are off to a rough start in the
2026 LEC Spring Split, sitting at 1–3 and still searching for consistency in their plays. Even after a big win over
, the team’s performance has been shaky, and with no matches to play this week, the Black and Orange have time to reset before heading to the
LEC Roadshow in Évry, where it’ll be “do-or-die.”
After their 0–2 defeat against
, midlaner
opens up about the team’s struggles during an interview with
Sheep Esports. Missed scrimms, uncertainty in key moments, and the pressure that seems to hit Fnatic on stage even while the audience is missing is what the team had to work with during the third week of LEC Spring Split.
Did you already talk to your team about what happened during the match against SK?
Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis: “No, we didn't really talk [yet]. We are going to do it once we go back. But yeah, we were just very lost, I would say, on a lot of timers. And the fact that we didn't scrimm the last one, two days — because some people were sick — we couldn't really find our steps back to the game, I guess.
If you're comfortable sharing, can you talk about how you bond with your team? From an outsider perspective, it still seems that something is not clicking in.
Vladi: Usually we do something together as a team, like an activity. But I think we are doing well as a team, environment-wise. I think we are just not clicking in-game, at least in this game specifically.
You recently won against G2 Esports, but could you share what you think is missing for this team to click in-game?
Vladi: It's mostly consistency because, as you said, we won against G2, then we go into the next week, and we lose to SK, which, at least on paper, they are way worse than G2, right? And yeah, I think we also didn't play well… We did some good things, but we just lost. We just played pretty poorly, and we were very inconsistent.
This is not your first rodeo in the LEC, but you do have more experienced players in your team. Did they ever share some tips on how to reach consistency specifically?
Vladi: Not really. We just need to apply all of the things that we do in practice because in practice, the last week we have been doing very well. And I think most of the time we scrimm we're doing things pretty, pretty good. Yeah, we just need to apply it here on stage. And maybe the pressure is getting to us. I'm not sure, but if we don't do it now, I think it's going to get quite tough to reach the playoffs soon.
Can you talk me through some things that you know you guys are really good at, but, in execution during match day, sometimes you find it difficult to execute?
Vladi: I would say we just know when to send it in a fight or in a dragon fight, usually, but obviously, now there were a lot of times where the objective was up, and we were pretty lost. We didn't know if we should go into them or if we should play it a bit slower. So it's mostly that because in practice we're doing this pretty well and we know what to do. And that's why I said, I think the pressure is getting us in those moments, and we end up failing.
Who is the one usually calling the shots in scrimms?
Vladi: It's mostly people just know when to do it. And of course, you're going to call it into the game whoever wants to go in first or whoever is supposed to. And this is what happens on stage too, but sometimes it's just not the right moment to do it, and this is why we end up getting lost.
Do you feel that was the case for the second game? You guys had quite a good early game, and then, somewhat, it got lost, maybe during the Drake pit fight. Can you talk me through how you reached that point?
Vladi: Yeah, as you said, game two and game one as well. Both are the same because we just lost the fights on objectives. In both games, we were kind of winning the early game, especially in game two, we were hard winning the early game. I think we were like 4K up before that drake fight that we lost the game. I think there was kind of.. not miscommunication, but a wrong call, I would say, to push in a different direction. And, for example, I went for a flank in game two with Aurora in the fight where we lost, which I think I probably shouldn't have done. It's just mainly this kind of decision-making that is quite tough to execute or to even sometimes cancel them, right? If your teammate thinks it's bad, I think you can also say it. But we are not sure a lot of times.
A lot of fans for Fnatic are confused because, as you said before, there isn't that consistency right now, but from what you're telling me, the internal perspective is different. So, can you tell me more about your perspective on the team that maybe can help the fans be more at ease for the next few matches?
Vladi: Not really. It's just as I said, we are playing pretty good in scrimms, but obviously the fans don't really care about the practice, right? And obviously, the same for us. If we are doing good things in scrims and then we end up playing very poorly on stage, it sucks, right? But we just need to find consistency and minimize the pressure as much as we can because, especially today, the pressure caught us, and that's why I think we lost the games mainly. We just need to fix those things before it's too late. And at least for the next games, which are in Paris, it's kind of do-or-die, so if we do these things correctly, we can easily win.
Do you feel like maybe having the audience can give you some kind of boost? Does playing in front of a big audience, like in Evry, have any kind of weight on how you feel when you're going on stage?
Vladi: I would say not for me personally, but I think for everyone, usually when you have a big crowd, especially on a Roadtrip, the pressure is much higher. And today, for example, playing with no crowd is basically like a scrim. So usually, at least for me, I don't really have that pressure when there is zero crowd as well. For me, it's probably better to play with no crowd because I just view it as a scream kind of.
Is there anything else in your life as a pro player that might have an impact? Does any external factor ever weigh on you? And if so, do you have any way to shut it down?
Vladi: I think I already did it, kind of. I think the medias are a bit clueless about our game. Of course, if you see someone being pretty behind in a game, you're going to instantly say, "Oh, this guy's playing pretty bad." But I think my coaches and other players know what I do well, and I think I know it myself too, so I don't really care what they usually say.
You said you feel a lot of pressure, but at the same time, you do not really care about anything else as long as the people you value and the people who know you and know your value understand what you're going through. Do you have any exercise you do with your team to relieve that pressure or to just shut it out?
Vladi: Not really, but I am not really speaking for my team; I speak for myself. But I said obviously there is pressure in terms of gameplay or results, because of course if right now we lose one or two more games we might just be out of playoffs. This is pretty bad for an org like this and for a team like this, because I think we don't deserve to be out of playoffs, even though our gameplay doesn't show it yet. So I'm talking about this kind of pressure, obviously, because besides that, I minimize the noise from the outside, and I don't really care.
You said that your goal is to take everything one step at a time, and so your goal for now is to reach MSI. If you could, let's say direct your whole team, what did they do and how they do it, what are the next steps that you would take to help your overall team improve for the next match?
Vladi: There is not much to say. As I said, the pressure was too high, and I think not only myself, but I think we just need to review as a team and see the things that we are doing wrong, because we made pretty silly mistakes. And we should just realize that we are making silly mistakes mostly because we are very nervous, I think, or there is a lot of pressure, as I said, and just go into the next game and just leave it behind. It's anyway do-or-die. For example, when we played against G2, I think the team knew that G2 was a strong opponent, so they were like, "Okay, just play our game and if we win, if we lose, we lose, but at least we need to do the things correctly." So I think that was mostly the difference. I think we just played with zero pressure in that best-of-three. Obviously, I think the difference was massive compared to today.”
