The Final Heist is in danger of being busted, as 100 Thieves find themselves at 1-2 and on the brink of elimination at Worlds 2025. With their backs against the wall, the representatives of the League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA) must return to the drawing board and find solutions fast to keep their story alive a little longer. In an exclusive interview, head coach Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the team’s latest loss, what needs to change, and what lies ahead before Sentinels’ arrival in the LCS.

What do you think went wrong today against Hanwha Life? Do you have any regrets about how the preparation went ahead of the match?

Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer: “Going into that match, we had a comp that definitely needed to win the early game and early skirmishes, and obviously they had a very good scaling comp. We really messed up the fights around Dragon and Void Grubs, and I felt like the game was already over after that. I was thinking, “Man, maybe we should’ve picked something that scaled better.” That’s kind of how we won against BLG—we didn’t really have winning lanes, but we had better teamfighting champions. It was sad to see this game, because once we lost around eight minutes, it was really hard to get back into it. It’s one of those things where we wish we’d played the fights better, but also, you live and you learn.

Before your first win against BLG, it was hard for you guys to find scrims. Has that improved in the last few days? Were you able to get more practice before this match?

Goldenglue: We really haven’t gotten to scrim any LCK or LPL teams, but we are getting scrims against LEC and LCP teams. It’s been helping us a lot. The meta is always evolving at Worlds, and when we went into the first game, we had very little info on what the meta would be. The scrims are helping us a lot, but one thing I’m noticing from them—and maybe you can see it in our stage performances—is that our range is really wide. Some games in scrims, I’m like, “Wow, we can beat any team,” and in other games, I’m like, “Holy crap, we suck.” So the main thing we really need to work on is just our consistency.

How do you plan to fix this inconsistency, especially with so few days left before the next match?

Goldenglue: The only things you can really do are make sure everyone is in good condition—how they’re feeling, their energy, their health—and also make sure you’re picking champions that the players are consistently great on.

I heard that when the vibes are good, you play really well, but when they’re not, the team struggles. How are the vibes right now after two losses, and do you think they’ll be better heading into next week?

Goldenglue: I haven’t had the chance to hang out with the guys after today’s the loss, but when we’ll review the games, we’ll come to conclusions together as a team, and then the vibes will be good. But there’s definitely an added level of tension now, and obviously, we’ll see who we draw as our next opponent. There’s going to be a bit more stress and strain since we’re now in an elimination match, but we’re happy that we’ve at least shown our potential on stage, and we’re hoping we can show that again.

This is the last tournament for 100 Thieves before handing over the spot to Sentinels next year. What do you feel you need to achieve next week to end on a good note? Or do you think you’ve already done enough to make this Worlds run feel worthwhile?

Goldenglue: It’s hard to say. No matter what, when you lose, you’re going to feel regret. I already feel really happy that we made it here and that we were able to beat BLG. Now that G2 also beat them, they messed with our narrative of being the only Western team to win against the LCK and LPL—those fuckers! It makes us look a little less good, but I think we’ll still all look back on this run fondly, even if in the moment we’re going to be sad.

G2 are making BLG look like frauds.

Goldenglue: Yeah, fucking goddamn it, G2. We wanted to be the only Western team that beat them, but guess not.

FlyQuest got a win against Team Secret Whales, which was somewhat expected, while G2 pulled off a less-expected win by finally beating an LPL team. What do you think is missing for Western teams to compete more consistently with the East?

Goldenglue: It’s a good question. MKOI also had that game where they almost beat KT, and they were in a very good spot. I think Western teams can win, but it feels like the Asian teams are a bit more consistent with their leads. Today, it just felt like you weren’t going to win—they’re not going to make the mistakes that let you get back into the game, whereas Western teams are still a bit less consistent when ahead.

One thing that’s nice, especially in Fearless, is that there are a lot more strategies. That gives Western teams a chance to catch up because there are more champions and strategies to try out that maybe the Eastern teams haven’t seen before. In the past, when you were only playing the same meta, they were really hard to beat. As you can see, our Ziggs won versus BLG, and G2 had an Anivia and Poppy top. There’s more room for niche picks right now that can surprise them, and they don’t really know how to play against them. That’s the best way for the West to have a chance against the East.

With all the movement happening in the LCS right now—FlyQuest having a few players with contracts expiring next year, and 100 Thieves disbanding after Worlds—what can we expect from NA in the future? Do you think there’s still hope for North America given everything going on?

Goldenglue: One of my main hopes is that the 100 Thieves and FlyQuest talent stay in the LCS. Obviously, the players on both our team and FlyQuest are good enough that they could go to other regions—they could go to Europe. Quid (Lim Hyeon-seung) could definitely play in the LCK; he could probably play in any region and do really well. I’m really hoping that North American teams put in the resources to retain the talent we’ve grown here. That’s going to be really important for the scene because we have a lot of really special players—Quid, Busio (Alan Cwalina), Inspired (Kacper Słoma), just to name a few. I hope we don’t lose them in the offseason to another region.

Do you think there’s a lot of talent in Tier 2 that could come up in the future? I’ve heard concerns about Tier 2 struggling in NA.

Goldenglue: Tier 2 has been struggling because it’s not as supported as it used to be. Just looking at the recent promotion tournament, we saw for example Luminosity Gaming versus Estral—Estral imported Ghost (Jang Yong-jun) and Summit (Park Woo-tae), while Luminosity was full of veterans. The pipeline for upcoming talent in North America isn’t strong; players aren’t really incentivized to become League pros in 2025 or even 2026. There’s really just one person doing a lot of work, and that’s Parth (Parth Naidu), along with his research group, SIDO. They’ve been putting in a lot of resources—something Riot and other teams aren’t really doing. Everyone’s just focused on sustainability and finances, trying to keep their companies or teams alive in a few years. So it’s definitely a tough spot for Tier 2 teams and players, but there are still some coming up—it’s not all dark.

Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans before we finish?

Goldenglue: I would just say thank you to everyone who’s been supporting us. I also know there have been a lot of Chinese fans coming out and giving us love, even though we beat BLG. Being here has been really fun—it’s my first time in China, and for most of our team, it’s also their first time. The food’s been really good, and we’ve been having a blast being here. Thank you to everyone for being friendly and taking care of us. We hope to put on some fun games for you guys.”