The Americas merger is a thing of the past, and 2025 didn’t align with
LYON’s ambitions. The sophomore team competing in
LCS is unshackled by rules tying them to a husk of a region and assembled a high skill floor and high potential roster. Visa issues forced the
last-minute pick-up of Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, but Kacper “
Inspired Słoma maintains a positive attitude and a major dislike towards Season 16 meta, as he shared in an interview with
Sheep Esports.
How are you feeling coming into this season with LYON?
Kacper “Inspired Słoma: Pretty excited! Switching teams comes with an environment change around you. If you play for the same team for a long time, it gets boring, so I’m looking forward to this year.
You've mentioned impatience and decision-making as a team. Have you worked on improving this mindset during the offseason?
Inspired: I didn’t do much specific work. As a team, we went to boot camp in Korea. It’s difficult getting used to playing with everyone new instantly. I repeatedly spoke about my idea of how to play the game and how to make everyone responsible for their own actions. I think we just have to be more focused in games and be more patient. If we make good decisions, the wins will come.
In a previous interview, you said your chances of winning would increase if you could choose your team. Is LYON this team?
Inspired: I don’t think any player can choose his surrounding teammates. Every organization has contracts and trusted players. On FlyQuest, I guess I had a little bit more say, but even then, they told me we were going to play with Busio (
Alan Cwalina) and Massu (
Fahad Abdulmalek). My job is getting them good, just like in LYON. Saint (
Kang Seong-in) has some experience. I always wanted to play with Berserker (
Kim Min-cheol). Isles (
Jonah Rosario) has pretty good mechanics, but was underrated because he played on bad teams. Support is a complicated role. Whenever I play support, the game is chaotic, but you can’t focus on yourself and farm. Plays have to happen, and you need to be there.
Visa issues denied our toplaner, Zamudo (
Frankie Lin), and our best replacement was Dhokla (
Niship Doshi). He is a solid player with previous experience joining a team out of nowhere and performing. I mention “my team” because someone needs to be responsible for understanding that
League of Legends is a team game. The team needs to play together to win, and I like to remind my teammates that we play with the same goal in mind.
Are there any differences in playing Zamudo or with Dhokla?
Inspired: We have only played scrims with Zamudo, but not with Dhokla. I arrived today, and Berserker will arrive later than expected. My view of the game is based on the champions selected rather than the players. Their champion pools are slightly different. If the game requires me to play more for topside and get Dhokla a lead, it would be the same if Zamudo were in his position.
There have been many gameplay changes. How different does this season feel? Anything you're excited to try?
Inspired: I am not a big fan of these changes, and I don’t like how the game feels right now. My playstyle barely gained value amidst this chaos. Junglers can get more creative with their early-game pathing. There will be more chances of executing early-game plays because you’re still able to reach level six before the first teamfight and before the first objective. Split 1 last year changed the map color to red. I was like: “I hate this color. The whole map is red”. This season, I hate how the game starts so fast. It feels like a mobile game. Hopefully, I adjust to these changes.
Is Riot trying to make the game more beginner-friendly, or is it because it feels like preseason and nothing has been figured out?
Inspired: Both. They wanted the game to feel faster, but everyone is still figuring it out. There are many new champions in each role, and the situation with Cashback and First Strike has inflated earning gold. Kills lead to more gold because you can one-shot two plates. Missing a side lane wave, the enemy gets plates plus a free wave because of their quicker spawn rate. Gold swings are crazy! I feel like there are less oportunities for team play. Everyone needs to stay in their lane and do their own stuff. As a jungler, I could have zero kills and still complete three items quickly. Supports are going to be full build, and that’s absurd. A support with Redemption, Pink Wards, and maybe a second item is unbalanced. Pinks are half the price, and income is inflated because of the volatility of solo-queue. I hope it’s not the same in competitive. It feels like everyone deals so much damage, and I don’t like it.
Do you think you can still win internationally?
Inspired: Last year with FlyQuest was my best opportunity to win anything internationally, and we didn’t manage to do it. I don’t really come to this year with the approach that I have to go to MSI or Worlds and try to do well. First, I want to see how my teammates will do and focus on my own play. With the amount of changes, I need to adapt, or I might be a liability to my team. International goals are thinking way too far ahead. If we do well in the first two splits, maybe I will start thinking about it going into the third. Right now, I am focused on the games ahead of me and choosing the correct decisions for my team and me.
What are your expectations against Dignitas and facing Lawrence "Exyu" Xu for your first game?
Inspired: eXyu is fine, but not great. He and Palafox (Cristian Palafox) are probably the weakest mid-jungle duo in the league. FBI (Victor Huang) and IgNar (Lee Dong-geun) are good. I wonder if IgNar will keep his aggressive playstyle after not playing for a while. Photon (Kyeong Gyu-tae) is a for-lane player, and gameplay changes benefit him. Back in Europe, he was known for Gwen and good farming champs like Jax. If he gets level 20, he is going to be a massive threat. I wouldn’t underestimate them. We haven’t played against NA teams with our current roster, so I don’t want to place any expectations yet. I don’t think we are anything special. We are all pretty good players, but being good is not enough to win. You have to be a great team together in order to win.
Any final words you would like to share with fellow Mexicans supporting you, the new face of LYON?
Inspired: When I was in Mexico for Worlds with Evil Geniuses, there were a lot of fans cheering for me already. Now that I joined your organization, I hope you keep your support and your cheers for me. I will try my best to get LYON to their first international appearance and maybe win a split as well."
