MC interview @IEM: Transitioning to LoL coaching, and less…

MC is one of the all time legends of StarCraft II, known as much for his brash, on-stage persona as his clinical timing attacks. I ran into a different version of the "BossToss" at IEM GyeongGi, who was leading a young Kongdoo Monsters League of Legends team. I sat down and talked to him about his departure from StarCraft and transition to coaching.

*This interview has been edited and rearranged for clarity.
**This interview was conducted before Kongdoo Monster's semifinal match at IEM Gyeonggi.



Waxangel: The last time we saw you, you were a StarCraft II pro. Now you’re a League of Legends head coach. How have you been?

MC: Well, I actually didn’t have any plans to quit StarCraft II, but the news came out that Proleague was going away. I learned about it a month before the news stories broke, and the future seemed dark. For me, and I guess it’s the same for other players, but there’s a salary you have to earn every month… It’s hard to keep living as a pro without a salary.

After a lot of thought, as I was thinking about it, the Kongdoo Monster spot opened up. I came on last minute as a coach, and one month in, they liked what I was doing. A team must have a head coach in League of Legends, so I ended up being promoted to that position.

How did you find the coaching position in the first place?

The CEO of Kongdoo Monster is a progamer who played Brood War with me on MBCGame, Shark, so it helped that I knew him… Progamers are mostly lazy, so the team liked that I was waking up early and things like that. They also had a lot of faith in my ability to communicate with the players, so they told me that if I wanted to give it a shot, it may not be a bad idea. I accepted because I thought it was a fresh challenge and a good opportunity, and worked hard at it for a month.

Were you nervous when you accepted the position? Did you wonder if you could really pull it off?

I wasn’t so nervous about that. I was more concerned about how StarCraft II fans would see it, because you could see it as betrayal. But, I think we’re all people who love esports, and I still like StarCraft II. It’s the game that made me the BossToss, and even if the game has been pushed out a bit by games like League of Legends or Overwatch, it’s still the most popular RTS. Also, just because I like StarCraft II, it doesn’t mean that StarCraft II is going to take care of my life. Just like everyone else trying to get by, I had to do it for the money.

During your long progaming career, you played in a lot of different environments. MBCGame, oGs, a team house in Germany, by yourself—how do those experiences help you as a head coach?

I was a progamer for almost eight years. During that time, I lived with a lot of head coaches and coaches. The top priority was to not do the things I disliked as a player. I put a lot of thought into trying to use those experiences to help the players play better and focus solely on the game. Honestly, in StarCraft, even if a coach suggests a strategy to you, players all have their own thoughts—some are aggressive players, some are defensive players—that makes them different. Rather than meddle with who a player is, I think a good coach helps an aggressive player be more aggressive, and helps a defensive player be more defensive, so I’m working in that direction.

Before you became a coach officially, were you the type of player who gave coaching to your teammates? For instance, we sometimes saw you in the booth at tournaments, helping out other players between matches.

When SK Gaming and Incredible Miracle had a partnership, I was living in the IM house. At the time, there wasn’t a StarCraft II coach. So effectively, I acted as the StarCraft II coach. I helped players out mentally, contacted other teams to help them practice if they had a tournament match coming, and things like that. It was after I joined the house that IM won the GSTL, and I took care of the entrees/rosters for the most part.

I felt that around then, even though I wasn’t playing in the games, watching these younger players I was living with being so happy with winning a championship—it was a different kind of feeling. I thought then that being a coach wouldn’t be bad.

You were known as a strategically brilliant player in StarCraft II, discovering and abusing things before anyone else. Is it possible for a League of Legends team to play that way?

I enjoyed playing League of Legends since around Season 2, although I didn’t play a ton. But I did enjoy playing it during breaks between StarCraft II. Then, in 2016, from around January to March, I played a lot of LoL myself, to try and get a feel for what being a LoL pro would be like. Playing that way, I was able to hit Masters along the way… But abruptly I felt the desire to be a StarCraft II pro again, so I started that in June.

Anyway, playing the two games—StarCraft II is an individual game, and you can take care of the strategic portion by yourself. League of Legends is a game where five people play, but they have to play as one. Regardless of each individual’s skill, I think the team with the better teamwork wins.

For instance, the best team in the world right now, SKT1. They’re a special team because their #1 mid in the world, Faker, can play together with the remaining four. I see that a lot in their play.

Honestly, strategically, all the progaming teams are pretty similar. Look at Starcraft, everyone knows all the builds. But your instincts and decision-making inside the game, that’s the difference between becoming the best progamer or a so-so progamer. I think I can help my team in that regard, because that’s what I was able to do for myself.

To be honest, I don’t really know that well. This is something I’m doing for the first time, and I have my own opinions on all of this. Other coaching staffs might be different in the way they think. I can’t be certain that I’m right, but if lead my guys believing that I’m right, I think the players will buy in and get good results.

You weren’t exactly a “standard” player in StarCraft. You had excellent micro, and were good at coming up with strategies [code for “cheesy”]. Can those elements be reflected in a LoL team?

There’s a lot of people who think that, but I was always a player with good fundamentals. I think that aspect of my playstyle stood out because I was good at micro.

I always wanted to play entertaining games. Of all the players who were great in StarCraft II, some of them showed you exceptional macro play but made the game boring at times. My games were never boring, in victory or defeat. Because I would always fight. I think that fans want that kind of excitement, and that was more fun for me as well.

