In an interview
Sheep Esports ahead of his debut at the
2025 League of Legends World Championship,
Movistar KOI jungler
Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla reflects on his past struggles and how he’s prepared for the pressure of the international stage.
You found your regional success multiple times but at Worlds, you had different results. What do you view as your biggest gap between regional performance and international performance?
Javier "Elyoya" Prades: "I would say it's pressure, obviously. I think the pressure at the international stage is much bigger, not only in terms of the pressure that it creates in your mind, but also the pressuring game. The way that Asian teams pressure you in-game is also much more consistent and harder. So yeah, I think a factor of this both maybe that I have always struggled in international states.
And how about this year? What was your preparation for Worlds?
Elyoya: I've been preparing the whole year for this moment, so I think I come way more prepared mentally. I'm ready for the opportunity and the challenge. And in-game also [I prepared well]. So yeah, I'm really excited for this event.
How do you feel about the meta? Because Riot is trying to push for AP junglers, is there something that you feel you would be comfortable with?
Elyoya: I would be comfortable for sure about the AP Junglers. I haven't really seen that many, so I'm not sure if the change was successful, but Qyiana is in the meta, so I'm happy.
Can you give us your insights on the meta without revealing too much of your strategy?
Elyoya: I mean, I think it hasn't changed as much, at least in the jungle. So yeah, it's going to be similar, I would say.
Do you see any other junglers struggling with their champion pool since we have Fearless Draft?
Elyoya: For sure because I think there are some that don't excel at the kind of jungles that are in the meta right now. But mostly I would say everyone is going to have a quite similar champion pool. And I would say the early stages of the tournament, everyone is going to more or less be picking the same kind of champions.
You've often being considered the leader of your team. How have you seen your other teammates preparing for this event?
Elyoya: I know they're confident enough to prepare by themselves, so pretty much all I do is just stay on track, stay with my goals, stay with everything I've done previously to this moment. I keep my routine. I keep being as professional as I can and try to be the best example I can for them, but as I said, I know they're confident; they know when they're more than ready.
Why do you say they're more ready than ever? Is there something different this time?
Elyoya: I mean, as I said for my case, we've been preparing for this event since the beginning of the year. We knew we were going to qualify for worlds, so all this time we were just getting ready for the event and just be ready for when the time comes.
Can you share a moment from your past Worlds where you made a call that you thought was the right moment and it was not, and that lesson shaped how you perceive the game now?
Elyoya: Well, in scrimms it happens quite a lot that I go in when it's not the time or that I go too deep when it's not the time. I'm not aware of some moments. But if I had to say one, I would say the moment against DRX in Worlds of 2022. I remember I called to go for the Baron, which ended up being wrong. So since that moment, I've always been way more careful of choosing which moment to go for objectives and which not.
And would you say this season is more difficult because you have more objectives and you need to be more careful, especially in the early stages of the game?
Elyoya: It depends on how you see it. I think how I would like to see it is that there are more objectives, so the better decision making will shine more. So I'm really happy with the fact that there are more objectives.
Ahead of the tournament, what would you consider a personally good run?
Elyoya: I think it's hard to tell, mostly because I want to improve and grow as much as I can in this tournament, but if I had to look at the results, I would say winning it would be the only thing that I would be satisfied with. Personally.
Who would you say is your biggest competition as a jungler, and then from a team perspective?
Elyoya: I think from a jungler standpoint, I would say Oner (
Mun Hyeon-jun), Canyon (
Kim Geon-bu), Tarzan (
Lee Seung-yong) and Kanavi (
Seo Jin-hyeok) would be my favorite four. I know I said a lot, but yeah, these four are the people I've looked up the most and I really like how they play. For teams, I'd say
our biggest opponent is ourselves. If we want to win the tournament, we are going to have to evolve as a team and to improve so much. So I know for a fact that, as I said, the biggest opponent is going to be ourselves in this tournament.
In a few words, what would be the improvement that you really want to see from your team?
Elyoya: Mostly in attitude and mindset. I think we need to have a winning mindset and a winning attitude that I think it's really hard to achieve, but I think it's necessary to win Worlds. I still don't know how that's going to be or how that's going to happen, but I think we'll have to make it through the tournament, and we are going to have it if we really want to win."
Header Photo Credit: Christina Oh/Riot Games.
