Introduction: The S15 season has fully concluded, and most players have been following the recent offseason closely. The LCK region's K Cup competition has been extremely intense. As the matches progressed, the HLE team emerged as the champion of this tournament, becoming the first to reach the final. The power of this roster has caught the attention of many players. In the post-match interview, their head coach Hongmi’s remarks sparked widespread discussion online, especially among LPL fans. He openly commented on the large gap between LPL and LCK, praising the more complete team structure and the ability to focus better on key matters. Honestly, his change of attitude was very abrupt, even stating that after spending about ten years in China, there isn’t much he really misses.

Homme’s sudden change of mood upon returning to LCK

Most players are quite familiar with Coach Hongmi. As a top-tier coach in the LCK region, his achievements are outstanding. He has coached many teams in the LPL region, leading them to qualify for the World Championship, earning high recognition from many LPL fans. Over the years, he has been closely linked with the jungler Kanavi, with both almost always staying on the same team. Hongmi even called Kanavi his favored disciple. During this winter transfer window, both of them returned to LCK together, joining the top-tier “Galaxy Fleet” HLE, with a clear goal of winning the S16 World Championship.

The recent LCK matches marked their first appearance together. It seemed they hadn’t fully grasped the schedule’s rhythm and pace yet, resulting in some minor issues, but overall the results were very satisfying. They eliminated T1 in a BO3 knockout and then achieved a reverse sweep against DK in the BO5 winners' final, securing the first spot in the ultimate final. In the post-match interview, head coach Hongmi’s comments triggered heated debates across the internet, with many LPL fans even exploding in outrage, feeling that he revealed his true colors immediately upon returning to LCK.

In the interview, Homme said, "It’s been a long time since I returned to Korea, and I’m still adapting. The situation here is clearly different from China, and also very different from my previous experience in Korea. I don’t know if this is specific to HLE, but the team’s system here is very well-structured, which makes it easier for me to adjust. Compared to China, the environment here is better, allowing me to focus more on important matters, which is very beneficial." Later, he also mentioned that having just returned to Korea, he wasn’t sure yet what exactly he would miss, but probably there are some aspects he might be nostalgic about. This answer was quite tactful, implying that he didn’t find anything particularly memorable during his time in LPL.

Actually, when Hongmi was head coach of TES, he had publicly pointed out some existing problems in LPL. He said there are too many teams, the competition format is too complicated, and frequent changes of home venues cause teams to be exhausted and unable to focus well on training. As a result, the LPL region made some updates this season, reducing two teams and adjusting the competition format. The current awkward issue is the home venue model, which was designed mainly to improve ticket sales and revenue, but it indeed causes teams to travel back and forth frequently between matches.

Farewell thoughts

No one expected Coach Homme’s change of attitude to be so rapid. Just after returning to the LCK region, he openly stated that the environmental gap between the two major regions is huge, with LCK being more stable and excellent, having advantages both in environment and team structure. If that’s the case, why did he say he would return to LPL when leaving? It seems he still can’t give up the high salaries in LPL. Therefore, LPL really needs to cultivate its own coaches and not overly rely on Koreans.

What do all of you think about this matter?