MKOI Elyoya: "Champions aren’t forged through wins; they’re forged by how they bounce back after failures"

Despite a good effort, Movistar KOI fell at the hands of KT Rolster at Worlds 2025. Exclusive interview with the team's jungler.

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Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla, jungler of Movistar KOI at Worlds 2025.

"I don’t think there are any easy opponents once you reach Worlds"

Despite a valiant effort, Movistar KOI fell to KT Rolster in the first round of the Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage. Representing the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC), the Spaniards will need to step up significantly in their next match if they hope to redeem themselves and continue their journey in Beijing. In an exclusive interview, jungler and team captain Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the loss, share his hopes and lessons learned, and preview what’s ahead for the rest of the tournament.

This game felt like it was in your hands and was very close—how do you feel after the loss?

Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla: “I feel really frustrated. It was a win that we had completely in our hands, but we made some dis-coordinated plays, which caused us to lose. I’m a bit tired of saying this at the end, but it really is a great opportunity to learn. Right now, though, my feeling is obviously frustration.

What’s the biggest lesson you take from this match? Do you think your team misplayed by not breaking the mid turret with the Rift Herald, instead of putting it bot?

Elyoya: For sure. They had pretty good mid control the whole time because they kept their mid tower up, so it was hard for us. But even if we used the Herald, it was still full HP, so we decided as a team to use it for the third drake instead. We knew that if we secured the third drake, we’d have really good control of the game. We just thought it was the best decision at the time. But what we really struggled with, as you mentioned, was the Herald sequence, the Atakhan, and the Nashor and Drake fights. That said, even after the Atakhan fight—since in the end we got it—we were still in a pretty good spot, and I liked how we were playing. It was more after we lost the fourth drake and they got the Nashor that things got harder. Still, we could have won; we just didn’t manage to close it out. There’s a lot we can learn from it.

You previously mentioned wanting your team to improve its mentality and attitude. How has that been going so far at Worlds, and do you think mindset played a role in today’s loss?

Elyoya: I don’t think that was the case this time. I believe we’re actually in a good mindset right now. We’re ramping up for Worlds, and I hope it’s going to be a long run for us. I’m really hopeful about everything, and so far, I’m quite happy.

Did you find KT to be a tough opponent, and what did you think of the matchup overall?

Elyoya: I don’t think there are any easy opponents once you reach Worlds. Every team has its own strengths and weaknesses. KT isn’t one of my favorites to win the title or one of the teams I was most excited to play against, but they’re still a really solid team, and they showed it today.

Do you think that today’s early game play is an indicator of Movistar KOI’s ability to make a decent run at Worlds this year?

Elyoya: Yeah, for sure. I know this is going to be our Worlds, and we’re going to make the most of it. I believe it’s going to be a long run for us, so yeah, I’m really confident in our ability.

What’s the biggest change you’ve made since the Summer Finals? You seem to have improved a lot since then.

Elyoya: Indeed, for sure. The finals were, as I keep saying, a really good learning experience. It is what it is—it showed all of our weaknesses. G2 played pretty well against us, and we were able to learn a lot from that loss. We actually benefited from it. As I like to say, champions aren’t forged through wins; they’re forged by how they bounce back after failures.

With how much you’ve been learning lately, do you ever feel like your brain’s about to explode from all of it?

Elyoya: I hope I stop with the learning and can start getting some wins at this point. I’m a bit tired of coming to interviews and saying, “not everything’s bad, at least we get to learn,” you know? I’d rather say, “yeah, we didn’t learn much, we just won clean.” I’m joking, but I really hope the wins are coming soon, yeah.

How has your experience been so far since arriving in Madrid? I heard you were a bit sick during the first days of bootcamp—are things better now?

Elyoya: The experience has been insane—I can’t find a better word, honestly. We love this experience, being together as a team during such a high-intensity, high-stress period where you have to perform your best. It’s a dream for every competitive player. Our objective is to win Worlds, so this is the best time of the year. We’re really enjoying it.

How have scrims been going overall? We heard about the issue with KT yesterday, but besides that, have you been able to scrim some of the top LCK teams?

Elyoya: At the beginning, things weren’t going so well, but we’re slowly starting to get better and better. It hasn’t been like always, trust me. I’ve been to many Worlds, and usually when you start bad, you finish bad—but this time I see improvement. MSI was different; we started really well and then went downhill. Now we’re taking a different approach. We didn’t start great, but we’re getting much better. So yeah, let’s see how this goes. MSI, LEC Finals, everything—we need to prove ourselves, but mainly, we need to show ourselves that we have what it takes. We know how good we are and what our potential is, and if we can show that on an international stage, that’s all we’re missing.

As the captain and a central figure in MKOI, do you feel pressure to make this roster succeed, especially since you’ve been leading it for two years?

Elyoya: I don’t like to call it my project; I want to call it my family. Everyone is responsible for what we do. Obviously, maybe I carry a bit more weight under public opinion, but we’re a family. Everyone is responsible, even the community. This project is really for the people who support us, for those who have been there, for us, for co-streamers, for the coaches. We’re just a big family, and everyone is proud and responsible for what we do. We know we can’t fully control the results, but we can control what we do daily, and that’s what we care about.

Any opponents you’d like to face in the next round now that you’re in the 0-1 pool?

Elyoya: I would like HLE. That would be a really good opponent. Getting these kinds of experiences at the start of the tournament is honestly the best. You get to learn a lot from these games—it’s going to be really good.

Should fans stay hopeful for the next matches?

Elyoya: I am still hopeful, so yeah, I hope you guys are too. It’s obviously really frustrating to lose a game like this, but losing is part of competition—losing is necessary for winning.

Any final words for your fans?

Elyoya: I’m going to stop with the learning experiences from now on and start getting some wins to make you all proud. But all jokes aside, thank you so much for the support—I really mean it. You’ve all been amazing so far, and I love the support. I’m not on social media much these days, but my team keeps me updated, and I really love the community we have. I hope you keep supporting us, because we’ll keep working our asses off—for you and for us. So, thank you so much.”

Header Photo Credit: Liu YiCun/Riot Games