During the 2018  MSI Play In stage, we had time to catch up with No "SnowFlower" Hoi-jong and talk with him about the group stage of the play-ins and his thresh.

During day one of the group stages, I was waiting for Snowflower in the interview room. We were all in a rush, I was just finishing an interview and he was coming from an interview, it was stressful, to say the least. Snowflower was a very good sport about it. He was calm and seemed a little bit quiet. Since that on my next encounter with Snowflower he seemed very confident and outgoing, I can only assume Snowflower was tired of the stressful first day of competition, yet he seemed happy and in just a good mood overall.


Day 1

DrPuppet - First of all congratulations, how are you feeling today?

Snowflower - First of all I’m very happy for today, but I won’t be off my guard for the next day.


Do you expect the second day of groups will be much harder?

I think the other will prepare more for the Pick and Ban phase for the second day of competition, but we will prepare too.


So coming into this tournament you were already known as one of the best Thresh players in the world, even with an extremely good performance at the TCL finals with it, What is it about thresh that you usually perform better with than other champions or is it just your comfort pick?

It is a pick I’m very confident with.


So it is your first time playing internationally and also was your first time playing in the Turkish league, how would you describe this whole experience? Were you nervous at all?

The international tournament is easier than the Turkish league so far.


How come? Technically, you are playing here against the best of the play in regions. Do you think the teams in turkey are better or simply individually better?

When talking about group B, I’m not talking about group A, the Turkish teams are better.


Considering the whole tournament, is there a team you want to play?

First I want to play Flash Wolves and eliminate them. Since they are famous for being Korean slayers. After that, I would like to face Kingzone.


What is it about Kingzone that everyone wants to play and fear the most?

(He says a few words in Korean and the translator just says that he wants to answer it in English. Very confidently and smiling Snowflower answers “Khan is Great”. He bursts into laughter and repeats that he is great.)


Let’s talk about bot lane, I was talking with Zeitnot earlier and when I asked with about the bot lane and playing with you he said that you guys clicked right away. What do you think about playing with compared to the others you played before?

(He gets quieter and starts dramatizing the situation. “Do I have to answer this honestly?” He then jokingly looks around the room as he would be thinking of a good answer, he then turns around and become more serious again. )

Before that, I played with two Korean ADCs, let’s say he is as good as them.


Any message to your Turkish and Korean fans?

First I would like to thank the Turkish fans for the support, otherwise we would not be here. I also would like to support all my fans from Korea that still supports me, after all, this time.

Day 2

I was able to talk with Snowflower again, just right after the “showmatch” against Kabum. He was clearly in a good mood as he just had some fun on stage and was safe to be qualified for the next round.


So how does it feel to have played “top lane” champion in the fun game against Kabum?

I’m really confident when it comes to my Irelia and I really did want to win this game, but it went unlucky.


Anyways you won the rest of the games, how do you feel about that?

I’m really happy to have qualified for the knockout stage and I’m going to make sure we qualify for the group stage.


Do you think teams adapted the thresh after seeing you play him?

I think thresh is a super common pick so if the player is comfortable with it, he will perform with it. Although I think the teams adapted to me playing Thresh.


How did you guys prepare for today? Did you have any special preparation for Dire Wolves as it was the most important match for you guys today or did you just plan to play your own style and keep calm?

Personally, I had Dire Wolves in my mind but overall we thought if we played as we do and do fine.


Before the Dire Wolves game was the team nervous at all? Because in case anything went wrong and you didn’t win against dire Wolves, did you have anything prepared for Kabum if it did indeed become a scary and maybe difficult game for you guys?

As I said before we were very confident in our team, so there was no specific pressure.


Coming to the rest of the tournament, the meta was very clear at the start as every team would play their own personal style.  However most of the teams changed their playstyle coming into the second day of their stage presence, do you think Supermassive and Gambit will be able to keep their styles or will the meta change once again as soon as the other teams come to the tournament?

I don’t think the meta will change that much, but we have a few secret picks and weapons prepared, so I expect some fun games.


Evos or Flash Wolves?

Both.


Any message to your fans?

I would thank both fans, our fans from Turkey and Korea. We will try to keep this momentum and show a good performance for the next round. Thank you.


Right after the interview, the drawing for the knockout stage took place.
BAU SuperMassive eSports will face Evos on May 8th for one spot at the main stage of the MSI.