The LEC Summer Split kicked off on Saturday, with Karmine Corp taking on the newcomers in the league: NAVI. The Winter champions earned a dominant 2-0 win in less than an hour. After the series, we took the occasion to discuss with KC’s star ADC Caliste “Caliste” Henry-hennebert, who gave his thoughts on what happened in Spring, how to solve these problems, his next individual step, and being on the home stretch of reaching his “little dream”.

The interview was conducted in French. You can find the English version in the transcription below.

KC Caliste LEC Summer Split Week 1 Interview

Ethan: I just had Adam in an interview, he told me that he’s a bit pissed because they couldn’t show anything and the difference in level was too big…

Is that how you felt too? And how does the team feel overall after today?

Caliste: We, on our side, are quite happy. We didn’t have much information on NAVI; we never scrimmed against them. Even if they only changed two players, we didn’t really have any information whatsoever. So that was kind of the question; we had echoes that this was going pretty well in scrims on their side. So the most important thing for our entrance was just to be confident, but not like ‘we’re going to beat them 100% etc’. Anyway, we’re going to respect all of the teams we play against.

And we trained a lot. Particularly on the mid-game and especially on how to unlock the game more quickly in this area. And to be quite lucid about the unnecessary risks that can be taken and that can make games complicated.

Because we know that in the mid-game, with what we’ve worked on, we should quite easily take advantage of the teams. So I think we’re all pretty happy with our performance. As a team today, whether individually or collectively, I think we made some good games, and as Adam said, I think there was a big… a big gap let’s say. Obviously for them, it was complicated because we were taking leads early and from the mid-game we were able to unlock the games very easily. That was the most important thing I wanted to focus on. Let’s see if we can do the same tomorrow.

Ethan: So as you said, the final record is two stomps.

Was it also important to send a message before the two big matches that are coming up for you in this regular season?

Caliste: Yes, of course, it’s very important to send a message to the teams against whom we’re going to play. Like, we’re in shape, we’re going to respect everyone. We’re playing very well, so you’ll have to be in top shape to try to beat us. And right on that, it was an important message. We’re going to keep respecting everyone and try to maintain a very good level throughout the season.

Ethan: The last time we spoke, back in Spring, you said you were at 30-40% of your First Stand level.

Where are you at today, and do you think that this summer you will finally surpass this peak from FS?

Caliste: I think we’re already a lot higher. We haven’t shown anything for the moment, but everything is much more stable, and we have notions that are more advanced than before.

I would even say that we are a better team at the moment than we were at First Stand.

We are much faster and much stronger in terms of macro, and it’s really the big reason why, for me, we are on a step above. Now, the question is always going to be, in the early game, are we going to succeed in being strong enough or stable enough to get to this mid-game? Because when it comes to the mid-game, I’m very confident, we are all very, very confident in the way we play and unlock the games.

HLE vs KC at League of Legends First Stand 2025
Image Credit: Yicun Liu/Riot Games

Ethan: You have talked a lot about ego and overconfidence problems that you may have had in Spring.

Can you elaborate a little on that, and explain what the problem KC truly faced during Spring?

Caliste: It’s a bit complicated. In fact, we can’t lie and we can’t say everything either, because there are secrets that must remain inside the team. But basically, we all screwed up. There are no real culprits to be pointed out. We all gained a little ego and we lost desire, I think, above all. Desire to play against teams in the lower/middle of the standings. So we didn’t train well, and then when we came against teams that were stronger, we had trouble playing and it was a lot of ego because we were like: “it’s not normal that we’re losing against them and playing that bad.” But factually, we were playing bad because we didn’t want to play against other teams: we didn’t want to give our 100%. So I think it was just about our work. Inevitably, what you show on stage is the result of your work. So if your training is bad, it will show in officials. And concretely, I think that’s it. That’s a whole question of mentality and desire that we lost from Winter. Because we thought, in any case, we would win, I think.

