TSW WarHorse on the Secret Whales project: "My expectation is not only LCP, but also on the international stage"
Team Secret Whales opened MSI with a 3-0 loss to Hanwha Life, dropping the LCP's first seed into the lower bracket. RFT.GG sat down with TSW head coach Chen "WarHorse" Ju-Chih — a Worlds winner with FPX and a veteran of the Flash Wolves era — to talk about the gap to the world's best, the mentality he wants from his teenage roster, and where the Secret Whales project is headed.
What are your first thoughts after that opening series?
Right now, what's on my mind is that when we compete against other regions — the top teams — there's still a gap between us.
HLE came into this tournament as one of the favourites. Going 0-3, was it a gap of pure level, or more about specific things you can adjust for the rest of the bracket?
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I feel the gap is in a lot of different areas — synergy, the individual level, the mechanics — especially because our players are very young, while our opponents are very successful, very experienced, with a lot of veterans. So at our current level there are difficulties here and there. But the most important part is whether we can show our style and our growth in the future.
TSW is by some distance the youngest team here. How much does that youth shape the way you coach, and do you see it as a strength or something to manage on a stage like this?
Honestly, we don't have much pressure on our shoulders on a stage like this, because compared to HLE, people don't really look upon us. So we don't need to make a huge adjustment. I just want to remind my players: we do the basic, the fundamental stuff, try our best to do good, and try our best to maybe win the game.
TSW arrived at MSI undefeated in LCP Split 2. People say you learn the most from defeats — could it actually be a danger not to have faced one before an international stage?
We are not a team without any failure this year, because in First Stand we ended our journey with 0-6.
But until now, I feel like at this level we don't have enough competitiveness to compete on the international stage.
So what we want to do is try our best — not only in the LCP, but also to have a good performance on the international level.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
As the LCP champion, do you find it hard to get good practice back home for international events?
I don't think that's a big issue, because back in the LCP we can still have some scrims and practice together against LCK or LPL teams. So the most crucial part is that we should, to the behalf of our heart, really believe that and trust ourselves — we can use so many different ways to have a good performance against strong teams. We could win the series against them, we could defeat them. This mentality, this mindset, is a crucial part for me.
Do you think that mentality was what was lacking in game three?
Yeah, I think mentality definitely counts. And especially not only for the in-game content — in normal practice, we should set an even higher goal, try our best to have even better form or momentum, try to learn more from our opponents, and make more improvements.
Last year CFO overperformed internationally, and that kind of result creates a weight of expectation. Do you feel that pressure coming in, and how do you manage it with young players?
For CFO, they really did a very good performance last year — they beat Team Secret Whales for almost the whole year. And especially their mid-jungle got a very good result, and after that they got a good opportunity to come to other regions and even participate in international tournaments once again.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
So I told our mid and jungle: we should look up to them, we should learn more from them.
If we can really have a good result domestically and also perform internationally, we could do more.
You've been at the top before — Worlds with FPX, the legendary Flash Wolves era. With such a young roster now, how much of your role is passing down that experience versus letting them figure things out their own way?
The very interesting part is how fast time passes. When I first ran into Flash Wolves as the head coach, the age gap was around three to five years between me and the players. But now it's maybe thirteen to fifteen years. So I really need to make my own adjustments — to know how to handle the relationship with our players, how to have very good communication, and maybe take care of the players more, to have deep talks with them as well.
Photo Credit: Riot Games
What's the ultimate goal of this Secret Whales project? Do you have specific expectations at the international level, or is it more about building something longer term?
After I first joined Secret Whales this year, I told my team:
My expectations aren’t just about the LCP, but also about internationals
We could perform ourselves, we could show good talent, but right now we don't manage to reach that level. We still have so many parts we can improve on, and hopefully, after two or three months, if there's a chance we can qualify to the World Championship, we can do better — and in the end, reach my initial goals.