So in my head, I would know “I can’t fight this now, I’ll be put at a disadvantage,” but I kept fighting even though I knew that, and I lost a lot of games because of that.

In League of Legends, of course you have to win, and it’s a game played by five people, so I guess I shouldn’t try to turn my players into me? I need to make them play safer, so they can secure certain victories.

As a player, you always said other players underrate the value of being entertaining for the fans. Has that attitude changed, now that you’re a head coach?

No, my opinion on that hasn’t changed. If I’m up for an interview, I can take care of the entertainment aspect. I won’t force it on the players, but I do remind them about the need to be entertaining. Whether or not the players want to act on my words or not, that’s up to them.

You’re someone who became a progamer through the Brood War system. There were many tiers of progression you had to get through before becoming a proper progamer, which is very different from the current environment. Salaries have gone up a ton since then as well. When you look at the young players you’re coaching now, are they noticeably different from the older generation of pros?

I had heard before that League of Legends players were difficult to manage. But that must be different from person to person—Kongdoo Monster has players who follow instructions well. Since they’re young, there are some parts of social relationships they don’t understand that well, but in a way I’m their school teacher, and it’s my job to teach them. Our players are following me really well, so I’m thankful to them for that.

I get the feeling that foreign teams, the foreign community, they have this kind of fantasy about Korean coaching that makes it superior to everything else. At the same time, we don’t really know what they do, what their responsibilities are. Could you elaborate on the duties of a head coach?

Well, it’s not like I’ve met any foreign coaches or lived with them, so I can’t make any judgments, maybe they’re similar. But anyway, Korean coaches, I think that it may be the cultural differences? The players, perhaps… A few foreign players do whatever they want, practice however they want without fixed times. Korean players, they all wake up at the same, a fixed time, and practice together until a fixed time. I think you build teamwork just by doing that. Five, six guys, sharing the day and living together, becoming unified as one. It’s not easy to get everyone to act together like that, so that’s part of a head coach’s job. Putting strategy aside, I think that maybe Korean head coaches are good at getting their players to act as one.

It’s a method a lot of head coaches have practiced since StarCraft: Brood War, and if you look at how Korean pro teams are still strong, I feel like it’s a good practice.

What was the hardest part of adjusting from an individual game to a team game?

Frankly, if you’re running a StarCraft team, you’re fine as long as 1~2 players are good. Even if everyone else is bad, the team can still perform well. In League of Legends, if just one player is bad, the team’s results go down, so you have to watch over and take care everyone so that their skill stays up. I didn’t work as a head coach in StarCraft, but I imagine you didn’t have to worry about that aspect.

So the first thing I did was become friendly with the players—I like head coaches who are like an older brother. When we’re not playing the game, I’m someone they can talk to and joke with. But when it’s time to practice, I make sure to draw a solid line, scolding guys when they deserve it, and giving them praise when it’s earned.

I guess you could say I’m two-faced?

One of the oldest talking points in esports is how much effort matters compared to talent. Compared to StarCraft, do you think League of Legends is more of a talent or effort game?

Everyone gets that wrong, whether it’s StarCraft or LoL. It’s not about talent—it’s all effort. You become the best player because you put in that much work. Faker, he’s the best because he worked the hardest out of everyone. When I was the best in StarCraft, I worked the hardest. My results dropped off once I started slacking. Jaedong, Bisu, Flash, all of those guys became the best in the world since they worked really hard. That’s something only people who have been #1 realize. I can tell you that for certain, you reach #1 because you worked that hard, not because you’re talented.

Your players mentioned they’re practicing a lot lately and they’ve been playing well as a result. Going beyond this tournament, what are your goals for this team in LCK 2017?

I don’t know about the players, but my goal is to defeat SKT1 and win the championship. A lot of fans and people in the industry will think that’s impossible, but I’ve stood at the top before. In both traditional sports and esports, I think anyone can become a champion. So I’ll do what I can to make that happen.

When you decided to retire from StarCraft, were you doubting you own skill? Or did you think you could keep playing well if you wanted to?

When I first joined CJ Entus and practiced with them, it was very tough, I lost a lot. I had joined a pro team again after taking time off, away from the lifestyle where you’re at a computer for hours on end. It was a bit tough handling a progamer schedule at first, but after three months I was fine. I was thinking I would be able to play well next year, and go to the military after that. So when I heard the news of Proleague shutting down, I was quite sad.

Do you have any regrets about your StarCraft II career? It ended somewhat abruptly.

Personally, the thing I regret the most is not being able to win BlizzCon. I’ve won all the other big tournaments. Honestly, it’s sad, you wish it could have gone on for one or two more years. A lot of players are quitting, or thinking about quitting. The fact that there’s no fixed salary is probably the biggest factor. Blizzard is doing lot of things, so I guess the remaining players should keep working hard and show the fans good games.

Anyone you’re cheering for at IEM?

Of the remaining players, I lived with ByuL, and I’m close with him, so I’m cheering for him.

Alright, do you want to say anything to the foreign fans in English?

I know you guys sad for I leave StarCraft II scene,
But, you know, all people have to change… to another life.
So, please just cheer for me, it’s not betray.
We love esports and we are together.

And keep cheering StarCraft II please.
A lot of Korean players still want to play, so
Yeah, so, that’s all.

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You can follow MC on Twitter at @KDM_MC1.