Ethan: Back when you arrived in LFL Summer 2023, you were the one pushing people to make their solo queues. You were a bit of a motivator, the engine of the team.

Do you still have a little bit of that? And is it maybe something you missed a little in Spring?

Caliste: I got it still, but for now, in this team, I don’t need to do it. Everyone plays well in solo queue and is always in shape mechanically. I don’t need to blame anyone there. Probably, I may even be at the bottom of the list based on the number of solo queues. But no, I’d say I’m less picky with the solo queues, but more picky in scrims, on individual errors.

Ethan: To avoid these ego problems from happening again,

What will change for Summer? What different approach will you have?

Caliste: In concrete terms, we have already put in place a lot of things to reorganize the team. So that we are a little in this working atmosphere, and that we don’t lose our focus. That is to say, we arrive in a match and we are confident, yet we don’t feel above or below the opponent. So we are not lacking confidence and we do not carry too much ego either, thinking ‘they suck, we’re going to beat them.’

That’s the most important thing. That we respect all our opponents.

We try to be as productive as possible in scrim, that’s the most important thing too. To have good scrims, to be the most productive, to have good discussions and that just everyone feels involved in this work and professionalism. And we’re just helping each other to reach our best and stay on track.

KC Caliste LEC Summer split 2025
Photo Credit: Alexandre Weber/Riot Games

Ethan: From an individual point of view, I think it’s fair to say that you convinced the league on your overall level. But also on your place at the top of the ADC rankings in the LEC.

What would you say is the next step for you, on an individual scale? What’s your ambition now?

Caliste: I think my goal this year is to be in the top 3 constantly. I fill it pretty well for now, I have to continue. And then for the next few years… It will be to push the thing even further, to be the undisputed top 1 ADC at every split, as Caps has been the unquestionable midlaner for years. I would like to do a bit the same in ADC from the next split. So that after, I can start thinking about the internationals and be a very, very good AD Carry internationally, that can be strong enough to compete against the Asian ADCs.

Ethan: Speaking of international, I remember that in your stream not long ago, you were asked the question of the MSI and Europe’s poor performance. You replied that you expected it.

Can you explain a little bit why you expected LEC to not perform?

Caliste: It’s simple, I think that in Spring, we screwed up in terms of work and level in general. We were probably not as good as we were in Winter. And with the training and matches on stage, I see that even the top teams… Apart from MKOI, who we suddenly felt that they were a little more above us and who beat us factually.

Well typically, G2/Fnatic, we still beat them when we weren’t as good.

So obviously we are guessing G2 cannot perform at MSI, when we, at First Stand, struggled while being better and the teams are also better at MSI. And then for MKOI, I think they could’ve honestly performed but it’s still very complicated… It all depends on the players, the team and the showing they have at internationals. So we had looked at their previous years, when the players were at internationals. And we came to the conclusion these are not players who really perform internationally, so we were like ‘MKOI is the only team that could probably do something, I think the step is still too high for them’.

Ethan: To conclude the interview, I don’t really like to ask this question in general, but I think it’s fair here regarding the situation. You are finally on the home stretch to fulfill your dream, that of your CEO, your org, but also that of the fans: play at Worlds.

Do you have any word at the dawn of this decisive period for the club?

Caliste: First, I’m going to rectify one thing,

I think it’s a little dream to be at Worlds, but the real dream is to win Worlds.

Yet, we all have it in mind, and we really all want to be at Worlds, and anyway, there is not a player who does not dream of being at Worlds. So we’re very focused on that, but as I said, we’re not going to repeat our Spring mistakes. We’re really going to take it step by step, focus on us and only us, every day and try to be the best. We absolutely want to qualify for Worlds and we don’t want to just arrive as a European team that will be eliminated by an Asian team. The goal of the whole split is to actually win it, to go to Worlds, quite obviously. But also that we don’t regress, that we continue on our upward trajectory, all the way in Summer. And that we arrive at Worlds being a convincing, good team with good game plans.