-kyu= I think it was because we fought from favorable positions in both sets.

'Sponge'= I think the win in the bottom lane skirmish using Pantheon was the biggest factor in the first set.

Q. How did you prepare for 'Daystar's' playstyle?

Head Coach Choi In-kyu= We knew they had strong teamfighting capabilities and that 'Raptor' was an aggressive player, so we prepared specific counters for that.

Q. What kind of feedback did you provide during your two-game losing streak?

Head Coach Choi In-kyu= We had been missing many of the opponent's movements and setups. Conversely, we lacked team-level coordination, so we focused our practice on those areas.

Q. You often find yourselves with early leads, but you've shown some instability in the late game.

'Sponge'= There were some communication errors, and sometimes mistakes happened because we weren't entirely sure how to execute our macro play.

Q. Anivia and Bard are appearing frequently as high-priority picks. Why is that?

Head Coach Choi In-kyu= Bard is excellent for flexible play. His synergy with various jungle pathing options is great. Anivia has a strong laning phase and offers unique variables, which are both significant advantages.

Q. You must have been startled when Kalista secured a quadra kill late in the game.

Head Coach Choi In-kyu= Our composition wasn't one that guaranteed a win if the game went to the very end. I did think we were in danger after losing that fight.

'Sponge'= Our teamfight initiation wasn't good, and I felt I had set up the fight poorly. I was confident that as long as the game didn't end right there, we would definitely win the next teamfight.