GX Guilhoto: "I would rather lose in 20 minutes while fighting than not exist in the game"

GIANTX was met with a brutal reality check last weekend as the team faced their first opponent in the 2026 League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Versus playoffs, Karmine Corp. Now dropping to the lower bracket, the squad must regroup quickly and reassess their approach if they want to keep their run alive, with Team Heretics standing in their way. In an exclusive interview, head coach André “Guilhoto” Pereira Guilhoto sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss GIANTX’s uncharacteristic passivity, his continued trust in his players, and what it takes to be a successful team.

André "Guilhoto" Pereira Guilhoto: “In game one we either played very scared, or we weren’t playing at all. We ended up in a situation where we should have had three pushing lanes, but instead of punishing the enemy jungler, we played to avoid our jungler getting punished. Backstage, I told the players that I would rather they lose in 20 minutes while fighting than just not exist in the game. That was mostly directed at the botlane. I think they came in a bit passive.

We’re not a new team, so we’ve been working on things we already felt were wrong before. But when we entered playoffs, we changed how we played and became more scared and more passive. The most disappointing part about game one is that this still happened, even though it’s something we talked about a lot.

Game two was different. It was more about comfort and misplays. I want us to feel that if we lose, we lose because we got mechanically outplayed. I think that was the case in game two. Hopefully, that sends everyone on the team the message that playing scared is not acceptable. For the next series, we need to show improvement on that, since it’s our main focus.

Guilhoto: It was a little bit better this week, I would say. Still not fast enough compared to where we want to be. The next three days before our match against Heretics will be critical, and that match as well. Heretics also played a bit scared today. I believe they’re a better team than what they showed. So it’s definitely going to be a hard match.

If we play like we did in game one, we lose. If we play like we did in game two, we win. To answer your question, I did see some progress, but not fast enough, and it also came a bit too late in the week.

Guilhoto: It’s a real thing, but it’s obviously not affecting us. That’s more something you see in longer relationships than just one year. In general, people inside and outside the scene—whether they work in it or are fans—always try to find a way to justify bad performances. But usually, more than ceiling or things like that, it’s about phases of the team and phases of the players. Downswings are often needed in order to reach new highs.

We just need to get better at progressing faster and getting out of those low moments. It shouldn’t be that keeping a roster together gets criticized because of “reaching its ceiling,” but disbanding a roster also gets criticized for not allowing teams to progress. I think both visions are probably wrong, and the truth is somewhere in a gray area.

For example, something like Vitality, who only did one roster swap—I think one change can sometimes get the best of both worlds. But in our case, we just need to do better as players and as staff to improve faster. That’s it. It has nothing to do with ceiling. Our players are still improving. We just need to make sure the progress happens faster.

Guilhoto: This answer could be a whole TED Talk. There are a lot of theories. First, being in an organization that knows how to win is crucial. For example, I think G2 probably has the best infrastructure in Western League of Legends. It’s also the team that invests the most in staff and in small things that can increase performance. Because of that, it’s easier for them to control when players are peaking or not. Obviously, everything I’m saying is just theory.

Then there are players who completely guide the team and naturally rise to the occasion. I think Elyoya (Javier Prades Batalla) is the best captain and leader in the entire league—actually in the West. He has a big impact on his team’s performance in important moments. Those moments are usually when everyone gets a bit foggy, loses track of things, and goes on autopilot. He is probably the best at ignoring his own autopilot and leading his team to success. Yesterday was proof of that.

It can also be related to staff, to other players who aren’t captains, to confidence, and to how players build that confidence. Players who attach their confidence to solo queue or scrim results will usually perform worse in playoffs or important matches than players who attach their confidence to their routine—whether they did the things they know make them perform better.

For example, a player who thinks, “If I wake up at 10 a.m., have my coffee, go for a run, start solo queue at 11:30, meditate at 1:30, then I’m ready for the game”—a player who bases his confidence on executing his routine well will probably have better results than a player who bases his confidence on results and things he usually can’t control.

Guilhoto: It’s not easy. For example, when it comes to someone like Elyoya, the number of players who can do that is extremely rare and extremely valuable, and, to be fair, out of our budget—out of almost any team’s budget actually [chuckles].

As for the other aspects, like culture, we have to build that ourselves, and that’s something we’re trying to change. I’m not an expert in psychology. I try to read as much as I can, and a lot of these theories come from that. But since I’m not an expert, there’s a lot of trial and error involved.

Part of wanting to keep the roster together is to see the differences these theories can make with the same players, instead of constantly changing external factors. If I knew the answer, or even which theory was correct, I would just apply it. But I don’t.

Guilhoto: Yes, and until there is something that makes me change my mind, I will not change the roster.

Guilhoto: It’s going to be a good match. They’re a team that has found its identity, and it’s going to be fun to play against my former organization as well. I still have some friends there, more on the management side than on the team itself. It’s always fun to face Heretics. I think the fanbases have a real rivalry, and because of that, the matchup will be very exciting.”