DIG Emi: "In NA, they’re more relaxed than in Europe, but smarter with their time"

A losing streak usually points towards a downward spiral, urging teams to find and fix plaguing issues. However, there are a few scenarios in which defeats can bring a positive connotation and signal the approaching winds of change. The second week of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2026 Spring Split had a top-half urged for revenge, facing a nothing-to-lose squad.

The underdogs showed flashes of brilliance by going toe-to-toe, but they were still defeated 1-2 in a close series against the current LCS Champions. Dignitas Assistant Coach Emanuel “Emi” Ursachi shared with Sheep Esports how the team can hold their heads high as they keep climbing, the differences between the players and the practice from LEC and LCS teams, and sent a warning to the three teams he considers rivals.

Emanuel “Emi” Ursachi: “Our preparation for game 1 was really good. Everything was planned, and nothing took us by surprise. I don’t want to give too much, like what style we like and what they like to play. Essentially, it felt like we suffocated them for Game 1 with everything we picked. They had a clear win condition, but only one way to engage against a really long-range composition. They had to be very crisp on it, and we didn’t give them those windows. This made the game very easy, especially after we won the early game, and we were up in the jungle as well. When it came to the second and third games, we had a lot of ideas, and we weren’t exactly sure which were the best. Still, nothing took us by surprise. Our read on what we’re successful with wasn’t the right one, but we did opt into things we believe will work for us, though gameplay is a big part of it. In my opinion, we did not lose Game 2 and Game 3 because of the draft, but it could have been better. Finding what other picks we can prioritize is something that Swiffer (Simon Papamarkos) and I will have to work on with the players.

Straight gameplay-wise, it was much better than last week’s slight disaster. I like to call it the warm-up game. I think we have shown we can actually compete with everyone. Someone told me that said in an interview that everyone except

Shopify Rebellion

is good. We are having good scrims, though I wouldn’t say we’re beating all of the teams. We’re being a solid team. It’s not like when I was in the LEC, and no one wanted to scrim

SK Gaming

last year or Los Ratones when they were 0-4. We are the type of team that can compete with anyone. We can use today’s games to show that we’re a threat to every team, and we can take a lot to improve. Simon and I learned about understanding our strengths and weaknesses from the second and third games. We will know exactly which style to go with and what weaknesses to cover.

Emi: People don’t like playing AP junglers now that enchanters are meta. It makes more sense to pair bruisers or tanky junglers like Skarner with enchanters. You don’t want to run around playing Seraphine with Lillia or Karma with Brand; you want something with lockdown. Whenever Leona, Alistar, Nautilus, or Rell are part of the meta, you can see more AP Junglers like Brand. Maokai is a little bit different because you can pair him with mages in mid, and it’s still fine, especially if you have an AD top. Maokai works similarly when paired with enchanters because he provides so much cc and space, like a tank. After the draft, we had a clear win condition: playing range, scaling, and defense, and we should run them over when objectives come up. Most players know Wukong struggles against AP junglers because it’s easy to kite Wukong when he wants to stick to people, and he doesn’t get any benefit from his passive. That was a clear win condition for us, but we couldn’t execute it and got rundown. We either disengage and play range, or you can’t, and they executed fast fights. This would make it seem they had the better comp. On the other hand, it would have looked like we had the better comp if we executed better. They didn’t have that much hard engage and had to look for flanks to get on top of us, and even if they did, we had ways to stop it. It’s all about execution in that draft. We didn’t execute our comp, and we’ll have to reflect to get better.

Emi: We were making fun of it. We came to NA, and three weeks in, and we’re already going back home. We spent some more time in NA scrimming and trying to make up for the weeks we weren’t there. We had like three days of scrims before the first scrim with the full roster. It was a bit of a messy first split for us, but we managed to find a decent enough level to beat Shopify and push Team Liquid to a close game. At that point, we already knew the level was there, but we needed more games together. We needed to find out what we’re good at, our strengths and weaknesses. This split, scrims aren’t going bad, but in our first official match after some time, maybe because we started getting better, we felt some pressure. I’m not sure exactly why we performed the way we did, but that series woke us up and grounded us. Maybe it was nerves, stress, or we didn’t have a clear early-game plan, and the way we were playing. We’re past that now, and we were confident coming into today. I think we’re on the right track. I think we have a decent read on the meta. I don’t think we’re that behind in comparison to the first split. We’re working hard to stay on top of the meta and our gameplay.

