LYON Isles: "[C9 is] really good at playing their comfort picks, which can make them predictable, but they’re still a great team"

The Winner’s Finals of the 2026 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) series have been decided. will look to secure a spot on Arizona after an electric series victory against , and is inches closer to securing their Mid-Season Invitational spot. The teams went the distance, and it was the Pride who took the series in a close 3-2 series.

Following his victory against TL, Jonah “Isles" Rosario sat with Sheep Esports to share his thoughts on the upcoming match-up against , laning against Philippe “" Laflamme and Jesper “" Svenningsen, the ongoing discussion between playing Niship “” Doshi and Cho “" Hyeong-seong, and Eain “" Stearns importance to C9.

Jonah “Isles" Rosario: “I don’t fault anyone for that type of thing. Adrenaline was running really high… It was funny, I did hear Kim “" Min-cheol praising Kang “" Sung-in so much. Saint did an amazing job in the last fight when he flicked Annie. Sometimes, the great plays go unnoticed, but I’m sure someone out there saw it. All I care about is getting the victory. It was a satisfying one.

Isles: "Coaches do a great job of coming up with the general structure of how we want the draft to look. This usually includes the first three bans, the picks that we’re looking for, and maybe some expected picks from then. Typically, in 4-5, it’s anyone’s game. No matter how much preparation you do, the draft won’t look exactly spot on what they’re going to pick. For example, in Game 1 today, I didn’t expect them to draft in the exact way they did. I didn’t expect them to split Ezreal and Karma; even though it’s slightly losing, I thought they would handshake the match-up by playing Lucian versus Ezreal-Karma. I think it’s true, Team Liquid has some draft tendencies, and I think it’s the same for a lot of teams we play against. Another team with similar preparation issues is Cloud9. When you’re on stage and particularly in 4-5, once you get to bans, it really is who you’re going to blind pick for, or what the blind picks available are. The room for creativity also appears, and other times the draft unfolds naturally. For example, even though we lost Game 4, it was logical to pick Ornn there because it gave us the option to flex it top as well. Our team is full of players with creative picks. I had no idea the draft would pan out the way it did in Game 3, and I didn’t see myself picking Braum in 4-5. Sometimes it happens on stage, I guess.

Isles: This decision is mostly up to the coaching staff. Our team has a heavy Korean influence, so the discussion is somewhat lost on me. They decide these things among themselves. However, our stage performances and some of our scrims have shown that Dhokla is slightly more familiar with how we want to play. They have different champion pools at times. Castle definitely excels on some of the most meta top laners, but Dhokla has somewhat of a wider pool. He excels on the Anivia, which we’ve implemented to great success. I don’t think it was a draft choice, at least today, but it was the highest percentage chance to win based on stage and scrim results. As far as I’m aware, we won’t play next week, so we’ll have two weeks to prepare for our match against C9. Who knows what will happen then? Maybe Castle will play that series. We’ll see.

Isles: It could be. I’m not sure our team put that much thought into it. Right now, it’s uncertain how every match-up will play or what everyone will pick on stage in League. Obviously, fearless adds a significant layer of complexity to the draft. Even though things might be predictable, the same Game 2 might not happen every time. The picks that are in and out will change the bans, which will change the champs. There really are a lot of layers to it, and I wouldn’t say Team Liquid is that predictable. Many of the picks they drafted into us were not necessarily the first read, but in 4-5, I don’t think we could fully prepare for them. Many times, we expect them to pick bot lane in their first three selections, and they ended up picking the top side in their first three. In a perfect world, every top laner can play every champion, and we wouldn’t have to have this discussion. It comes back to the team and what you think they will do. If you think it’s worth playing a player because you’re sure they’re going to draft something, that’s a choice. It can be the law of percentages. Personally, this mindset works better when subbing players in between games, at least to have some idea of what’s going to happen in the next draft based on what happened the previous game. Particularly, in Game 1, the options are really open. Who knows, really?

