has been struggling so far in the
LEC 2026 Summer Split. After a 0-2 start
in Paris, the squad finds itself on the back foot to begin the season, especially following the arrival of new midlaner
, who replaced
.
In an exclusive interview,
Patrick "Pad" Suckow-Breum, the team’s head coach, sat down with
Sheep Esports to discuss the move, as well as Vitality’s recent results and scrim performances, while also sharing a message of hope about the team’s improving environment.
After starting the weekend 0-2, what are your overall thoughts on the team's performances so far, especially given the communication challenges with Fiesta?
Patrick "Pad" Suckow-Breum: “Right now, it's just disappointment, right? I think we showed a lot of promise in game two yesterday and in game one today. But having those end the way they did is just so heartbreaking. It shows a completely different picture from what we're seeing in scrims, which is the first time for me in Vitality.
Typically, we play very aggressively and overly eagerly in scrims, and that translates into us making many mistakes on stage. But honestly, our fundamentals just completely dropped. We just played some really poor League of Legends.
Have scrims been going better than the stage games? How long has the team been scrimming together?
Pad: We've been scrimming for a long time, maybe even a full month now. Scrims have been really good. We've had really good results, but obviously KC has been away, MKOI has been away, and G2 has been away. So we haven't been scrimming against the top three teams, and we've had very good results versus basically every other team in the league.
I think we only played MKOI and KC once, but it's been really good. We've made a lot of very solid development, but this weekend, when I watch us play, it feels like we've regressed by two weeks. That's what I need to figure out—why that is happening.
How did you experience the offseason, and how did the team end up choosing Fiesta as his replacement? Was it in some ways a surprise for you that things unraveled to the point of having to replace a player before summer?
Pad: I don't think it caught me off guard. It had been brewing and building throughout Spring, right? Without going into too many details, it was not possible to keep Humanoid on the roster.
The process was good and long because we knew early. We spent a total of three weeks finding our replacement midlaner, so we went really in-depth to make sure that we got the right replacement. That's how we landed on Fiesta.
Are you happy with the choice of Fiesta as Humanoid's replacement?
Pad: I mean, I'm very happy with what I've seen in scrims so far and how we've been developing. I was very happy with this Anivia game yesterday. I was very happy with his LeBlanc early game.
But obviously, there's still a lot to work on. I'm not going to tell you his bad habits for teams to look at, but there's definitely some kinks we have to iron out for him to be properly good. His development so far has been really solid.
How would you respond to the negative perception around Vitality after the end of the last split and the comments from Naak Nako during our last interview? He was rather honest in his criticism of the team.
Pad: It was Naak Nako’s truth, right? His version of the truth, and he was very upset after that loss. So it came out in a very direct way. Still, I’m quite thankful to him. He was rather vague in his statements, and to me, that was him trying to protect his teammates, which I appreciate.
A lot of the blame landed on me, and I did get some “lovely messages,” but it’s always my job as the head coach to take the fall. Always, always. Today is my fault too. Any day is my fault. It's always my fault. I own up to that.
To the fans, there's nothing I can say. All I can do is show. My words are not important.
Is the atmosphere within the team good nowadays?
Pad: Yeah, the atmosphere is good. For the most part, the atmosphere was fine the whole year. It’s just the practice quality in spring was ssibal [sic] (Korean for "shit").”
