LYON Reignover: “Obviously [with experienced players], there’s going to be a lot of clash at the beginning, as a team.”
Interview conducted after LYON’s victory against FLY, Feb 21, 2026.
Q: Did you expect to defeat FLY so quickly?
Reignover: I mean, looking at the FlyQuest C9 series, it looked like FlyQuest was just playing super aggressive — […] it doesn’t make sense. I mean, it makes sense, but sometimes they play a little bit too aggressive, within the timing where they’re not the strongest — or without the strongest reason.
I mean, I feel like as long as we are in control of what they’re doing — just being able to react well — I think we were expecting the series to be similar to the C9 series. I think we were expecting us to win today.
Q: It felt like they were able to fight back really well, despite being so far behind — did you feel like FLY was outplaying in teamfights, especially in Games 1 and 3?
Reignover: I’m not sure about Game 1, but Game 3 for sure — obviously Game 3, we’re not as far ahead, and I’d say they were playing a very strong early game, especially with the Cassio, Xin Zhao, [and even] the Lucian-Sona side
So we kind of had to respect during the early fights, but as long as we’re getting like 2 items, 3 items, we still have the range — what makes the fight looks a little bit wonky is that they were stacking Dragons.
Even though they’re short range, [when FLY] hit the objective, we kind of have to walk up, which is what they want. And we still have to play well around the ranges we have, and the angles we have — I think that’s why it makes the teamfight look a little [less favored], but they did play pretty well making sure they hit the objective with their team comp.
But outside of that, not sure. I feel like we were in control for most of the team fights.
Q: Did something change in those two weeks?
Reignover: Yeah, I mean the loss [in] the DSG series hurts, but when you lose, you learn the most as a team. It was [painful], but I think we just got, like, a really big alert that we’re not on the same page on how we want to play the game. Win condition-wise, a lot of things that were obvious to each other in scrims didn’t turn out to be obvious — and the way we click, the way we see the situations.
When that happened, especially in stage matches [during] very important early fights around like Krabs, Dragon, and Grubs, then obviously the game explodes. And I dhink DSG is actually not that bad. They’re actually pretty good, even though they got disqualified.
So I think it was just a mix of all, but yeah, we did really improve a lot compared to two weeks ago.
Q: How do you actually change that? How do you “get on the same page” out of nowhere?
Reignover: Not really. I think it’s more of … I mean, Inspired is definitely our main shotcaller.
The big reason why it’s really nice to have junglers like Inspired is that he will always make sure to let the team know what’s the win condition — the team will never be lost in the game about how you should play the team comp.
Pretty much, when Inspired is shotcalling for something, if you, as his teammate [understand] what he’s talking about, if you say, “I want to do this, I want to do that.” [You] need to submit that as the same information — as a unit.
But when you’re not submitting that as the same information, [you lose coordination].
“Oh, Inspired wants to do that, so I need to base on this timing, I need to slow the wave this much, I need to be able to contest this wave this much,” you know? All the small things matter to be able to actually execute what Inspired is shotcalling in early games.
I would say the change of being on the same page is just, like, making sure everyone knows what’s happening — what does it mean when we’re trying to do something, you know?
Q: Thoughts on Inspired saying that facing TL will be easier than FLY?
Reignover: I mean, the thing is, it’s hard to tell. Definitely, in scrims, TL is very strong. But I’d also say that the way TL plays in scrims is very … How should I say it? Unlike stage.
They play very aggressive [in scrims]. They really expect the opponent to, like, play bad. So, I’m not sure.
Q: Does that approach work against you guys?
Reignover: I mean, playing aggressive always works [in scrims], because no one plays like stage in scrims. Like, it’s almost impossible. You aim to do it, but it’s just impossible, right?
If one team is [planning] to play like stage, and one team plays extra aggressive because it’s scrims, obviously they’ll get a bit more advantage.
Going back to your question, I do believe we are better as a team, [from] a team-play perspective. I think it kind of showed today as well. I think it could look quite similar [to our series against FLY] if TL is playing way too aggressive and we’re ready to punish it.
Maybe we don’t even have to make anything flashy, [if we’re] just making sure we’re punishing TL playing aggressive. I think their teamfight is also pretty strong, though, so we’ll keep focusing and improving as a team. By next week, I do think we’ll win against TL, yeah.
Q: TL is also a grudge match for you, right?
