VKS Trymbi: “I know Brazilian fans are angry — and believe me, people behind the scenes and everyone involved are angry too.”
Q: Are you settled in now? Are you guys doing well in China?
Trymbi: Oh yeah. I mean, Riot has helped us immensely. Honestly, we got a lot of help, but the problems we encountered were not really something they could help with. Our flight basically got cancelled from Brazil, so we had a lot of problems. We basically started our travel with one or two hours of sleep and kept going until like 40 hours later.
So yeah, it was a hard task, definitely, but I think Riot made sure we could feel comfortable, and they really lent a hand whenever they could. I really appreciated that, because at the end of the day, when we came here and did all the stuff we needed to do, we were just extremely tired — and the jet lag is still kicking in, sadly. But even though we’re really tired, I think we got a lot of help, and like we’re not sad or anything. I think we’re actually quite solid regardless of our tiredness levels.
Q: How many days have you been here? Have you gotten any serious days of scrims yet?
Trymbi: Let me think. I swear we came here like three, four days ago, maybe. I think it was three days, maybe it was four — I don’t remember anymore because of how the days have blended together. We got at least two days of scrims, with some other things, of course, because we have our duties to do too as pro players coming into Worlds.
Q: But if you’re still jet-lagged, they’re not like full condition yet?
Trymbi: Oh yeah, for sure. We were extremely tired. We didn’t even get to play a match of League before, right? Because our travel was up to 50 hours in total. We’re not in the greatest state, of course, but that’s not an excuse for how we’ll play. I generally don’t care much about that — we’re trying our best to make it work, and we’ve been quite diligent with everything we did.
We had a good plan coming into this trip despite all the external problems. A lot of people helped us, and everyone on our team truly appreciates it. That’s why we want to make sure we can actually showcase some good League of Legends. Despite being tired in scrims, and with jet lag — maybe some people don’t get enough sleep, or the scrim blocks are a bit different because we scrim three blocks, when in Brazil we’d play maybe five or six games max — there are a lot of new things.
But I think everyone is excited because of it. For sure, we’re not where we want to be yet. Our gameplay feels a bit off since everyone’s tired and we’re not at 100%. I’m generally quite annoyed because I want everything to be perfect. It’s not going to be an easy task coming into Worlds, but honestly, we just need to get through it. If everyone steps up and we can get some good nights of sleep and get things off our chest, I think we can make things work.
Q: I don’t want to keep harping on condition, but how has it been outside of that then? Have you gotten to meet any players from other regions or reunite with LEC friends?
Trymbi: Oh yeah. We got to scrim some EU teams. I talked to Hans Sama the other day — meeting Steven was really nice, honestly. Before even coming to us, I talked with Inspired during our LTA conference, and I got to see a lot of people from EU.
The thing is, whenever I played in EU teams, I was a guy who would rather stay in the bubble of my team. So I got to know a lot of new people throughout different areas. When I didn’t play in LEC in 2023 and I was on the LEC desk, I met a lot of people there — the casters, the managers, the Riot handlers, even the makeup artists. Seeing them again gave me a lot of happiness for sure.
Seeing so many people from EU that I’ve met throughout my years in LEC, with some breaks — it just felt amazing. I’m really happy that I can be here at Worlds. Maybe for some people it’s not a big deal, but for me, meeting all these people again and realizing they still remember me and are fond of me — they smile when they see me — that makes me really happy to smile back.
Q: There’s been talk that your win against 100T was “fake news,” because they underperformed. Thoughts?
Trymbi: I mean, I think it depends. I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to, because I didn’t hear much about 100 Thieves’ struggles before the LTA. I saw they had problems with River’s visa and everything [after LTA ended].
Q: The argument is that it wasn’t their real level of performance — that before the visa issues, people thought they’d do better than you at this tournament.
Trymbi: I mean, maybe. I don’t know. I have to be honest — I thought they played like shit, and I don’t think they’re good. Sure, people can say they’re better than us, but from scrims and from what we played against them, they looked really, really bad. I generally don’t think they’re that good. That’s the only team I find impossible to lose to — I just don’t find them that strong.
Maybe they got better. I assume they’re not really in the best state right now with all the things happening behind the scenes — the visa issues and so on. I’m quite sad for them about that. Of course, we can’t match against them in the first round, but if we ever get to face them, I’ll be quite happy.
I wouldn’t like people to undermine our win in the LTA conference. I personally think we won so convincingly that people were just kind of shocked. I hope to make statements like that at Worlds too. Of course, it’ll be way harder, because the level of NA compared to Worlds isn’t comparable — especially the teams outside FlyQuest.
Q: Yeah, I was going to say — 100 Thieves and FlyQuest seem very different to me.
Trymbi: Yeah, definitely. It’s not even comparable. Even though 100 Thieves got some wins off against them, the way these two teams play is completely different. The level, the ceiling — it’s not the same.
Q: Brazilian fans have said they feel disrespected, especially after the LCS change, where NA will get three Worlds slots next year and Brazil will get one. You’ve been in Brazil all year now — do you feel that frustration?
Trymbi: No, I understand. I don’t want to make it sound like Riot or anyone involved is disrespecting Brazil, because I don’t think that’s what happened. But I do find it quite hard to understand that everything we built with the conference is just going to be gone. That’s something that should be addressed.
The conference was such a big and positive thing for both LTA North and South, and now there won’t be an option for Brazilian teams to perform against NA teams. I’m really sad about that, and I hope the people who decided we would do that will reconsider, because it was such an amazing idea.
I know Brazilian fans are angry — and believe me, people behind the scenes and everyone involved are angry too — but I don’t have bad feelings or hatred toward anyone. I just want to channel that anger into my game and show that Brazil can fight against those teams at Worlds. If we can do that, that’ll be the best proof for the region to show we’re actually not that bad.
Q: Who do you want to set your sights on then? Do you think you can beat the FLY, G2, or CFO tier of teams, or would wins against slightly lower teams still be proof?
Trymbi: It’s Bo1’s. I personally think we can beat those teams. Sure, it’s a tier difference — I even think CFO is sometimes above G2 or FlyQuest’s tier. But since it’s Bo1’s, I think there’s quite a chance to win. Even if it’s 30–70 odds, I’ll take them right now.
I don’t think it’s that bad. Looking at how the teams play and even getting some scrims now, I genuinely think we’re not as bad as people think. I hope we can showcase that during Worlds. Even though there are a lot of factors that might make us play a bit worse, it doesn’t matter — if we just step up and play our game, I think we can shock a lot of people.
Q: Cool. Thank you, Trymbi. Good luck tomorrow.
Trymbi: Thank you so much. Have a good day, sir. Bye-bye.
Transcript edits by @flomillinoflo
