LUA Kaii: "Legolas said it would be a quick 2–0, no chance. I think he’s being a bit overconfident. I’m going in with no pressure, we’ll see what happens."

Competition in the Liga Española de League of Legends (LES) hasn’t been easy for LUA Gaming so far. The team opened the split facing some of the strongest opponents in the league, struggling to convert their steady improvement into wins. Still, beneath the results, there are clear signs of growth as the roster continues to build synergy and find its footing week by week.

Despite a winless start, LUA are already looking ahead, using this split as a foundation for the future. In an interview with Sheep Esports, ADC Jorge “Kaii” Saiz Hoyos reflects on the team’s development since Kickoff, the transition from amateur to the LES, and his confidence in closing the gap to the league’s top bot lanes as the season progresses.

Jorge “Kaii” Saiz Hoyos: “I think personally, and for the team as a whole, this split is about improving, learning, and continuing to connect with each other to become a better team. I think week by week we’re playing better.

And personally, my goal is that: to try to play as well as possible, keep learning, keep improving, and take every game as an opportunity to get better. Going into summer, I think we’ll be much stronger.

Kaii: I think during Kickoff it was obvious that we hadn’t had much time to work together, and now you can start to see the results of those weeks of practice. Everyone is working really hard.

For summer, I think we’ll be in a good spot. If we keep this up, we can fight for playoffs.

Kaii: Yeah, these weeks, like everyone in the league, we have some days off, but the work rate is still very high because we need to reach the level.

Even some of us who have other commitments like university or work are basically putting in most of our day into this.

Kaii: I think the bootcamp helped us understand each other better. Working offline helps a lot— for example, SLieZZan (Fernando Villar) really likes it because it helps him connect with the players and communicate better.

I think this week helped us take a step forward as a team. We showed a better version of ourselves as a unit, even though there’s still a lot of work to do.

Kaii: Personally, I don’t want to treat it as a transition split. I always want to play as well as possible. But at the same time, I want to use it to improve as much as I can.

I think this split caught us a bit below the required level, but in summer I believe we’ll be able to challenge the top teams much more and try to fight for playoffs.

Kaii: Obviously it’s your first contact with competition, you learn the basics of the game.

But most importantly, it helped me understand myself better—how I work and how I express how I feel. I think that’s really important in a team.

I’ve also worked a lot on my mental, which was something I struggled with at the beginning. It took time to understand myself, but that has helped me a lot to adapt to the work level we have now in LUA.

Kaii: I think there’s quite a big difference. From the outside it might not look like it, but just in terms of scrims, practice, and the way everything is approached, it’s much more serious and professional here.

In amateur you usually scrim three games; here it’s five-game blocks or even double blocks like we often do.

There’s definitely a gap in level. My own level has improved a lot since then, but there’s still more to improve. The gap is bigger than it might seem from the outside.

Kaii: During Kickoff I definitely felt a big gap, it felt really far away. But after working, reviewing games, and focusing on my mental, I don’t see it as far anymore.

I still need to reach that level, but I don’t think it’s impossible. I think with work it’s achievable. The ones I see as the strongest are Legolas (Sergio Vicente) and Lure (Shin Jae-Yoon), but I think anyone can be beaten.

Kaii: I think it’s a combination of everything. Experience matters a lot.

For example, Legolas (Sergio Vicente) is very experienced, he knows everything. And other players have very strong fundamentals and mechanics. Overall, as players, they’re better right now.

But I don’t see them as far away as I did during Kickoff, and by summer I’m sure I’ll see them even closer.

Kaii: I’m very grateful to Hydra (Raúl Moreno) because he chose to play with me. I think it’s undeniable that he’s the best player on our team.

He puts in effort to help everyone improve, he’s like the team captain. Whenever I have a problem, I talk to him, he gives me advice, and he really cares about everyone getting better.

You can feel it in-game—he usually performs, he’s very tryhard. It’s really good to play with him.

Kaii: I think he’s a very talented player. He also took a big step when joining LUA.

At the beginning it was hard for both of us, but in recent weeks he’s been working much better and you can see he’s improving. If he keeps this up, he can become a really strong player. I like working with him.

Kaii: I already talked with Legolas (Sergio Vicente) and he said it would be a quick 2–0, no chance. I think he’s being a bit overconfident.

I’m going in with no pressure, I’ll just try to play well and we’ll see what happens.

Kaii: Just thank you for watching our games, even if they’re hard to watch right now.

We hope to improve, and we’ll keep working hard.”