Reignover: To be honest, I don’t really care that much about those kinds of things. Obviously, there’s a little part of [me] like, “Oh, I want to win a little bit more against them.” But, to be honest, it’s just a [another] Bo5. You just prep against the opponent team. I’m just treating them as an opponent team.
Q: Is it also your read that SEN is worse than TL, like most people seem to believe?
Reignover: Hard to tell, but I do respect SEN, maybe more than other teams. I think they have been improving a lot. They have been working so hard — I think they might actually be the hardest working team. They night block [scrims] a lot as well.
I could feel the difference of Sentinels from a few weeks [ago], so I do not underrate them. I think TL has their own strength. Sentinels has their own strength. So we just have to prep well, we just have to play our game well, and we’ll be winning against both teams.
Q: If you respect Sentinels, do you think they’re getting a game against C9?
Reignover: Yeah, I think they can. I mean, think the series is going to be fun. Unless …
I mean, to be honest, C9, the way they play on stage, their performance was incredible — especially their mid-jungle has been playing fantastic.
Q: APA and Blaber might be the best mid-jungle in the west, so do they just crush SEN?
Reignover: Sentinels also have decent mid-jungle. I mean, it’s not like mid-jungle synergy, but I think their jungle is actually playing much better than before. So as long as they are able to not get completely outclassed mid-jungle, I think they have a chance to get a game or two, maybe even win the series in the crazy world.
Q: What’s your view of how the teams break down? Is the general community sentiment (C9-LYON-TL, then everyone else) accurate?
Reignover: Oh, I mean, don’t think I have that much of a different opinion from others. I think us, TL, C9 [are] top three. Hard to tell who’s better. We’ll see.
And then after that, mean, I think … it’s just Sentinels and then I’m not sure about FlyQuest. Honestly, they didn’t really show that bit of a performance, especially the last few weeks. I think DSG was up there. I would say Sentinels then DSG then the rest.
Q: Does it seem like the other teams are particularly close to the top this year? With LYON’s superstar roster, many thought LYON would clash with game plans; too much experience for a team to be cohesive. Was that considered in the offseason, and was that recently fixed?
Reignover: I haven’t thought too much about the other teams or anything, but if you’re talking about our team, I would say when we built the roster […] I thought it was very important that we build the roster [thinking about Fearless], with the players that are able to play multiple roles [in the game], multiple champions.
Usually, I’d say the players with a lot of experience, and the ones that play aggressive and call aggressive are usually the ones that know the win condition well, because you need to know the win condition [in order] to shotcall the game, right?
I would say we, as a team, have definitely struggled because the mid, ADC and jungle — everyone — has been, you know, the main shot caller, [on a team] where they have a lot of ideas about the game. So obviously there’s going to be a lot of clash at the beginning as a team, right?
And it’s never [automatically] bad that there’s a lot of clash. You just have to, in the end, match your thought processes; [you have to] be able to play on the same page, and then people will just step up. It depends on the team comp, right?
Sometimes, Berserker has to take the role of controlling all the fights with his hypercarry, sometimes Saint has to be able to control the game — especially with champions like Azir.
And for Kacper, he’s usually always going to be the main caller, because he’s playing jungle and he knows the game really well, right?
So I think it’s just good to have aggressive players [who] know the win condition, and are able to talk about it. But, obviously, there’s going to be struggle at the beginning. Right now, we’re still in the process of matching all the thought processes. Then, once we match everything — once everyone’s on the same page — we’ll be a very good team that’s able to play a lot of win conditions in Fearless.
Q: Do you have a favorite memory with the team? Hanging out outside of the game, maybe?
Reignover: I mean maybe in future, but I’d say [we’re] a very competitive environment, especially — well, today we won, so everyone’s happy — but before today we obviously had a very bad series against DSG, and then [it was] followed up by losing to C9 0-2, right?
So I mean, it’s not easy, in those situations, to be chill-minded. But I think it’s even better [for our improvement]. We’ve been treating our scrims very seriously. We’ve not [taken] a single loss without taking care [to learn]. I think that’s why we’re improving fast as a team.
Once we actually [achieve] good results — I think especially after today, I believe that our player’s trust increases with one another, and it’ll make our practice even more fun, and our stage games even more fun. That’s what I expect, and hope, will happen.
Q: Any shit talk for Spawn?
Reignover: I’m not a shit talker. I’m kind of a boring person, you know? I’ll be very glad and happy if we can win against you.
Header Image Credit: Riot Games
