All 10 players from Bilibili Gaming (BLG) and Gen.G spoke to the media ahead of the LoL Worlds 2026 final.
The elite League of Legends pros are all gathered in New York City before the grand final at the Barclays Center.
Following the elimination of T1 and Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, who had won the last three Worlds, this final will be especially historic.
Here’s what Zhuo ‘Knight’ Ding, Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon and the rest of the finalists had to say before the big game.
Viper’s Amazing Communication Skills
One theme that kept popping up during BLG’s press conference was how strong a communicator Park ‘Viper’ Do-hyeon is.
Viper is the only Korean player on the team, yet answered some questions in Chinese during the event.
And when asked about communicating in-game, Viper revealed he had been practising his Mandarin intently:
“Because we speak different languages — my native language isn’t Chinese, and I’m playing with native speakers, I put in extra work to learn the language to make sure there are no problems with our communications.
“In-game, we communicate very smoothly, and after the game there’s a translator who does a lot to help me if I miss something or don’t understand something.”
And BLG’s head coach Yang ‘Daeny’ Dae-in praised Viper for helping the team battle through earlier issues.
“I have to talk about the emotional, interpersonal tangles we got into — the ones that happened because of how badly we wanted to win. I don’t see these as a bad thing, necessarily.
“We were all aware of this problem, but we were trying to keep moving; trying to deal with it on our own. Viper brought it up to the team directly, which helped us tackle and address our issues together.”
Is It The Year of Chovy?
After long being heralded as the best midlaner since Faker, Chovy’s first LoL Worlds final has been a long time coming.
Asked if this is the year of Chovy, the Gen.G midlaner modestly responded:
“As amazing as the ‘Year of Chovy’ title would be, I want to make this the Year of Gen.G even more, together with my teammates. I’m gonna do my best to make that happen.”
After failing at various other Worlds, the midlaner has struggled to shake the nickname ‘Chokey’.
But now, Chovy says he has started to have more fun on stage:
“As I’ve worked on it, I’ve finally reached the level where I can just enjoy the game
“I’m now having less and less moments where I fail to play my best because of the stress and pressure. Experience on bigger stages helped me a lot as well.”
Ruler Claims He Isn’t Special
Gen.G are slight favourites for the LoL Worlds final, but the team is refusing to get carried away.
When one journalist complimented Gen.G ADC Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk for rarely making mistakes, the Korean pro quickly denied this:
“I don’t see myself as too different from other top ADCs. I make a lot of mistakes in late game.
“Of course, I’m a very experienced veteran, but compared to other ADCs, I don’t think I make less mistakes.”
Shockingly, this is Ruler’s first LoL Worlds final since he won the tournament nine years ago, back in 2017 with Samsung Galaxy.
Who do you think will win LoL Worlds 2026? Share your score predictions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
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An esports journalist for nine years with a focus on LoL Jack has written for national newspapers, interviewed major names, and driven people mad with puns. He's most proud of…
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