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Mad Lions Koi entered the 2024 League of Legends World Championship with modest expectations, whether because of the young roster or its exits in previous iterations of the tournament. Yet, under the leadership of their veteran jungler Javier “Elyoya” Prades Batalla at Worlds 2024, MDK qualified from the Play-Ins to the Swiss Stage, where they first faced Bilibili Gaming and then PSG Talon, a team from a minor region against whom they were expected to fare better. However, after two tough losses, MDK found themselves facing elimination.
Mad Lions Koi’s final chance to progress at Worlds 2024 came in a best-of-three series against GAM Esports, where they secured one win but ultimately fell 2-1, becoming the first team to be knocked out of the tournament. Despite showing improvements, MDK’s rookie line-up couldn’t match the pace or precision of more seasoned teams. Following their elimination, we spoke with MDK’s Polish mid-laner Bartłomiej “Fresskowy” Przewoźnik to get his reflections on the team’s journey at Worlds, the challenges they faced, and his thoughts on what lies ahead for this young line-up.
Thank you so much for taking the time for this interview. I understand that it must be a difficult time, but I want to get your first words after the match.
I mean, it’s really hard to think of something logical at this point. I mean, I’m really angry, devastated, frustrated. I still don’t know what happened. I feel like we wouldn’t still play how we know for sure. We’re changing a lot of things and we’re learning a lot of new things at this Worlds because I don’t think we can win Worlds how we’re playing this year.
So we need to add a lot of new concepts, our game. So for sure we’re learning a lot [in the competition] and we’re still not able to put it into official games because it’s too fast to put it in official games for sure. But yeah, it’s like we end up losing so fast because I feel like I didn’t match my expectations and my goals for this Worlds, and I wanted to have way more practice on stage and way more practice in general here. And it ends today.
What were your expectations, considering this is the first time that you go on an international stage on this level?
I mean, I wanted to play as many games as I can. Of course I didn’t really have expectations in terms of winning or going to some specific place, but I wanted to play as I know, and I don’t really think I matched it.
I think today I played better than I did in a lot of games at Worlds, but I think it was still not enough and I think I can still do way better. So yeah, I just did not match my expectations mostly individually and as a team I think we underperformed as well.
Do you feel this is something that has to do with your mentality going into the game, or the mechanical side perhaps?
I mean, I think both for sure, but I would say way more mentally I would say. I don’t think we’re that far mechanically from the other teams, of course we need to improve a lot because the Asian teams and Chinese teams are way better mechanically than in Europe and they play way faster. The fights on the map, so there’s this huge difference still. But I think the gap was mostly mentally and knowledge, I think.
‘I would like to say sorry to the fans because I think we’re underperformed. I want to say that I hope they will keep supporting and trusting us, because even though we didn’t show it, we already improved a lot of things and we learned a lot from this Worlds. I think in the end we’re going to be a better team. [This experience] is going to make us stronger and I’m looking forward for the future.’
Fresskowy, Mad Lions Koi
Do you feel this is more related to the inexperience of your team on the stage?
Probably, yes. Again, it’s hard now to think of it because there’s a lot of emotions going through my head right now, but probably yes, if I think of it now, since we are still for rookies at Worlds and we always wanted to play here.
So I think at some point we get affected by it and yeah, that was probably it.
Is there anything about the game, specifically on the draft, bans and the Yone picks, that you would like to comment on?
I don’t really focus on the draft too much. I think it’s not as important as people say or think, I think it’s really important when both teams are really good and you play really far in the tournament like I dunno, semi-finals, finals, and let’s say both teams are really good – and then draft matters I think.
But at this stage I don’t think it matters too much. I think you can get some advantages, but again, if you play how you know and you play with confidence and what you train in the scrims, I think it doesn’t really matter if you drafted better.
Compared to the scrims and to the practice that you guys were doing before the main stage, do you feel your performance in the main stage was a huge difference between the two?
I think we underperformed a bit, but I don’t think we played insane in Play-Ins. I think we won some games because of the individual gap, for example in the PSG match, I think we won because Alvaro finally engaged. I don’t think we played insane as a team. So yeah, I think we were lacking many things still.
I think it was a really good experience. I just wish it would last longer because I think we have improved a lot of things here, even though we didn’t show it in official. But again, we need to improve a lot, a lot, a lot if we want to win Worlds in the future. So it was a first step playing against Asian teams that I’m really grateful for, because I could see many different things from them.
