KC Yike: "Last year was a nightmare I never want to experience again"

Karmine Corp are standing atop the LEC at 2-0. An exclusive interview with the team's jungler before facing G2.

Martin "Yike" Sundelin, jungler of Karmine Corp. Credit: Charles Michalet/Riot Games

"I feel like we're the strongest version of ourselves right now. It's going to be different than the other splits. We learned so much more"

Fresh off a victory over Team Vitality on Friday,

confirmed their strong start to the LEC Summer Split. Playing on home soil for the second day of its Roadtrip event, the Blue Wall defeated Movistar KOI 2–0 on Saturday. In doing so, KC further cemented its dominance over the Spanish side, which has not found a way past Kamel “Kameto” Kebir’s team since June 2025.

Following the match and ahead of Sunday’s clash against the three-time reigning champions of G2 Esports, Player of the Series

Martin “Yike” Sundelin

spoke with Sheep Esports for a few minutes. The Swedish jungler reflected on the team's form after a highly encouraging run at the Esports World Cup despite the loss in the grand final. Yike also shared his thoughts on the current meta and his ambitions for the remainder of the season.

Starting 2-0, you're here being able to showcase a very good version of yourself on the Paris stage in front of your own fans. How does it feel?

Martin “Yike” Sundelin: “I feel like we're the strongest version of ourselves right now, and I'm really happy that we can show it. Especially at EWC and now at the beginning of summer, I feel like we showed our best level. At MSI, for example, we didn't really show it, so that felt very bad. But now, we're slowly coming back, and I feel like we're playing very well now. So it's great.

Last year was a bit difficult for you. Does it feel like a redemption story for you in the sense that you can be happy to say that you're able to pull off what you weren't able to do in the past?

Yike: Yeah, it's a big confidence boost. Last year was very low confidence for me and we could see it in the gameplay, we could see it in my mood as well towards the end. We missed out on MSI and Worlds and that felt awful. That was like a nightmare and I never want to experience that again. So yeah, I make sure to work even harder this year and I'm happy that we can show it. I feel like there's much more confidence from me and also the whole team. And yeah, it's just great that we have it right now, and I just want to keep it up.

It feels like you're a pivotal piece of the roster, like when you do really well, the team does well. And sometimes when you have off performances as well, it can look a bit rough. Do you agree with this as well, and how do you feel your role as a jungler has evolved with the team?

Yike: Yeah, we have some inconsistent moments. We showed pretty decently today; it was pretty good. Against Vitality, the second game was a bit worse, obviously. It's something we work on internally and I think it's something we improve on slowly, so that's great. For the jungle, I think it's a very important role right now, especially with this meta. You play more carries. There's Lee Sin, Naafiri, Qiyana, these kinds of champs, so you need to really be confident and take over the game if you get a lead. I feel like I've been showcasing it pretty well so far, and I want to keep showing it because overall I would say in my blood I'm a carry jungler. So I'm happy that I can show it, more than like the tanks or this kind of stuff.

Tomorrow, you're going to be taking on Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan. How do you feel overall facing against him, especially since he's had the better of the matchup a few times?

Yike: After losing two finals and most of our matches against G2, I have so much respect for SkewMond. I think he's a very great player. I just want to beat teams, and obviously G2, the best from all the LEC teams, obviously, because that's the only team we're losing against. So, yeah, going into this split, I think it's going to be different than the other splits.

I think we learned so much more, and we had very good talks and reflections from all the past losses we had, even in the EWC finals. I feel like we learned a lot. They are also starting over with a new coach, Perkz (Luka Perković). It's going to be interesting how this split goes. I think tomorrow is going to be a very interesting day, but we're going to have the upper hand.

There's always people calling the EWC the Mickey Mouse tournament, but to you, was it really a testament of what KC is truly able to achieve and everything then?

Yike: Yeah, for sure. I never think any kind of tournament or matches as Mickey Mouse ones. That's just a good excuse people like to use. But every team going there is try-harding. They want to—everyone wants to win. So yeah, I think we were just hungrier than other teams. And I feel like we played a good game. We showcased good games against T1, pretty good against AG.AL as well. So we beat some strong Asian teams, and yeah, I think we’re just a good team. And that's what I want to keep showcasing.

Considering the baggage from last year, from this year as well, what goal are you setting yourself for the end of the year?

Yike: First goal is to win the Summer Split. I want to win my first split this year with this team, and then I obviously want to qualify for Worlds. After that, I want to have a great Worlds run. I don't want to do what some teams do, like what happened to me before, and just get eliminated in the swiss stage. I want to reach at least the quarterfinals and I want to show that Karmine Corp is a very strong team this year.”