BUN Rhyle ahead of Impact Series finals: "I wish we'd had this format in previous years"

After two months of non-stop action, the League Impact Series is set to culminate in an action-packed LAN final on October 10 at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, with $4,000 on the line for the winning team. Only two teams remain: FlyQuest RED and ’s Bunny Girls. And while the odds may appear stacked against the latter, high-pressure situations might just be their comfort zone.

Ahead of the final, Bunny Girls AD Carry Alice "Rhyle" Hyleman sat down with Sheep Esports in an exclusive interview to discuss the climax of the season and the team’s recent roster change, before touching on the state of Game Changers in North America and the future of women and non-binary’s initiatives in League of Legends.

Alice "Rhyle" Hyleman: “We're doing pretty good. The vibes are great, we're all really good friends. We're excited to play finals and give it our best shot while having fun.

Rhyle: I think her integration has gone rather smoothly. Obviously, we haven't really had much time—a total of three scrims, which is better than nothing.

You know, we've all been friends for a long time. I've known dymon for five years, as has the rest of us for the most part. She’s really settled in, and it feels like we’ve kind of hit our groove.

There weren’t too many options right before the finals, and we needed a really strong jungler, someone that can lead the comms. She was easily the best choice for us given the circumstances, especially as we all had experience playing with her before.

And obviously, her previous team which we fought in the semifinals took two games from us, right? She was a strong piece of that team in our series, so it was clear that she was the right choice to us.

Rhyle: Oh, yeah. She fit right into the vibes. It took her a second just because, you know, the fact that we're all good friends makes it kind of a unique dynamic. It's kind of hard to get thrown into a group of people who have known each other for so long. But yeah, she seems to have adapted rather quickly.

Rhyle: As far as the environment goes, it's probably been the best it's ever been this year just due to the fact there's so many people involved. In 2023, there were only three teams, and in 2022 it was just two teams. There just wasn't that much community around it, to be honest. It’s just the same vibes as before, but bigger than ever. It's always nice to see the scene expand, with new opportunities. The LIS is just a really good thing to have. It’s a good time for everyone, and great experience.

If anything, what bums me out a bit is that I wish we had this format in previous years. If 2023 had been like this year, the Game Changers program would have had a lot more success—perhaps similarly to the VALORANT Game Changers, right?

We’ll see though, maybe the League Impact Series will continue to develop into something even bigger.

Rhyle: You know, if I'm being honest, I'm not entirely sure. I'd like to say that it has some potential, but, unfortunately, in the current era of everything, things have to be profitable, right? That's kind of what I was saying before, I wish they'd have had this format previously because now there's less support for it.

It's kind of hard to make money off of women's sports in general. That's sadly just how the world works. I'd like to hope that it'll happen, but, esports as a whole has felt like it’s been dying across the West—at least in LoL.

Viewerships have been teetering off a little bit, except for Marc "Caedrel" Lamont’s. God bless Caedrel. Shout out Caedrel. That's my GOAT! He’s been saving Western esports, to be honest.

But yeah, it would take something big to change course, to be honest. But, you know what? I didn't think we’d have another Game Changers after 2023, and here we are. You never know, right?

Rhyle: That would be so hype. Honestly, I think if he did that, that would probably just generate enough viewership that it would justify it, for sure. But, yeah, he's a very busy guy, and it's a rather minor tournament. There's a lot going on right now in the esports scene, with the WSCI, Demacia Cup, and soon Worlds. So, you know, it's kind of hard to give this attention. Yeah, it might be important, and I wish that it got a little more attention, but there's just too much happening at once.

Rhyle: Yeah, I feel like a lot of people don't even really know that it's happening, which is unfortunate. I just think that the LIS could have used some more promotion from Riot, to be honest. At the end of the day, that's where people are going to find out about it, right? Any event which does not get promotion from Riot is not going to get too much attention in most cases.

I don’t want to say that it’s entirely their fault, but they really could have done something, right? They could have Tweeted about it, or put something in the client, like they do with the LCS. Most people I’ve heard from did not even know the LIS was taking place. It’s especially sad because the community is there. From what I heard, the finals are pretty much sold out, and it’ll be a full arena.

Rhyle: Well, I would say we probably don't have the edge, just given the fact that we had to replace a player a month ago, and now we're having to replace one again…

Rhyle: Pretty much. Also, we’ll be losing our bans in the first two games as well because of the roster change [laughs]…

Maybe we'll see another reverse sweep. Here's the thing: at the end of the day, I have faith in my teammates. I think that, on the day, each of them has the potential to show up and make a really big impact. And if we all show up and we all have the impact that I know that we can have, we definitely have a good shot. I've got a lot of faith in my team.

Rhyle: I've been to LAN twice. I got to playtest the stage of the LCS Spring Finals 2023, because I was playing with Winthrop University. That was hype, getting to be on the final stage in that massive arena. Shoutout Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes, whose chair I was in.

Regarding playing offline, I don't really mind it, you know? It doesn't really do anything to me. I always love to put on a performance—I did theater in high school. But, at the end of the day, it doesn't really get into my head. If anything, I've always felt that I play my best when the stakes are high. That's why I was able to lock in when we were down 0-2 versus the Ducks. It’s my comfort zone.

Rhyle: Oh! I don't know yet. I kind of just go with the moment, to be honest. Here's the thing: I'm probably gonna try and generate some hype with my entrance. That's what I'll be trying to do, just because some people might be nervous to be on stage. I'm just gonna make sure that I bring that, just in case nobody else does. But, yeah, I'd love to see cool entrances from other players to bring in some excitement.

Rhyle: Oh yeah, that's always been my role in almost all my competitive teams. I do a great job of holding people together. But honestly, really the mom of our team is Alec "Aloxeo" Chung, our coach. This guy, just a fantastic individual. He's been working with us for free and he's really worked hard.

When stuff was going down, he was in the hospital emergency room with pneumonia, and he still found time to message us back and help us work through stuff. This guy is so dedicated, and he really knows his stuff too. It's really impressive, and he's really done a great job of keeping us all together. I really don't think we could have made it this far without him, to be honest.

Rhyle: If you're reading this and you weren't planning on watching this event, you should—it would be a mistake not to. It's gonna be a worthwhile watch for sure.”