Isles: I’ve been very outspoken about this before, but both Berserker and Kacper “" Słoma are fantastic catalysts for growth. Berserker, in particular, is very critical of mistakes. He doesn’t sugar-coat reviews at all. The good thing about him is that, when he is wrong, he will admit it. Sometimes, when he thinks he is right, it will take you a grind to make him see your point of view. It’s important to have players who hold you accountable to a high standard. These players allow you to stop yourself from plateauing or a decrease in your level. They really keep pushing you forward. In particular, our ADC is a very studious player. He is always watching games from the LCK or the LPL. It gives him the constant idea of how the game should be played. He doesn’t lose his level, unlike some pros or imports who come to NA. I know it’s been memed many times, but it seems he is one of the players immune to the NA debuff. He is… I mean, Inspired too when talking about decision-making. At least in the laning phase, Berserker is fantastic outside the game.

Isles: Honestly, our first week’s match, it’s been so long, but I didn’t think we played that well. The mistakes we made in Week 1 were fairly obvious. None of us took the defeat to heart. We played quite below our level, and there wasn’t much to dwell on. On the other hand, in the first two games of Clou9’s series against , I thought the result would be a quick 3-0. They seemed to be playing much better than last split. Many people meme Cloud9 as a team that can choke in the playoffs, but they have been playing solidly, and their macro has been pretty decent. Even when they seem to have laning deficits, they tend to find ways around them. Stylistically, among the top 4 teams, we have X factors in laning. Sometimes we have players who create a lead. Meanwhile, C9 rarely has this, but they rely more on good macro, good decision-making, and good team fighting. Usually, their mid-game playmaking comes from their mid-jungle. I think APA has been playing fantastically because he has been finding teleport angles, pressuring the side lanes, and playing without fear. He is a great player, especially after the laning phase. They’re going to be a tough team to beat, but just thinking about which team performs better against the other, I thought, roster versus roster, our match-up against Cloud9 favors us a lot. However, as I’ve just touched on, C9 is playing much better than they were playing before. There’s definitely work to do in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, we will show up on the day.

Isles: Usually, we seem to come out with great lane situations versus C9. They play best when they play matchups they’re very familiar with. This is something I’ve noticed when playing against Vulcan and Zven. I thought Vulcan is a great player at laning when he has played the match-up many times. When I watched their stage match against FlyQuest, the Seraphine game, I thought Vulcan played amazingly in lane because they really knew what they wanted to do. Once they have that experience, what they should do and what they want to do, they’re good at executing it. However, when playing champions they’re unfamiliar with or out of their comfort picks, they tend to make more mistakes. Those are C9’s strengths and weaknesses. They’re really good at playing their comfort picks, which can make them predictable, but they’re still a great team. In particular, their top laner’s laning is fantastic and tends to generate leads on his own. It will still be tough no matter what. Only time will tell.

Isles: I can’t imagine Team Liquid losing to . That’s a pretty hard ask. To SR’s credit, they’ve been playing better. I wouldn’t say they turned the ship around yet, but there are good signs. It’s a good high note to end the split, qualifying for the playoffs. It was a bit of a struggle, but TL isn’t unbeatable, even though it was a close victory. SR has a chance, but I don’t see it happening. Whereas, in the FLY vs Sentinels series, I think that’s the interesting one. FlyQuest has shown huge ups and downs. They’re a really strong team, with strong drafts and creative and aggressive players. Aggression is a great trait to have, but sometimes you have to know when to rein it back, when to play your angles, and not fight everything. I think FlyQuest has struggled with this in the past. Sentinels is a great team, I’ve spoken about so many times before. They’re extremely coordinated as a unit, which is their greatest strength. Five fingers make the hand, not just a five-finger type of situation. Their laning is somewhat average compared to some of the other teams in the league, but especially after their EWC performance, some people say these games were somewhat Mickey Mouse matches, and they were for us, but their results are there. Last split, when we made our run, Sentinels could have been our toughest match. That’s the one I’m more excited to see. It’s hard to predict the outcome because I really think it could go either way. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a five-game series.”