Interview with Najin e-mFire coach VinylCat: "a player who puts all their effort will always improve"

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

Please note that this interview was conducted before the 2014 League of Legends World Championship group stages so some of the questions will be out of date. Special thanks to Christine Ahn from GBKTV gaming for translating vinylcat's responses and Andy Shin for helping obtain this interview.

Annyoung ha sae yo, Vinylcat, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview, could you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Firstly, it is very nice to meet you all through onGamers. My name is Chae Woochul, and I’ve been using vinylcat as my username since season 1. For a long time, I have enjoyed playing League of Legends. I have experience as a professional player playing for EDG, a team MakNoon founded. As the professional scene entered Korea, I joined Najin. After being on the team as a player for a year, I began my career as a coach for Najin White Shield. I started playing League since November, 2009, so I’ve been with this game for approximately 5 years.

Could you please elaborate how you assist the team? What are the main areas of coaching you cover? How do you assist Reach in helping the team?

As a coach for Najin, I take care of the players’ health and their lifestyle, as well as improving the atmosphere for a better gaming environment for each player. Directly relating to the game itself, I help with strategic areas along with the mental part of the players. I do this not only as a coach, but as a member of the team to improve ourselves to become a better team.

The most important aspect of coaching for me is the utility of all 5 players. League is a game similar to Chess, since you have to make decisive decision making with the chess pieces you have on a given gaming board in order to achieve victory. I believe that in order to run a team like the previous example, you have to know every one of the players better than anyone else. I try my best to understand them better by being next to them and spectating them play numerous practice games and solo que games.

Reach is Najin’s head coach. I am extremely thankful to him for accepting me as a coach, and teaching me on how to become a better leader when guiding players to victory. I deeply admire him. As I believe that his decisions are always rational and right, I provide him with all the information I know and discuss with him to help him make the best decision possible.

You used to be the support player for Extreme Dive Gaming and Najin Shield, during that time what was your most proudest moment?

When EDG was first founded, I thought we had no competitors that could verse us, and we did win in minor tournaments. However, my best performance as a player was reaching the quarterfinals after LoL Champions opened up in Korea. Therefore, it is hard to choose the best moment in my career as a player. If I really had to choose one, I would choose the time when I was in a team with Cpt. Jack as a player of an unknown team. I wasn’t in EDG or Najin at that time, but that was when we faced MIG Frost as our opponent in the finals match, and won the small tournament as a comeback win after the two losses from earlier that match.

League of Legends has grown a long way in Korea ever since EDG's victory versus Maximum Impact Gaming at the GSTAR 2011. What do you think of the success of the game so far and do you see it growing even further in Korea?

I believe that League of Legends can develop to the point where Starcraft was once at previously. But, this is only a possibility. In order to develop like that, we have to do our best and improve. I would like to emphasize the importance of fans that support E-Sports. I think that we have to continuously impress them and work harder to let the fans know that they are the center of the E-Sports community.

In late 2012, Najin e-mfire decided to create a secondary team, Najin Sword with Maknoon and rename the original team to Najin Shield, what was the thought process behind that decision?

At that time, MIG came up with the two team system and won 2011 LoL Champions Spring. We believed that the system was extremely efficient for running the team and practicing. Additionally, we wanted to make the 2nd team as highly skilled as the other Najin team. This would allow practices between the two teams to be more efficient and improve along the way. As we made a secondary team, we decided to have an aggressive team around MakNoon, and we did.

Why did you decide to move into coaching?

When I was still a player, Najin Sword qualified for the season two world championship, and I went to the U.S. as a sister team. Then, I had thought to myself: ‘When will shield be able to enter a stage like this, and how honorable will it be.’. However, I completely failed as a player. It was a little late for me at the age of 29 to wait for another opportunity, and believed that staying in Najin would harm the team’s performance. So, I decided to retire as a player. However, Najin CEO Lee Suk Jin and Reach offered me a coaching job, and I gladly accepted the offer. I stille loved E-Sports, but my hands had become too stiff to be able to play with Najin Shield. I wanted to help Shield reach the world championship at all costs.

Najin emfire is also historically known for recruiting unknown talent (eg Ohq, Ggoong, Gorilla). Could you please explain a bit on what Najin looks for when recruiting a new member for a team?

When we recruit players, we look at their character and effort. Some may say that professional gamers only need skill, but me and Reach think differently. Of course, it would be difficult to have the best performance on stage immediately under this recruit system, just like my first two seasons after I began my career as a coach for Shield. We were defeated by SKT T1 K during the quarterfinals for LoL Champions spring 2013 with a score of 3:0 when we had recruited Save as our mid laner. When we recruited Ggoong, Zefa, and Gorilla during LoL Champions summer 2013 quarterfinals, we got defeated by CJ Frost with a score of 3:0. However, a player with good characteristics will be a source of courage and strength, and a player who puts all their effort will always improve. But, it doesn’t mean that all 5 players who have good character and work hard will all become like Faker. This game consists of picks and bans and strategies. This is one of the reasons why coaches exist.

What was the reasoning to move Watch from Najin Black Sword to Najin White Shield?