Emi: Towards reaching our goals. As funny as it sounds, we do want to reach the top 4 and be a contender for an international at some point. If it’s not this split, it might be the next one. The dark horse upset has happened before. People didn’t believe NRG could win it all, right? We want to be someone like that, but we don’t keep our expectations insanely high. We don’t say, “We have to win the LCS and lift a trophy.” We take it realistically and slowly. I know we’re on an upward trajectory, and that is our goal. At least that’s what I’m seeing through my analysis of the numbers and the scrim win rates. Playoffs are the first goal, but eventually we want to contend for a top 4 finish. We’ll see in our next series.

Emi: I think the LEC is stricter in a way. The hours spent were higher, but less efficient, in my opinion; meanwhile, NA spends slightly less [time]. I wouldn’t know about other teams, but we’re spending a lot of time before and after scrims reviewing and discussing the games. It doesn't feel as strict because it’s not a schedule we must follow. It comes from our passion to compete and our desire to stay on top of the meta. I feel Europe is stricter and there’s more pressure and stress, maybe even more fear. Meanwhile, in NA, they’re more relaxed, but smarter with their time. They know when it’s time to rest, and they value this time. They also know when it’s time to really try hard, commit, and make sacrifices with personal time. At the end of the day, we’re all sacrificing 10 to 12 hours a day, but there’s more pressure to do it in Europe; NA people do it of their own volition. There’s a minimum amount of scrim, solo queue, and review games you must play daily to have something akin to homework, and there’s some free time after that. I didn’t feel like there was free time in Europe at all. It is important to have that option. If you choose to commit your free time to the game, it’s up to you. This feeling of freedom allows you to use the time you commit to the game to absorb more information. When you do this under pressure, you might slowly get overwhelmed and absorb information less efficiently.

Emi: From what I’m currently seeing at Dignitas, there’s less connection with the fans, and I think everyone is playing a big part in it. Players are not posting, connecting, or chatting with fans online as much. I don’t think it’s only Dignitas. My feeling is that the LEC is, in general, more thrilling than the LCS. When I was in the LEC, more fans and more people were interacting on social media. I would say it is a combination of players streaming, chatting, and being more connected to the fanbase. Coaches, the organization, and the social media team should do funny memes and create banter, for example. I’m not exactly sure why there’s less of that in NA. I wasn’t here in LCS to know what caused this, but maybe it’s fear of criticism. People prefer to shy away and be more politically correct. The culture may be slightly more laid back. In my opinion, creating banter and chaos on social media, more memes, fun, and trolling each other is what brings people to watch the games. It creates a narrative and a connection among organizations, players, and fans watching from home.

Emi: Last week against Shopify. I think that was the first and only time.

Emi: In LEC, I was always on stage with fans in Berlin. Fans were always cheering and screaming. It was a bit weird the first time I went into the Alternative Stage because I was expecting fans, but it was only us. It was the first time. I was wondering why we were playing there and not on stage with fans. I still don’t know why. It’s worse as it doesn’t feel as hype. Maybe some players who stress prefer it, but I’m not one of them. I prefer to play on the biggest stage possible. The best time I had was in Madrid with 12,000 fans, and we beat G2. It was very hype, and it felt like we were doing something super important with actual stakes. I felt like the center of the world, and it gave me a ton of energy. I can’t speak for the LCS, and I don’t understand why it’s not happening here. They for sure have their reasons, I’m just not aware of them. I don’t mind that much. I don’t want to sound like we should or shouldn’t always do this. I’m completely adaptable to both situations, and I don’t mind either.

Emi: I’m not sure. The one who would perform better with fans would be Cristian (Cristian Palafox) or Victor (Victor Huang). Both of them are more extroverted and would use the crowd to cheer up or laugh a bit at the enemy team. They could create a funny atmosphere and good banter. (Kyeong Gyu-tae), (Lee Dong-geun), and eXyu are more reserved, and I think they would focus on the game, regardless of whether there are fans in attendance.

Emi: I don’t have a lot of information, so my answer will rely on my feelings. I worked very little with Breezy and Mobility, around a week or maybe even less. My feeling was that the knowledge gap came from the number of games played. The rookies coming from ERLs play against way more teams and play more games. In NA, they’re not mechanically worse, and they could be slightly better from solo queue, but they lack the knowledge coming from official games. They have less experience because there are fewer games in NACL than in the ERLs. ERLs play a ton of scrims and official games. There are more teams per league as well, though I could be wrong. I think some leagues have ten teams. Scrims are important data, but aren’t the same as playing official matches. The more official matches you play, the more you want to see what went wrong. When a scrim goes awry, it doesn’t affect you as much as losing an official match. It’s more important to correct mistakes from official matches. There’s a greater emotional impact because it comes from learning points and experience.

Emi: Between us and any team? I would say Shopify, Team Liquid, and . We must destroy these three teams. We must break them and stomp their heads.”