Though they couldn’t lift the cup in Allen, Texas, Brazilian representatives Vivo Keyd Stars made waves across the Americas last month by defeating LTA North (now LCS) runner-ups 100 Thieves in the first and last League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA) Championship to secure the region’s second seed at Worlds 2025. Despite eventually falling to FlyQuest, the squad remains undeterred and eager to shake up the standings as they prepare for the upcoming Swiss Stage. In an exclusive interview, head coach Christopher "SeeEl" Lee sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the team’s upcoming journey at Worlds, key takeaways from 2025, and his coaching philosophy.

How do you feel about how the LTA weekend in Texas ended—the win against 100 Thieves and the loss to FlyQuest? Are you happy with what the team showed overall?

Christopher "SeeEl" Lee: "We didn’t show everything we practiced, and that’s what upsets me. FlyQuest is the better team overall, no doubt about that, and they beat us because they’re stronger. But it was a bit disappointing because I don’t think they played their best game either. They hadn’t scrimmed for several days and weren’t in the most ideal environment, so we had a real opportunity to beat them. We just couldn’t show 100% of our game, and that’s frustrating. But overall, it was a great experience.

Can you share what the team’s schedule looks like leading up to Worlds?

SeeEl: It’s really all about condition management. We’ve had a really long split, a long year so far. For example, at the beginning of the year we had the first split in LTA South, and we came last. So we were out after two weeks, and then we had three months of almost no playing. In that time, we didn’t take a break, we just played scrims. We had a little bit of time off here and there, like three days, but mostly we trained. For context, most teams train four days a week and play two. If you start training five or six days a week, it gets very tiring. So for us, it’s less about trying to learn one extra thing now and more about maintaining condition. Scouting the enemy is the job of the coaches, and the players need to look after their condition, because most of the process happens throughout the year.

Going into Worlds, many will underestimate VKS. What should people expect from LTA South, taking into account FURIA's performance at MSI and EWC? Should other teams be worried about facing you in the Swiss stage?

SeeEl: I do think a lot of these teams are really beatable, but I don't think FURIA pushing G2 at MSI is that comparable, because G2 was much worse a few months ago. They’ve improved tremendously. There was a gap between FlyQuest and G2 back then—FLY were the better team—but now G2 showed a much better game in the LEC finals and playoffs. I’m not sure which is the better team anymore. You can look just in terms of aggression and how they play the map, especially in how they play with SkewMond (Rudy Semaan) and Labrov (Labros Papoutsakis).

I don’t focus on the past. I also wouldn’t say people need to be scared of us—that would be arrogant. They don’t need to be worried about us, but we need to be worried about them. These teams play faster, smarter, and much more intelligently on the map. If we’re scared of them, we’ll prepare better, work harder, be smarter, and play with more urgency. What they need to be scared of is if we do all of that and play our game. They should be scared of who we could be, not who we are now. I don’t think we’re a huge threat yet, but the LTA offline finals in Texas gave us a lot of motivation.

It didn’t matter how many times I told them, “Guys, when I worked in Europe, when I played Worlds, when we went to quarterfinals, you have to train with intensity every day, you need to learn every day.” They just thought, “Oh yeah, Chris is just yapping again.” But then they played and realized, “Damn, everything he said was true and more. I’m getting butt blasted in scrims. These guys are playing way faster, way smarter. If you make a mistake, you’re going to lose the game.” Now that they’ve experienced that, the more we’re worried, the better we’ll prepare and the better we’ll play.

As someone experienced with underdog teams, what’s the most important thing players need to do to overcome limitations and have a strong showing?

SeeEl: What I always tell my guys is there’s nothing as powerful as consistency. If you pour water on a rock, you won’t see much for a hundred or even a thousand years, but after a million years, it becomes a canyon. Training is the same. If you put in 100% every day and work like your life depends on it, it makes a difference. We’re a team that does that.

Throughout my career, I haven’t coached high-profile teams. Even Rogue was a crumbling team. They had just lost Hans Sama (Steven Liv) and Inspired (Kacper Słoma)—we didn’t win the LEC because we were amazing from day one. When I went to Vitality.Bee, it was a completely rebuilt team with new staff and roster changes. That team was on fire, and they also took my toplaner two months in. Preparation comes down to mindset. Your mindset affects every part of your life, especially in competition.

To overcome limitations, players need humility and the understanding that there’s no shortcut. They need to do the hard work, accept losing, and maintain a growth mindset. If that’s not enough, they keep going and try again next year. I don’t expect miracles, but I understand the power of compounding, working every day, being humble, and being passionate about your craft.

I believe I have players with the talent to grow quickly. Either you have talent and grow fast, or you don’t, and you work every day until you break your limits. You need to be okay with putting one brick at a time, with the house collapsing, and building it again until you succeed. You also need to be realistic about how good you can be in this industry. I almost retired in 2024 and again this year, asking myself, “how good can I really be?” That’s it. Nothing fancy, just the mindset to keep improving.

Do you want to give a conclusion and share a few words with the fans before Worlds?

SeeEl: I’m not someone that’s gonna deliver on fantasy. When I joined Keyd at the end of 2023, I told people exactly what I'd look to achieve. I said we’d make top three in the first year and aim for the title in year two. I said we’d perform internationally and bring in foreigners I thought were good and undervalued. And I’ve fulfilled every promise from two years ago.

That’s because I’m realistic. I’m not going to promise the world or say we’ll destroy everyone. What I promise is that we’ll try really hard. And if we do, every team is beatable. My track record proves that. I hope the fans enjoy watching a team that maybe doesn’t have the cleanest gameplay, but has heart and the potential to upset anyone.

Look at Rogue: after Odoamne (Andrei Pascu) and I left, they dropped off completely, even after their partnership with KOI. Same with Heretics—Peter Dun and I finished fourth in the LEC 2023 Summer Playoffs, something they haven’t managed to replicate since. My teams deliver. And that’s what I want to give the fans here too."