Despite a valiant effort against
,
’ spark appears to be rapidly fading, as they now sit at 0–6 in the
2026 LEC Spring Split with only three matches left to play. While the team is still mathematically in the playoff race, their chances continue to dwindle, and hope seems increasingly out of reach.
In an exclusive interview,
Sheep Esports sat down with
for a brief exchange about his experience so far in Évry-Courcouronnes, how he is coping mentally with the results, and what lies ahead for him and his team.
What did it feel like to play here at Les Arènes in Évry-Courcouronnes, in front of KC fans? Did it remind you of your early days with them in LFL Div 2?
Ilias "nuc" Bizriken: “Yeah, it’s an incredible experience.
After our match against Fnatic, I was really feeling a sense of despair. Events like this—playing in an arena like this in front of KC fans—don’t happen often. And if it had just been about getting stomped from start to finish, it would’ve made the whole trip feel really long.
Luckily, our series against KC didn’t go too badly. It helps us leave on a more positive note, and I’m happy about that.
After some a rather rough period, how are you feeling mentally today? Have you worked on yourself to better handle all of this?
nuc: Mentally… objectively, I’m not doing as well as before.
Since 2025, we’ve had a string of poor performances, and it’s been a tough period. That year was the hardest for me, especially physically. With the pressure, I even had some health issues, so it’s something I pay a lot more attention to now.
In this job, you tend to build your whole identity around being a professional player. And when results stop coming, everything can fall apart very quickly.
Personally, I’ve been doing this since I was 18, I haven’t really known anything else. So when performances drop, it feels like your whole life is being called into question.
How do you feel today about your career?
nuc: I think it really depends on the splits.
Recently, I was feeling fairly confident. But the whole of 2025 was difficult. In the last split, I had major mental struggles, and I mainly used that time to try to fix them, so I wasn’t really focused on performance.
In 2026, we came back with the goal of doing better. I think the LEC Versus was quite unlucky—we lost several games where we had 10k gold leads. If we won those, the overall result looks completely different.
Right now, it feels a bit like we’re dealing with a kind of “sword of Damocles” situation. It’s up to us to see whether we can bounce back from this—and that applies to me individually as well.
With this split almost over, how do you see what’s next? Do you still believe in this roster for Summer, and how do you view your personal future?
nuc: Objectively, I think it’s going to be complicated. Ultimately, it’ll be up to the organization, but I feel like with this roster, we’ve hit a ceiling in several areas that I can’t really go into detail about. We’ve reached a point of no return.
On a personal level, though, I’m still confident. I know there’s the ENC at the end of the year, and I’ll be playing alongside very strong players. I’m also aware that my current level isn’t at its best, but for me, it’s a matter of form. That’s something that can come back pretty quickly from one split to another, with the right adjustments and a different environment. So on that front, I’m not worried about what comes next.”
