KC Busio about the Esports Nations Cup: “If the Polish team is speaking Polish, just put me on Team USA.”

In what has been the highest-level LEC Versus best-of so far, G2 Esports and Karmine Corp went head-to-head. Coming in as favorites after finishing first in the regular season, the Blue Wall had taken down GIANTX before falling to the Samurai.

Following the loss, American-Polish support Alan “Busio” Cwalina spoke about the unpredictable Game 2, his thoughts on G2, his prediction for Team Vitality vs Fnatic, the team they will face next, and how he is adapting to life in Berlin.

Tough loss today against G2. After a great regular season and a win against GIANTX, you were coming in as the favorites. What did we just watch? What happened in that second game?

Busio: In the second game, I’d say we didn’t have the best draft. If we play our matchups very well, we can overcome that, but for example, in the bot play where we got four of their summoners, if I were more patient with my E, we probably could have gotten a kill. Stuff like that could have changed the game, so that’s on me.

THE BASE RACE pic.twitter.com/yz3ubH3VHI

— LEC (@LEC) February 20, 2026

Overall today, our drafts were very high execution, and we, including myself, I blame myself big time, just didn’t execute. That made the games very, very difficult.

A few months ago, at Worlds in China, you said FlyQuest wasn’t the only hope for the West and that G2 was pretty good. How did you find this year’s G2?

Busio: The current G2? Overall, I’d say underwhelming. G2’s name holds a lot of power, but at the start of the year, they were pretty slow. A lot of people would say that’s unexpected because usually a team that stays together should have a stronger start.

But I experienced it on FlyQuest as well. In the second year with the same roster, you don’t automatically start super strong. You have to feel that fire again and work well together. So I wasn’t too surprised. And now it looks like they’re turning it on and playing good games.

Many say you have the best Bard in the West. You picked it in the first rotation in Game 1. Was that too early or the right call? What do you think?

Busio: It’s completely fine. Bard is quite blindable and his value can only get higher in certain drafts, so it was totally fine to pick there.

We just lost bot push on waves three and four, and that snowballed into us not having lane control. The pick is fine, I just misplayed. Because we got pushed on wave three, it changed the matchup a lot.

The second game was very contested. G2 took a big lead, but you defended well and made them doubt. What were you saying to each other in voice chat?

Busio: In a position where the game is basically on the enemies to throw, we’re just looking for plays and ready in case they make a mistake. A lot of it was looking at side lanes with Ashe’s arrow and things like that.

There’s also other communication. For example, after a very intense fight, Yike (Martin Sundelin) told everyone to take a deep breath. So there’s gameplay comms, but also “chill out, use your brain” comms. It’s a 50-minute banger, but you still have to think.

Speaking of Yike, he kept the game alive with multiple Smite wins. What was it like every time he secured one?

Busio: I’m very happy my jungler is the best smiter. But inside the game, you don’t celebrate mid-fight. He gets Nashor, and we’re thinking, do we fight or do we run? We were honestly a bit indecisive there. Maybe me and Caliste (Caliste Henry-Hennebert) should have just run immediately because we couldn’t really help the situation. He steals the objective, okay, now focus on the fight. Same with Elder.

YIKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEE pic.twitter.com/WjZf3J245l

— Karmine Corp (@KarmineCorp) February 20, 2026

In the next round, you’ll face the winner between Fnatic and Vitality. Who do you think will win?

Busio: I think Vitality will win.

Ilyas: Is that the team you want to face?

Busio: No, I think Vitality is the better team, so I’d probably prefer to face Fnatic. But if we play our game, we should beat anyone. And if we don’t play our game, we’ll lose to anyone. It’s just important that we play properly. Like I said, today in both games, I just wasn’t aggressive enough, and that made parts of our draft fall apart.

Moving from the sunny West Coast of the US to Berlin must have been a big change. How has the adaptation to Europe been?

Busio: We’re kind of in a very industrial, not very lively part of Berlin, so there’s not much city life going on. It’s mostly about optimizing my day-to-day routine. Overall, I’m enjoying it. The lack of sun is definitely a change, but queue times are shorter, and streaming is enjoyable. So yeah, I’m chilling.

Leaks suggest League of Legends will be part of the Esports Nations Cup. You’re both American and Polish. If both countries called you up, who would you play for?

Busio: That’s a good question. I don’t know the specifics, but maybe I’d just join the better roster. Also, my Polish isn’t that good. So if the Polish team is speaking Polish, just put me on Team USA.

Is there an LCS player you enjoyed playing with or against and would like to play with someday?

Busio: Maybe Yeon (Sean Sung)? Honestly, probably just my FlyQuest teammates, or the current FlyQuest roster. That seems like a fun roster to be on.

Last question — the floor is yours. Anything you’d like to say to the fans?

Busio: Thank you guys for the support. We play again soon, I believe, so we’ll work hard to have a better showing. I will have a better showing. So yeah, thank you for the support.