LYON Reignover: "It’s really hard for a new jungler to come in and fill Inspired’s role; I would say it’s almost impossible"

The undefeated LYON came into the third week of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2026 Summer Split looking to extend their winning streak and secure another victory. Opposing them were , a team with a recent roster change, but with enough hunger to bring down the Mexican organization.

The Pride strolled to a comfortable 2-0 victory, which could be the last LCS series for substitute Jonathan "" Armao. However, it remains unclear whether superstar Kacper "" Słoma will return next week or if Armao will continue playing. Following their victory against Dignitas, Head Coach Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin spoke in an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports about facing former teammate Joshua "" Hartnett, how the absences of Assistant Coach Han "Rigby" Earl and Inspired affected the team, and how Kim "" Min-cheol and Kang "" Sung-in stepped up as leaders during this time.

Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin: "I would say not having Inspired and Rigby for a few weeks has been difficult because they’ve been such an important part of the team. Regarding Inspired's absence, he has been our main shotcaller, in-game leader, and the in-game guide of the team. Missing him is not easy, but Saint and Berserker were the main shotcallers on their previous teams. They’ve improved their vision of the game a lot. In a positive light, we’ve also been able to use this time to try our best to fill in what Kacper was doing with the team. In that aspect, Saint and Berserker were able to grow. Even if Inspired and Rigby aren’t here in person, they still help online when we practice or before we go on stage. It’s not a complete absence; we can still work and communicate with them even during stage games.

Reignover: When Kacper plays, he usually guides the team by reminding us of our win condition or what we should do. He’s also a great problem solver, especially when the game goes awry. Now that Inspired can’t do this, Saint and Berserker have had to step up. They’re the ones talking about what to do, how the team wants to fight, or when we’re stronger. Pretty much all the ideas like playing smart, discipline, and patience are things we’ve been good at. There was a struggle without Inspired, but as time goes on, Saint and Berserker have improved throughout this year after working as a team together, playing many games, and facing top teams. Right now, I would say everyone is able to make good calls or share good input about the game.

Reignover: At the beginning, it was a worry because the movement between the jungle and support should have is extremely important. Armao is a new player coming in, so we had to go back to our fundamentals because it’s very easy to make early-game mistakes at this stage. We thought we had to spend some time working on our fundamentals, but generally, coming from the tournaments we played, our individuals all had their goals.

For example, (Niship Doshi) has tried his best to step up, especially when the draft comes and toplane is really important, which happens sometimes at this stage. We keep working on how we can step up and how we can guide the team so we can play a good top-side game. (Jonah Rosario) has been working on tempo management and reading the flow of the game, which he has improved so much. He’s actually one of the best supports in the LCS right now.

Berserker and Saint have stepped up as guides for the team. I would say those were our goals in the game that allowed Armao to fit in with the team. It’s really hard for a new jungler to come in and fill Inspired’s role; I would say it’s almost impossible.

Armao has been pretty helpful and pretty good at helping and assisting the team. It’s good that he is really smart, so he understands most of the things we’re telling him to do. It’s also hard for him because when playing high-quality League of Legends against top teams, all the players have something they wish would happen during the game, and we demand a lot of stuff. Armao has been trying his best to fulfill all of these demands. We’re pretty satisfied and happy about everything.

Reignover: We tried to make his role and his job as easy as possible. We tried to play a draft where the jungler wasn’t required to do too much. Even though Armao can play a lot of champions, we have been restricting him to a small champion pool. The thing is, every pick and ban phase has different win conditions, so as long as you understand them, any player can play the game to a good level. When it comes to jungle champions, if we restrict our pool, it is easier for him to constantly know what his job and role are. This probably helped him play more consistently. Every game, after we drafted, we tried to remind him what his job was, how we wanted to play the game, and Saint and Berserker, even Isles and Dhokla, have been giving him enough information. The amount of information relayed and playing comfort champions helped Armao understand how he wanted to play each game. If he ever made a mistake, we would help him fix it. Even in the beginning, I wouldn’t say our scrims were going well because we were making too many fundamental mistakes. Every time I noticed these mistakes, I would approach him and tell him what he was doing wrong, what he needed to do, and if he ever needed to change his mindset or thought process about the game.

All the players and staff keep giving him feedback. It was very easy working with him because he is very smart, so he understands what everyone is saying when receiving feedback. He has been great at fulfilling the demands expected from him. That was the process of him playing in the LCS at this level.

Reignover: I think the details are going to be up to Inspired because it’s his decision if he wants to share what’s going on. Time-wise, he is for sure coming soon. It could be next week or two weeks from now, but he is for sure coming soon.

Reignover: Honestly, I didn’t put much thought into it, but I have big respect for his long career and for keeping his passion for the game. I have big respect for him. Today, I don’t think they necessarily played the game really well, but this is the first week they’ve practiced as a team anyway. I assume there’s going to be a bright future for Dignitas with him. The Dignitas squad with (Lawrence Xu) was a reactive team, but with Dardoch, I can see them playing more aggressively. I saw some mistakes here and there after trying to play aggressively, but as long as they fix all those issues and play well with Dardoch, I can see them playing better.

Reignover: The most important thing is not losing the passion for League of Legends so you can continue trying hard. As long as you can make the game your number one priority and you’re able to make sacrifices so you improve as an individual and as a team, you will be able to contend against the top players. Most players, including me, get worse because League of Legends isn’t your number one priority anymore. It’s not easy to grow older and keep playing the game for so long. It’s insane how a player like (Lee Sang-hyeok) can keep an insane commitment to the game. The most important thing is maintaining your passion, loving the game, and enjoying playing the game for a long time.

Reignover: I’m definitely excited, and everyone is. This will be my first time experiencing the regular season outside of Los Angeles. Visually, we have a lot of fun when moving around to play different tournaments because there’s usually more energy and hype. It’s perfect timing because the road show is played during Weeks 5 and 6, and that’s when things can get loose, and it can also be good motivation. It could also match when Inspired is coming back. I’m definitely excited for all the fans cheering for us.”