Exiting the stage must have been hard. Did the coaches and staff have any words?
I’m not really sure to be honest, because I was shocked and devastated. I didn’t really look at anyone to be honest because usually when I lose and when we lose here I usually feel pretty ashamed.
So I just want to get out of the stage as far as possible, because I’m not really proud of my performance in general. So yeah, I was just angry, devastated, sad, and I didn’t notice what was happening around me to be honest.
‘I don’t really focus on the draft too much. I think it’s not as important as people say or think, I think it’s really important when both teams are really good and you play really far in the tournament like I dunno, semi-finals, finals, and let’s say both teams are really good – and then draft matters I think.’
Fresskowy, Mad Lions Koi
You said it before, you have a lot to improve as a team, but you also said that you performed better than your usual self on the stage today. What are the other things that you or your team needed to improve to reach the next step?
I mean I think we could have beaten GAM or the other teams if we would have played as we know from LEC Season Finals this year, but we changed it again, a lot of things, and we started learning a lot of things because our goal is not to be one, two or two in Swiss stage, win one best of three and go for the next step.
We’re aiming to be able to beat the Asian teams, so we wouldn’t be super satisfied if we beat GAM today and [not won in] the next round. We’re not able to match let’s say Weibo or any other LCK or LPL teams. So we’re looking more long-term to improve as much as we can, because again, we could have played how we know these days and probably beaten GAM. But yeah, our goal is to match the Asian teams – not to win one game.
You said that you look to improve on the long term. Have you already talked with the team about off season and possibly 2025 season?
Not really. I think we’ll probably bootcamp in December as we usually have. I don’t know what’s going to happen now because we didn’t expect to lose today, so it’s hard to tell what’s our plans for the season. I don’t really know to be honest with you.
One thing that I was curious about was asking about the relationship between the team roster and Ibai, because I know he was in the Arena, so I was curious to ask, does he come down maybe to the team room and offer a few words of support either before or after the game?
Not really. We didn’t see him and usually he doesn’t join, but I think it’s also normal since we have our kind of space before the game with the staff and we are ready and focused on the game. So I don’t really expect that. I know we get a lot of support from them anyways, so yeah.
One thing about after the game, there were a lot of fans in the arena, you might have heard them. Is there anything that you would like to say to them?
I mean, I would like to say sorry again because I think we’re underperformed. I want to say that I hope they will keep supporting and trusting us because even though we didn’t show, we already improved a lot of things and we learned a lot from this Worlds, I just wish it would be more things.
But I see more clearly now what I need to do in the future to be able to match the Asian teams. And I think it was a really interesting experience and I think we take away a lot of lessons from it and I think if we’re going to use it well in the next year, we’re going to do way better than that. So yeah, I think in the end we’re going to be a better team. It is going to make us stronger and I’m looking forward for the future.
‘We’re aiming to be able to beat the Asian teams, so we wouldn’t be super satisfied if we beat GAM today and [not won in] the next round. We could have played how we know these days and probably beaten GAM. But our goal is to match the Asian teams – not to win one game.’
Fresskowy, Mad Lions Koi
I understand that you are shocked and disappointed right now, but you also said you see more clearly what you need to improve on for the future. Can you share a bit of what are the things that you are thinking of?
Basically it’s details, looking more deep into the game. There are a lot of things that are really details that, I’m not going to go really into those details right now, but it’s small things that Asian team do way better than we do in Europe – controlling the zones and playing the map way faster, contesting the right waves… it’s a lot of things.
But it’s really interesting because I think it’s a super, super big gap between them and us in Europe. So all the games that we were able to play was super useful to me, because it’s a way different game and we kind of want to not really join their game, but learn the best things that they have from the game, adapt to ours and then beat them. So it was a really interesting experience for me.
One last question. What are the factors that you think contributes to this gap between the Western and Eastern teams?
I mean, for sure, again, it’s small details, but I think they have better practice in general, since they’re a better region. I think they have way stronger teams that understand the game way more than we do in Europe.
And I think they start the game way [better] than we do in Europe. I think they have a better understanding of the map in general and macro, so I think that’s the bigger factor.
Hi, I’m Cecilia! A freelance writer mainly focusing on League of Legends and its esports scenes. Find me at events interviewing anyone who has a story to tell, from players to the talented people working behind the scenes. Do you also have a story to share? Reach out to me via Twitter.
