For Starcraft II fans, he needs no introduction. However, the younger audience of League of Legends eSports scene may not know him as well as the SC2 fans. His name is DongHun "Hirai" Kang. His success in the Starcraft II world left a legacy of Korean domination over the scene.
This year, Longzhu IM has gone through a rebranding and a rebuilding phase with a new roster. To gain a better perspective on their journey and hardship this year, I had the honor to meet the legendary coach himself.
Introductions
David: Hello! Can you introduce yourself, please?
Hirai: Hello, I am Longzhu IM’s general manager, DongHoon “Hirai” Kang (???).
Responsibilities of a General Manager
David: What are responsibilities and duties you set yourself as the GM of Longzhu IM?
Hirai: Hmm... That is a very big question. Haha.
Hirai: I make the general decisions over the roster of our teams (including LoL, SC2, etc.)
Hirai: I take major responsibility over the team lineups, recruitment, player-development, training, and everything else that concerns what I establish as duties.
Changes in roster/ Expectations of roster
David: This year, Longzhu IM made major roster changes. What were your prior expectations for your new roster during the spring and summer splits?
Hirai: The spring season was the first season where we played out our newly recruited, nurtured players.
Hirai: We expected to be at least second best coming into the promotions season in a relatively easy fashion. However, our jungler at the time, Wisdom, got injured. Thus, we experienced a rough, yet successful promotion into the LCK.
Hirai: In terms of the summer season, we expected to reach the postseason play-offs. While we were working on our roster prior to the summer season, we had team work issues because we started the season even before we got to know each other better. We needed to prioritize working on getting to know one another on a team level for synergy.
David: That is very interesting. It's unfortunate that these problems sprouted.
Hirai: (Sighs) Yes... Every game seemed unfortunate.
Tusin: From Support to Jungle
David: Tusin was a supporter when he first came into the professional scene, but he played for Longzhu IM as a jungler this year. Is there a specific reason why you made the decision to have him play as the jungler?
Hirai: Last year, we recruited Tusin, while he was Diamond 1. One critical attribute I saw in him was his exceptional learning curve. Not only did he play support, he played many roles with with admirable skills. Furthermore, he played jungle the most in solo queue, as he proved to be talented in both micro and macro aspects of the game.
Hirai: While we were looking to find a new jungler after Wisdom’s injury, Tusin and I had jokingly spoke of the possibility that he was ready to play as our starting jungler. However, as we talked, we seriously discussed about changing his position to our starting jungler. He wanted to enjoy the game more in this way. Moreover, he wanted to influence the game more than what he was capable as a supporter.
Hirai: Looking back when Tusin was a Diamond 1 player, I can state that he is one of the quickest learners I have seen, which solidified my decision of adding Tusin into our roster.
David: I believe that your decision was the right one. Tusin has, indeed, shown us that he is a very talented player.
Hirai: I simply regret that he has just gotten better. We made Tusin a jungler just before the summer season started.
David: I see.
Hirai: It can only be tough when he was forced into an awkward position where he would have to play against Korea’s best junglers from the very start of his jungler career. I was saddened by the fact that there weren’t many people who had faith in him, when it was obvious that he would be struggling against the best.
Underperformance
David: Is there any player that performed better than your expectations?
Hirai: Honestly, I think everyone underperformed. I was disappointed that our talented roster was not able to show everything they had. I also think that I am responsible for not bringing the best out of my players.
Next Year
David: I believe that Longzhu IM will develop over the next year. What kind of changes will we be seeing?
Hirai: I would like to continue my journey with the players who are willing to stay. Change is important, but I think that the most imperative objective we have is to grow as a team. Furthermore, Longzhu IM will gain lots of support. Since it is close to the end of our player contracts, we must act carefully, but we are open to recruit new future players. (This is, of course, if they want to join our journey. Haha) We are looking forward to provide the best type of help to enthusiastic, talented players.
Parting words
David: That’s all the time we have. Thank you for your time! Is there anything you would like to tell your fans before leaving?
Hirai: I sincerely thank all of the fans who have shown tenacious support. We will try our best to be a team that is close to our fans. Moreover, we will try to do our best to make our fans smile and not regret being our fans. Thank you.
Conclusion
And there we have it. Hirai has been in the business of coaching and managing for years now and he is still keen on continuing on making the best teams and players that come to him. Although the results of 2015 for Longzhu IM were not the best, the team has shown clearly that it is improving.
On a personal level, I was touched by the part where he mentioned that he trusted and respected his players. What kind of impression did Hirai leave for you? (Leave a comment in the section below!)
