Key Takeaways from Kiwoom’s Victory Over Nongshim: How ‘Yukal’ Son Woo-hyun Led the Team to Break Their Losing Streak
Daniel Kim Views
After beating Nongshim RedForce to snap a five-game skid, Kiwoom DRX coach Jo Jae-eup — nicknamed “Joker” — praised Son Woo-hyun, known as Ucal, who earned Player of the Match.
Kiwoom handled Nongshim 2–0 on the afternoon of May 2 at the LCK Arena in Gran Seoul, Jongno-gu, Seoul, during Week 5 of the LCK. The win ended Kiwoom’s five-game slide and moved them to 3–7 on the season (−8). Nongshim dropped into a four-game losing streak and now sit at 4–6 (−4).
After the match, Jo said confidence had been rising, but repeated 0–2 losses could have broken the team’s spirit. “The players could have lost heart, but they stuck with it and worked hard. I want to thank them,” he said.
On Ucal’s recent inconsistency, Jo explained, “I think mistakes showed up in our recent losses. From a team perspective, we had problems with champion picks and coordination. I always said it wasn’t a personal issue. Woo-hyun heard that feedback, played confidently, and thanks to him we got a good result today.”
He added, “Ucal earned Player of the Match. He’s always performed well in practice, so I trusted him. I didn’t see this as a surprise so much as an overdue result. Top and bottom struggled to sync in lane and in team fights, but we recognized that and worked to fix it. Their play improved naturally, and I want to praise them.”
When asked about Nongshim’s roster change, Jo said, “I thought ‘Rehends’ Son Si-woo looked good on Bard. Rather than just following the data, I assumed they’d prepare their picks because ‘Diabl’ Nam Dae-geun joined. So we built bans and picks that would let our top and bottom suppress Nongshim’s bottom play. The players executed confidently, and that helped us win.”
On the chemistry between ‘Andil’ Moon Gwan-bin and ‘RageFeel’ Zhen Baomin, Moon said, “The meta still values 2v2, but it’s increasingly about 3v3 and 4v4 involving jungle and mid. Bottom is a two-player lane, so mindsets differed and there were some conflicts. The coach handled that well.”
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