Down but not out, Vivo Keyd Stars find themselves with their backs against the wall following a devastating 0-3 defeat to FlyQuest in the League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA) cross-conference playoffs. The LTA South champions now await their next opponent in the lower bracket as they head to the league’s final roadshow in Allen, Texas. In an exclusive interview, the team’s support, Adrian "Trymbi" Trybus, sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the blowout defeat, expectations for Worlds, the upcoming offseason, and his personal goals.

How are you feeling after the match? What do you think led to your match against FlyQuest to be this one-sided?

Adrian "Trymbi" Trybus: "Well, it’s definitely tough, but not much to be done. That’s part of the job of a pro player, and you should be able to step up to responsibilities and do these kinds of interviews as well.

As you said, they pretty much manhandled us. It was not really nice. Only game one was somewhat competitive, but the issue with that game was that we didn’t really go out of our way to make sure we could punish the mistakes they made, even though we were prepared for what they would do and our game was all right.

We were very passive, and we just tried to scale, but we basically just got outscaled rapidly in game one. That’s kind of the problem. In every game today, we didn’t really know how to play our game, or we didn’t try to play our game. Meanwhile, FlyQuest was playing their game quite well.

When the moments came where they had their spikes or they wanted to actually do something, they did, and we were not prepared. That’s why the game felt so hard. When we were in positions where we were strong, we didn’t do much, and when they were strong, they did whatever they could to punish us. That was a big problem, and that’s why the games felt the way they did.

Do you think your preparation and drafts were off? FlyQuest’s toplaner, İbrahim "Gakgos" Samet Bulut, got many favorable counter matchups and played quite well into Felipe "Boal" Boal. Should you have put more emphasis on toplane?

Trymbi: Some of our drafts were not ideal, I can definitely say that. In some games, we didn’t really come up with the best idea, but I wouldn’t say we were playing into his strengths necessarily. Gakgos was probably the weakest link of their team. So even though we gave him the champions, that didn’t really mean much. We would expect him to perform the way he did regardless.

We gave him quite a lot of free resources for him to perform the way he did. If we actually tried to punish a little bit more, I don’t think he would look as good as he did, but he did play well. So well played to him.

At the end of the day, Boal played comfortable matchups. Of course there are some that probably we didn’t practice much, like the Irelia into Ambessa, but we were prepared for this. I just think FlyQuest played better as a team and individually, so it’s hard to win when that happens.

Do you believe VKS deserves to be called the second or third-best team in LTA? How much of this was the gap between North and South versus FlyQuest being ahead of the entire region?

Trymbi: After today’s series, I’m not sure. I don’t think calling us that is fair yet, because there’s still one more week, and we’ll see who we play in the lower bracket. I believe we’ll show good performances there, no matter which team we end up facing.

FlyQuest is really good, probably the best team in the West right now, so I don’t feel too bad losing to them. A lot of teams in LTA North have struggled with them as well. People can say FlyQuest is just above everyone, though I think they’re playing a bit worse than last year.

Today, we just didn't fight back, and that’s why it looked the way it did. Right now, I can only say they’re the better team and they outclassed us. I hope we can prepare from this best-of-five and show good performances in the lower bracket. Hopefully we meet them again in the finals and win, but that’s only speculation.

It’s been a tough year for us overall, but we’ve come a long way. Reaching the upper bracket already shows we can compete, and now we have time to fix our mistakes and come back stronger.

Since you’re already qualified for Worlds regardless of playoff results, how important are the LTA playoffs to you? Do you see these matches as must-wins, or more as practice for Worlds?

Trymbi: It’s for sure practice for Worlds. We’re pretty blessed to play this tournament, because being qualified doesn’t mean we’re prepared — we’re far from it. The region hasn’t been showing well throughout the years, and having this confidence going into playoffs helps LTA South teams a lot.

Being able to showcase our abilities and then see on the international stage where we’re at is a big plus. Sure, we lost against FlyQuest and didn’t show well, but we still have a week to scrim against LTA North teams and prepare. At Worlds it won’t get any easier, we’re going to play even better teams.

Getting manhandled lets us see where we’re at and what we’re lacking, it was a very important lesson for each of us. I hope we get the best out of it. We’ve been through a lot this year, and even if we learned a lot in the LTA South, now that we've won it convincingly, there are new lessons to take on the international stage now.

You said at the start of the year that you wanted to win the region and go to Worlds, and you achieved both. So did the project meet your expectations, or is there still more you want to achieve?

Trymbi: Even though we qualified for Worlds, I still want to show good League of Legends. What we showed today is nowhere near where I wanted to be. Sure, we won the LTA South third split—the previous splits were not easy—but there’s still so much more to do. With this project, we can achieve more.

The project is successful; we achieved what we wanted, but there’s still a lot more to do. There are many ways to get better, and I’m really happy to go to Worlds, because that’s where I always learned the most throughout my career. That’s where I feel I can match the best and fight back, and when I do, I’m the happiest man alive.

Individually, I learned a lot this year. Some might say my map play or macro play is worse, but I don’t care. Overall, I feel like I improved a lot and I’m much more comfortable with what I’m doing. It feels smooth now, where before I felt stagnated, like nothing I did really improved anything. Now, almost everything I do pushes things forward. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but at least I feel like it should have. I’m always trying to find ways to make things even better than what I’m doing now.

Your focus has always been on the LEC, but you ended up in LTA South this year and your contract is expiring. Have you thought about your future? If VKS offered to extend your contract, would you stay, or would you still focus on the LEC?

Trymbi: As you said, my contract is running out. The offseason has already started, as Sheep Esports already knows, and I’m sure there will be a lot of news in the next week or two.

You know, the project has been successful. I wasn’t always happy being here; there were a lot of problems, but at the end of the day, I’m satisfied with what happened. Of course, I would gladly consider staying. But I’m also thinking about the LEC and LTA North—it depends on the projects. I want to join the project that will make me improve the most, that will be the most successful, and where I can actually fight for Worlds.

I don’t just want to go to Worlds to collect free rewards; I'm not here to collect participation awards. I want to compete and ensure the West can perform there. That’s something I felt was missing with my previous team, and I’m happy that here we’re trying to make things work. If a project comes up where I truly believe I can do better than anyone else, I will gladly go there. They can talk to my agent if they want.

Is there anything you want to say to LEC fans since you’ll be seeing them soon at Worlds?

Trymbi: I hope I'll see a lot of them. It’s in China, so I don’t know how many people will be able to go, but I’m really happy to go to Worlds because I can see so many people I haven’t met in so long, especially the LEC crew I’ve known for years. I’m excited to see them in real life again.

As for our LTA South fans, I’m generally sad about how today ended. This best-of-five showed absolutely nothing of what we’re capable of, and I felt really bad. At the end of the day, FlyQuest was better, and we have to give them that. I really hope we can come back next week. I don’t want our fans to feel like we’re not here to compete. I know we had some struggles in the last weeks, but that doesn’t matter. I’m just sorry for the fans about what happened, and I hope we can bounce back next week."