As Nofe retired after the 2013-2014 winter season, we became worried. At that time, Shield was on a good run, and we needed a player that could continue the run with their experience and synergy with the team (still meeting our recruiting requirements mentioned previously). It was a drastic decision by the coaching staff, and it wasn’t bad after all.

What do you think was the main factors that lead to White Shields defeat at OGN Spring 2014?

It’s pretty simple. Samsung Blue was a better team than White Shield. Shield showed a better form in concentration with their strength in teamwork. There were slight differences in team composition, but Shield had practices those comps, and had the lead in several games. I thought the result of the first match during the finals would scatter the picks and bans. If Shield won the first match, they would have had a tremendous advantage during the picks and bans stage. But, due to Blue’s outstanding team fight, Shield lost while having the baron buff. Another reason would be Deft’s kog’maw. His kog’maw excelled over others’ kog’maw plays. Also, Heart’s supporting skill was thorough and accurate than any other opponent they had faced during practice matches.

Last year, Shield travelled to LA with Sword to practise in secret, will it happen this year and how much do you think a secondary team helps in training?

Unlike previous years, it will be difficult to take Sword to Singapore with Shield. Compared to previous League of Legends World Championships, Season 4 championships didn't reveal our destination until the organizing of groups was complete. So, we didn't know if we were headed towards Taiwan or Singapore. This made it difficult to prepare accommodations and flight tickets for Sword. But, Sword will still help Shield practice online. If Shield qualifies for the quarter-finals, it will be easier to get help from Sword as the matches are held in Korea. I believe that there is nothing better than a secondary team to help in training.

How much do you think a hypothetical one team rule like North America / Europe will affect the Korean ecosystem? To what extent will it hurt the scene?

I don’t want to even think about it. It may look like the balance between the NA / EU teams will be better and the scrimmages between other teams will standardize the scene. But, consider the players who have been practising day and night to achieve their goal, giving up the opportunities they had during their youth. A sudden application of the one team rule like NA / EU means that around half of the players who participate in Korean E-Sports will lose their dream by force. Who will take responsibility of the players who were forced to lose their dreams? By this, we shouldn't even think of a hypothetical one team rule being applied in Korea.

White Shield has been placed in Group D with Alliance, Cloud 9 and Kabum! eSports? What did you think of this group? Are there any teams that you are worried about?

Group D is superficially consisted of 3 strong teams and 1 weak team. Unlike Group A, there is only one team considered to be a weak team, so their presence doesn't really have a huge significance, because the other three teams are expecting a win against that one weak team. This means that it will all depend on skill based competitions. I believe that Alliance and Cloud 9 are both superb teams. As representatives of EU and NA, they have their own factors of victory. Therefore, if any of the Korean teams are under-prepared, they may get knocked out during the group stage. I have constantly watched Cloud 9’s LCS games, considering them a smart and creative team. Once, I was actually inspired by Cloud 9’s performance during a match and applied it during the LoL Champions as a strategy. I’m eagerly looking forward to matches between C9 rather than being worried. It will be interesting.

Which other team (Alliance, C9, Kabum!) do you think will make it out of the groups with you?

I think that Alliance or Cloud 9 will make it out of the groups with us to the quarter-finals. Of course, we will have to try our best to go with them. I personally like Cloud 9, because I think that they are a good team.

Now that you've looked at some of the North American and European LCS players, could you please elaborate on the differences between the Korean system and the NA/EU ones. What are the major differences?

I think there isn't really a difference between North American players and Korean players in terms of mechanics. If there are differences between players, it is probably the difference between each individual rather than being Korean or ‘Not-Korean’. My view does not change even after watching the scrimmages between the NA / EU players. But, I do believe that there is a big difference in terms of the professional team system. However, I cannot reveal too much here. This is a know-how accumulated throughout the past 10 years of E-Sports. This isn't an individual know-how.

Out of all the non Korean teams, who did you have the most difficulty with? Do you think there is any team that can win against the Korean teams?

I think EDG, Fnatic, Alliance, Cloud 9, and TSM have the sufficient skill to show a good form against the Korean teams. Sadly, two of those teams are in the same group as us.

Did any non Korean player impress you during your scrims? What did he do that impressed you?

We haven’t done scrimmages with all of the international teams, so I can’t evaluate every one of them. Out of the teams that we have scrimmaged against, I have a huge expectation for xPeke. He has superb mechanics and have played the game for a long time, therefore having a large champion pool. Hai seems underrated. I like Lemonnation’s play style. Especially his nice-looking appearance :D

Thank you very much for your time, do you have any thing else to add? Any shoutouts?

It was a meaningful time to meet overseas fans through an interview. I would like to request one last thing to the fans. Players work extremely hard to show their best performance. But, there will always be winners and losers. I would love to have an environment where fans compliment the winners rather than scolding the losers. The centre of E-Sports are the fans. Please cheer for the players and encourage them. We will try our best to provide our fans with great pleasure.

Nilu Kulasingham is the Head of Journalists for onGamers. You can follow him on Twitter.

Image credits: Gamepedia/OnGameNet