Golden Guardians Licorice Interview after 3-0 Win over Dignitas
Last week, the LCS Summer Split 2023 playoffs intensified with the Lower Bracket fighting for their chance to make the Summer Split finals but also chart their course to the League of Legends World Championship in South Korea. In the Lower Bracket, Team Dignitas looked to upset the number 2 seed Golden Guardians after Golden Guardians lost shockingly 3 to 1 to NRG. After a shocking Game 5 win, against TSM the week prior, Team Dignitas looked to keep their playoff run alive against Golden Guardians.
On the other side of the lower bracket, Team Liquid looked to keep their playoff dreams alive fighting against the cleanly swept Evil Geniuses; in the prior week, EG lost to Cloud 9 within three games. Meanwhile, Team Liquid had a strong series of matches against 100 Thieves to advance to the Lower Bracket 2nd round. If TL or EG won, they would go on to face the Winner of Golden Guardians Vs Dignitas. No matter what, each of the winning teams in the Lower Brack would have to play two games throughout the weekend in order to make it to the LCS Summer Finals.
DIG vs GG Results
In Game 1, Dignitas decided to ban out Kai’Sa and Leblanc to force an alternate mid-lane matchup. Golden Guardians chose to ban out the Tristana Ziggs combo while first picking Rell; with Rell being picked early, Golden Guardians was able to hide their jungle pick until the end to give them an advantage. With Both teams having pretty good team-fighting compositions, it was not until the Infernal Dragon was about to spawn, that we saw the first massive team fight; despite GG Huhi, being almost killed early, only GG River and DIG Jensen were killed in the skirmish.
With Gori and Licorice being stuck on the enemy’s side of the map, Dig is able to finish off Huhi and kill GG Licorice. With Dragon spawning, GG attempts to distract Dig with Rift Herald but it doesn’t work and Gori is caught out. Early on, it seems like it is DIG’s game to win but GG is able to secure the Baron and use it to push lanes for turrets. While Sieging, it seemed like DIG couldn’t decide what to protect leading to the top inhibitor turret falling and a fight breaking out., With Tomo getting caught, Golden Guardians was able to take down the turrets with Stixxay focusing on objectives and the rest of the team zoning out DIG.
Game 2
In Game 2, Golden Guardians left up Tristana but chose to ban Kai’sa, Ziggs, and Rakan. On the other side, DIG chose to ban Rell, Azir, and Aphillios which was used by GG in game 1. As Golden Guardians attempts to get some vision in the bot tri bush a fight breaks out between DIG Poome and Rich vs GG Stixxay and Huhi. This fight results in Tomo getting first blood on Huhi and DIG Rich dying to Huhi.
In the first team fight mid, Jensen dies to GG Gori and both teams get close to dying. After a little scuffle between DIG and GG over top scuttle crab, a secondary fight over Rift Herald breaks out and Golden Guardians is able to secure Rift and kill DIG. With Game 2, the inability to finish off kills by DIG resulted in Golden Guardians getting ahead and securing objectives. Golden Guardians was able to secure the win with a 27 to 6 lead.
Game 3
In Game 3, Dignitas faced series elimination. On the verge of elimination, Dignitas chose to go blue side to get the first pick; because of this, Golden Guardians banned out Tristana and Rakan. With Tristana banned, DIG chose to pick Kai’sa first; they would also pick up Rell Sejuani, and Azir. On the other side, Golden Guardians decided to use Ezreal and Jayce again and take K’sante.
GG Licorice is able to take down Rich underneath the top turret and Gori and River are able to catch and kill Jensen in the mid. A fight down in Bot tri bush results in DIG Pomme and GG Huhi dying. In another bot lane fight, Poome and Huhi’s lives are traded. While trying to secure Ocean Drake, DIG Santorin is able to slay the dragon but a fight breaks out. River is able to kill GG Huhi while Jensen is able to kill River. GG Licorice is able to kidnap Rich and secure the kill on Fiora.
Around Baron, DIG is able to kill GG Gori but Golden Guardians push down mid-lane and kill Poome. With GG pushing, Gori teleports to Baron River to help River catch and kill Santorin and Rich. With three down, Golden Guardians go for Baron and are able to use it to siege the turrets. With a 7k lead, Golden Guardians were looking for a final team fight to win the game. While DIG pushed mid, GG Licorice teleported behind the enemy and started to flank Dignitas and cause a massive team fight. GG Gori is able to get a Quadra Kill by killing Jensen.
After the series, we got to speak with Golden Guardians’ Top Laner Licorice.
Golden Guardians Licorice Interview
How are you feeling after a decisive win today?
GG Licorice – I would say that I am feeling pretty good. We expected to beat Team Dignitas. We were able to pick it up a bit after our loss to NRG; it was a good wake-up call and we started playing a lot better after that. We expected to beat them and I think we are playing Team Liquid on Sunday. They will be a stronger opponent for sure. We are already trying to think about that; we only have one day off. So it is a tight schedule for us.
Is Team Liquid the team you want to face in the next round?
GG Licorice – Personally, no. I think Summit is pretty good. I think it would be easier if I can avoid playing against him. I’m sure I can stack up against him well but I think I would be able to beat Revenge a little bit harder.
In between game 2 and game 3, what was going through your head during the intermission?
GG Licorice – We went outside and we were just trying to figure out what they were going to change. I thought Rich would want to play Aatrox or a similar champion where it is a late-game hard carry scaler. I also thought they’d ban Renekton. We banned Renekton and Aatrox; the draft went very smoothly. I’ve been at this a while. Don’t get too cocky. Don’t lose your focus and just play another game.
If you want to learn more about Golden Guardians’ Top Laner Licorice, you can watch the full interview down below. In the rest of the interview, we discuss how GG Licorice got into League of Legends, time with the game, his favorite things, inspirations, and much more.
