Hai's Lows - Learning from your mistakes

Everyone has that moment where they realize they've royally screwed up. For you, dying when you forget to look at the minimap might not be great for team morale, but it probably won't cost you a shot at proving that you're the best in the world. So how do the guys on the big stage deal with messing up in front of all their fans with so much on the line? We asked LMQ's Vasilii and XiaoWeiXiao what their biggest mistakes were a few weeks ago, and loved the results. We caught up with Hai in between scrim blocks leading up to their Group Stage victory to find out what it's like for him.

Mistakes

It's not an easy subject, but sometimes mistakes are where we can learn the most, as players and as spectators. For Hai, the moment freshest in his mind came from a game against TSM in the North American Regionals just before Worlds. Anyone who saw the set knows what a close back and forth it was from game to game, and if you missed it, head over to our VODs page to check it out. The mistake came in the second game of the set, where he took Yasuo against Bjergsen's Syndra. He describes the match up as fairly even, saying that “Yasuo does fine against Syndra until she hits 6 and gets blue, you really have to play careful.” Playing carefully ended up being a big part of what went wrong for Hai, though it wasn't just getting out traded by Syndra. Check out the play here as Hai takes us through what happened.

What Was He Thinking?

What made him stay and auto the wave as the big cow lumbered into the lane. Maybe he thought his team was closer, or that he had enough mobility to escape? Not exactly. “I honestly just wasn't paying attention really, I didn't process the fact that Alistar could punt me into his teammate.” With a thousand things racing through his mind, Headbutt and Pulverize didn't make it to the top of the list. Even though he was behind, he was still making the team's calls which I can't help but imagine had something to do with it. “The mistake cost us the big lead we had and was ultimately the reason why we lost probably.” Hai knew that he had been out of position and it had cost his team, but in a high pressure situation, he had no time to hang his head. “We stayed calm and focused regardless of what was happening.”

Looking Back

If he could do it all over again? “I wouldn’t suicide 6 times,” but overall he explains that he wouldn't really change the calls. Even though Hai seems to be at the top of competitive play, he still learns from humbling experiences like this and isn't afraid to admit that a big part of this loss fell on his shoulders at this very moment. If one of the best players in the world can admit that sometimes a loss is his own fault, then there just might be a glimmer of hope for the rest of us. For Hai, it's about accepting the mistakes and moving forward instead of letting them weigh you down. “Look at your mistakes and figure out why you did them, and do your best not to repeat them.”

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