When it comes to success in the League Championship Series, no duo knows it better than Immortals' South Korean duo of Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin and Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon. In their past two splits alone, the pair have only dropped a single game in the regular season. They won the spring and summer splits in Europe last year, and they're en route to possibly a three-peat with the green and black of Immortals.
Reignover. The brainiac of the two, swiftly calculating skirmishes and engagements for his squad.
Huni. The spear, with the raw talent to face anyone in the world and the confidence to back it up.
Together, they've become a perfect team -- the brains and the brawn. After departing from Europe and Fnatic in the summer, the two decided to continue their one-two punch in the United States, taking on a new challenge following their semifinal placement at the 2015 World Championships.
"It's not like it was the first time we lost," said Reignover to ESPN on Immortals' first loss two weeks ago to the defending NA champions Counter Logic Gaming. "[Me and Huni] lost at Worlds, so we know how it feels to lose. It didn't really kill [our team's] mentality, but game-wise, personally, I thought I played really bad. ...Outside of that, we didn't put high prioritization on keeping the winning streak -- it just happened."
Since their loss to CLG, the Immortals have looked quite mortal in their past few games, barely scraping out wins against the likes of Dignitas at the bottom of the table. Immortals' strength early on in the campaign was the almost instant chemistry that developed on Summoner's Rift, with the team coming together faster than anyone else in the league. Now that we're at the end of the regular split, some of the other teams in the competition are finally starting to show the same level of synergy Immortals displayed all season long.
"The meta isn't around [bottom lane] so it's all around top and mid," said Reignover, giving insight on why his tag team with Huni has been so successful this split. "We usually take a lot of advantage on the top side jungle. ...The experience me and Huni have over other top and jungles gives us good results."
Huni, asked the same question on why Reignover and himself work so well together, said with a smile on his face: "I think I'm just good and carry Reignover."
As Immortals' jungler and I laugh at the blunt answer, Huni continued on: "Reignover talks about synergy but I just carry."
Wanting to delve more into the partnership between the two close friends and teammates, I inquired both players on what was their favorite attribute about one another.
"He's just --", Huni started replying, glancing over at Reignover in the seat next to him before answering. "He's kind, I think."
While the top lane of Immortals answered right away, his jungle partner took more time thinking of a proper response. Following a few seconds of glaring and looking over his teammate, Reignover picked the one thing everyone could agree about Huni's personality:
"Confident."
Before we could move on however, Reignover rethought his answer, "Wait -- wait. Huni doesn't have confidence. [He has] ego."
Flipping the question in its head, I then asked what was one thing they would like to change about one another, in-game or outside.
"His age," said Huni. "I'm going to make him the younger brother, and then go, 'Hey, hey, kid, come to my lane!'"
For Reignover, he didn't have to think much for the thing he'd want to change about his ultra-aggressive top laner.
"Ego," he said in a deadpan voice. "It's his best [quality] but I want to change it, though."
Moving into the final weekend of the season, Immortals have little to play for. They've already locked up the regular season title and a first round bye in the playoffs. Saturday and Sunday will be one final tune up on stage before they battle in the semi-finals coming up in April for the chance to play in Las Vegas for the grand finals.
One thing that is up in the air, though, is the award for the most valuable player of the split. On the squad with the best record in the league, there is a good chance one of the five Immortals will be walking home with MVP hardware.
So with that in mind, I asked both players if they were given the power to pick the MVP for the season, whom would they select?
"I'll say me," said the blunt Huni, peering over to his teammate to see his reaction. After a second, he switched his decision, "But -- I don't know. I guess...I'll just give it to Reignover."
"Hm, if Huni plays like he did today [vs. NRG Esports] then maybe Huni," answered Reignover. "But if he doesn't play like he did today, for example against C9, then uh --"
"Okay, and if Reignover plays like he did against CLG then --" interrupted Huni, the two players laughing fully as they mess around with each other.
"I'll say Huni," ultimately said Reignover, relenting to his teammate's pleases.
Other teams might have caught up to Immortals in five-on-five communication and teamplay, yet the 15-1 squad still has one trump card no one else can currently match in their top and jungle partnership.
From South Korea to Europe and now in North America, the brotherhood of Huni and Reignover has outlasted every team that has come against them in the LCS playoffs. Until someone stops them, Huni's 'ego', as Reignover likes to call it, won't be stopping anytime soon.