GIANTX clean swept and eliminated Team BDS in their LEC Summer Split playoff opener on Saturday, September 6, advancing to the second round. After the series, Franco-Belgian jungler Ismaïl "
ISMA" Boualem gave us an interview in which he spoke about the big win against Team BDS, the possibility of representing France or Belgium if
League of Legends is featured at the Esports Nations Cup, his relationship with support Yoon "
Jun" Se-jun, and the jungler he prefers to review in Asia.
*Interview conducted before the match between Movistar KOI and Fnatic, won by MKOI. How did this series go from your perspective?
Ismaïl "ISMA" Boualem: "We knew we didn’t need to do anything special to win, just play our game and not force anything. As long as we didn’t go too deep, we were confident we’d take it, because BDS is a bit of a slow team that wasn’t really going to shake us. We just played the way we usually do in scrims.
GIANTX is strong in scrims but sometimes struggles on stage — are you now bringing that same level into officials?
ISMA: In scrims, things usually go pretty well, a bit less recently, but in this series it was the same — we managed to bring what we do in practice onto the stage, and we’re really happy we pulled it off.
You played Vi in Game 1, a champion that’s been at the center of debate. What’s your take on this pick for GIANTX?
ISMA:
Vi is strong, but it’s not an easy champion to play, and you have to be careful because you can int really fast. We think it’s good, but it has to be drafted properly. In this game, we had Rakan and Kai’Sa, so I had a lot of follow-up which made it easier. I’d say Vi is strong if the draft fits and the team plays well around her ult — you just can’t go too deep, you need to play the fights right. It’s not simple, but it’s strong.
ISMA: It’s something I’ve really focused on. It’s not perfect, but we played really well together today, and I’m happy with that. The jungle-support on the other side wasn’t the best in the league, which obviously helped us. It’s fine — nothing extraordinary — and we’ll try to do even better in the next series.
You also mentioned that after being benched by SK you lost confidence. How are you feeling about that now?
ISMA: Of course, last split was tough, but things have been going well since around Week 5 of Spring. I’m happy — my game is improving. Of course, it could be even better, but we understand each other as a team, and overall, I’m glad because I’ve been able to regain confidence here at GIANTX.
BDS took red side in Game 3 — did that surprise you, and what did you think about the Gragas support last pick?
ISMA: Gragas didn’t really surprise us since it’s a good counter to Alistar. But yeah, the red side I don’t really get — usually you want blue side in Game 3 because there are still a lot of strong first picks, even with the fearless draft. I’m not sure it was the best choice, but that’s what they went with.
You’re going to play against the loser of the series between Movistar KOI and Fnatic. Do you have a preference?
ISMA: I think Fnatic is a weaker team than MKOI, so I’d prefer to face Fnatic. I’m not sure what my team thinks, but both teams are very strong and above BDS, so we’ll need to play well and stay confident. That said, I feel MKOI tends to perform better in playoffs, while Fnatic seems they start doubting in Playoffs.
We saw the announcement of the Esports Nations Cup, and assuming LoL is included, if both France and Belgium called you up, which team would you play for?
ISMA: I would play for France because I prefer, let’s say, France. I think they have better players, but it might be a bit too hard for me, so I could also play for Belgium. But if I had to make a choice, I would play for France.
What do you think the French roster for the ENC would look like?
ISMA: For Support, I’d go with Stend (
Paul Lardin) or
Zoelys (
Théo Le Scornec). I like Zoelys, even though his LEC year was a bit rough, Stend had a good split. For AD Carry, I’d pick
Caliste (
Caliste Henry-Hennebert). In mid, I think
nuc (
Ilias Bizriken) is the best, and for toplane, I’d choose
Badlulu (
Lucas Piochaud) because he’s really good. Of course there’s Adam (
Adam Maanane) as well, but I get along really well with Badlulu and we could work well together — I know him really well. Both Badlulu and Adam are solid.
In 2025, you played for three different teams. Has this year been challenging for you with all the moves?
ISMA: Well, I didn’t really get to play with Karmine Corp Blue since it was only for the EMEA Masters Spring Split. It was exhausting to scrim with both teams because I had to adapt and train with two different playstyles between KCB and GIANTX, which wasn’t easy. The start of my year wasn’t great at all — things were really rough, and managing both KCB and GX was challenging during the end of the Spring Split.
Did you stay in Berlin while playing for KCB?
ISMA: Yes, I was in Berlin. I went to Paris one day for a media day, but apart from that I stayed in Berlin.
In the group stage, you lost to Karmine Corp and KOI, both considered at least top 4 LEC teams. What makes you think you can get past them in a BO5?
ISMA: We’re a good team and can beat anyone in a BO5 if we’re having a good day. We still make quite a few mistakes and need to improve. I’d say we got lucky because facing Fnatic or MKOI is easier than going up against
G2 Esports or Karmine Corp. This series against BDS helped us gain confidence. Honestly, we didn’t play extremely well, we were just fine, and if we play like that against a top 4 team, we probably won’t win. Still, we have the chance to review these BOs. The goal remains to reach Worlds, which isn’t easy, but we can do it.
If you go to Worlds, what will be your goal once you’re there?
ISMA: Of course, the goal will be to do our best. That said, if we face the top 3 LCK teams, it’ll be really tough — honestly, right now we can’t compete with them. So the focus will be on improving and learning. It’s a long process, but if we go there, we want to win; I don’t just want to go and lose. If we make it to Worlds, I have expectations, but my main goal is to improve, gain experience, and come back to the LEC next year ready to take the next step. I feel there’s still one level for me to reach to be among the top LEC junglers, and I really want to get better so that when people think of me, they think of a strong player.
Which jungler in Asia impresses you and do you enjoy reviewing?
ISMA: I think the best is Canyon (Kim Geon-bu). I also like Kanavi (Seo Jin-hyeok) and Oner (Mun Hyeon-jun). The thing is, games in the LPL and LCK are very different from the LEC in terms of level. I also like Junjia (Yu Chun-Chia) — those games are at a slightly lower level and are more replicable in the LEC. Reviewing Gen.G against T1 is useful to understand their gameplay, but it’s a bit too high-level. So yes, I enjoy reviewing Junjia because his games are more similar to what we see in the LEC."
Header Photo Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games
