VKS Benvi eyes Worlds spot: “Aiming for second place is very doable”

After significant changes to both its roster and coaching staff, entered the second split of the 2026 CBLOL with a virtually rebuilt lineup. Only Pedro Arthur “” Gonçalves and Jeong “” Jo-bin remained from the roster that competed in the season preview, while players from were promoted to the main team and new pieces were brought into the project.

In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports on Sunday, Ben “Benvi” Moore, VKS assistant coach, discussed his expectations for the new roster, the changes to the coaching structure and Mireu’s return to form. The coach also explained the importance of fundamentals to the team’s style and discussed the adaptation of young players César “” Berteli and Pedro “” Lemos to the main roster.

Ben "Benvi" Moore: "My expectation is ideally to make Worlds. I think it would be difficult for us to finish first and win the split, but our region now has two spots at Worlds, so I think aiming for second place is very doable. The long-term goal is just to create or give VKS options going into 2027, about who they want to keep, who they want to continue building around, and so on. Since it's basically a rebuild in the last split of the year, it should be an uphill battle, but I'm very confident in the players and the staff we have and that we can get the most out of them.

Benvi: I think the coaching structure now is much better for me. For example, I have much more room to do what I like. I respect SMILEY a lot, so we get on quite well. It's a little weird because I coached him when he was on the Academy team. So going from being his head coach to his assistant coach is a little weird, but we work quite well together and we've both found areas where our strengths balance out our weaknesses. For me, I have more room now, and we're quite aligned in how we see things, so there's not much friction. Overall, I think it was a good change.

Benvi: A lot has changed. I think the biggest change is simply the team environment. He feels like he wants to play. My read on Mireu as a person is that if he feels like he's playing well, his mood is much better. That also becomes a positive feedback loop. If he plays well and feels like his teammates are happy to play with him, he then plays even better, feels even better and keeps improving. That's why he was so good in the third split last year. He came into a team that was really happy to have him and that needed a piece like him. It's a bit similar to that. I think that's why he's found his individual form again. He's always been a great player. It's just that he's affected by some out-of-game aspects, like when the team isn't working well or when people don't have faith in him, for example.

Benvi: He's a really interesting player. I think he has a lot of leadership qualities, but he's not fully a team leader. That's why he and Mireu fit so well together, and when they click, it looks really good because they make up for that. The biggest thing we felt was missing was simply direction in the jungle. He always knows what he wants to do and how he wants to play, and he's just really good. You end up winning way more games because he'll just carry. Everyone has heard the stories about him being a scrim demon. He'll get first blood and just take over the game. You end up winning at least one game in each scrim block because he gets fed and carries.

Benvi: I believe fundamentals are basically something you need to do to have a functioning team. The fundamentals I think of are understanding waves, tempo and your champion. If you do all three of those things really well, you will be top-class. I very much agree with that sentiment. With that said, I think you need what I call special players. What I mean by that is that when you look at teams, they generally have one or two special players, if they're champions.

It's very easy to give examples from other teams. , for example, has (Pedro Seixas) as their special player. He's just a winner. In European teams in the past, we had (Rasmus Winther), for example. Even when a player like that goes to , with (Kacper Słoma), these players just win. How do they just know how to win? They're extraordinary. They know how to win a game. They load into the game, the path to victory is clear, and they have the skill to execute it. If you have those two things, fundamentals and a few special players, you can have pieces around them who are there to develop or fulfill specific roles, and everything will work perfectly.

Benvi: The special players on VKS would definitely be Disamis and Mireu. These two just know how to win games. That was the idea coming into the split: we have these really special players. Who can we put around them to fit best, considering the window we had in the offseason? I think we found that quite well by promoting two players from Academy and trying to find a good fit with our last import slot.

Benvi: They're two different players. I wouldn't say I can answer for both of them in the same way. Zekas is very fresh and ready to learn and take everything in. He feels very much like a rookie, you know? He's very lighthearted and lifts the atmosphere. I would say that's his biggest strength and what he brings to our roster. In terms of gameplay, he's keeping up quite well, and what's helping is that he's taking in all this information that the coaching staff is giving him, as well as the information from the other players around him.

Scamber, on the other hand, has more of a veteran mindset. He has things he strongly believes in, which can be both good and bad. Where that's really good is, for example, when he's on his champions and feels comfortable. He just plugs and plays and doesn't feel nervous, no matter who he's playing against. He just connects, does his job and plays really well. He's also great outside of the game. He's just really solid, while zekas is more of a talented rookie.

Benvi: Our vibe is probably a really good thing. Scamber and Disamis bring exactly that. It's a really fun team to coach, and the personalities are great. I would say that, but I also agree with the community joke, or whatever we want to call it, about our fundamentals and being consistent. That's something we're really trying to drill into the team and be very good at".