Despite briefly easing the pressure with a 2-0 win over
,
still find themselves with their backs against the wall in the
LEC 2026 Spring Split, trailing the three teams headed to Madrid. With their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, the black and orange march on, aiming to close out the split on a high note in their final match against
.
In an exclusive interview,
Sheep Esports spoke with Fnatic jungler
about the current state of the team, the impact of results on his mental health, and his evolving relationship with professional play after several years competing in the LEC.
How do you feel after this win, given the split has been very back-and-forth and you’re still in a difficult position for playoffs?
Iván "Razork" Martín Díaz: “Right now, I feel good that we won, but the outcome is still the same, right? We are with our backs against the wall. We didn't perform when it mattered. And now we are in a situation where it's not up to us to make it to playoffs.
Honestly, I think we did improve, but it wasn't enough. During the Évry road trip, I felt like we could have won against
and
, but we didn't in the end. The
loss in week 3 was the reason why we’re finding ourselves in these situations. That's just life, honestly.
Given that you’ve consistently been at the top in previous splits with strong results, how has this situation and these back-to-back splits affected you, and did you have to reassess your expectations?
Razork: I didn't come into 2026 with very high expectations. I knew from the start that we signed a team that has rookies, and we need to get better slowly. So I didn't come with the expectations like in past years, where we are playing to win it all, qualify to finals, or even go to internationals. My mindset was just to try to do the best as I can, try to help my teammates, and see where we can go.
“Last split, we made playoffs, and that already was a miracle. It's a bit depressing. It's honestly quite depressing that we find ourselves in this situation, but there is nothing else to be done, right?”
I feel like right now I'm playing myself better. Our early game has generally been way better, but when the mid-game comes and there are some macro situations, vision setups, and also drake setups, I feel like we tend to make a lot of mistakes as a team.
So right now, this is just the level that we have. We can beat anyone if we have a good game, and we outplay our enemies mechanically, but in the macro department—side lane and these areas—I think we struggle a lot. Right now, it's our biggest weakness.
Considering the team has improved but may have run out of time this split, how do you view the future of this roster, especially with some players still developing, and do you have hope for summer if the roster stays the same?
Razork: Honestly, right now I can't really answer this question because I don't know what's gonna happen in the future, and I don't really want to know right now. It’s not my decision to make, so I don't want to think too much about it. I just wanna be in the present. The present is that we still have chances to qualify to playoffs.
“If stars align, we still have chances. As long as there’s still a chance of making playoffs, I'm gonna keep trying and represent Fnatic as best as I can.”
Once we're out, then I will start thinking about what's the next step. But for now, this is where my mind is.
Compared to one or two years ago, how do you see yourself today as both a player and a person, and do you feel like you’ve changed a lot?
Razork: I did change a lot of stuff, for sure. I feel like right now... I don't know how to say it. It's like my mechanics are maybe a bit worse, but I feel like I'm more mature, and I know what I need to do in the game.
Still, I also feel that I didn't do a great job as a leader. I'm not sure why, but I don’t feel like I’ve been enough of a help to our rookies. On the contrary, I think I did well with Poby (Yoon Sung-won) when he joined, and I was there for Noah (Oh Hyeon-taek) and Jun (Yoon Se-jun) as well.
This year, I lowered my expectations because I feel like the goals I was setting for myself were too high with the roster that we have this year. Right now, I'm just trying to become the best version of myself, and I'm also trying to focus more on the leadership side, but I find it kind of hard sometimes, if I'm honest with you.
After such a long career, has your approach to pro play, competition, and things like mental health and routine changed as you’ve matured?
Razork: For sure, there are moments where I find myself very exhausted because there is so much pressure, and the competition sometimes can get into your head and feel very exhausting. But for now, I enjoy competing; I enjoy being around my teammates and improving together.
So it's also something that I don't want to think about long-term, because who knows what I will be doing next year, next split, or whatever life brings—I will be there to face it. As long as I am enjoying what I'm doing, I don't mind putting up with that pressure.
You’ve had fewer media presence recently—does that come from wanting more privacy, stepping back from social media, and focusing more on your environment and the game?
Razork: Yeah, I don’t really enjoy it too much recently—social media and the likes. So I deleted Twitter, and I tried to stay away from it as much as I can. I just try to focus on the environment that I have around me—the teammates, coaches, manager, and everyone I see in the office. I didn’t want to get affected by other opinions or feel bad from reading certain comments. It also led me to not wanting to do a lot of interviews either.
“It’s worth noting that we also had some players who were sick—some of us still are. So that was one of the reasons why we didn’t do much in Évry-Courcouronnes.”
I personally love my fans, the ones that are supporting me all the time, and I’m feeling a bit sad for them that I don’t give them content, or they don’t know much about me, because I have some people saying “can you stream please” and things alike. I would be down, but right now I just wanna focus on the game and have some space to find myself again. Because I felt like for a few weeks I wasn’t myself, I was kind of lost, but I feel like slowly right now I’m feeling way better.
Before your last match against Vitality on Monday, is there anything you want to say?
Razork: We will give our best, as we do every time we play, and hopefully we can win 2-0 for the sake of our playoff chances. Even if it sucks that they’re not under our control anymore, we will do what’s in our hands, and then pray to God.”
