LYON Inspired on criticism: “We are definitely way weaker than LCK and LPL teams and there is no shame in admitting that.

LYON are officially out of the First Stand 2026 after playing three BO5s, the last one being on Friday, March 20 against JD Gaming, lost 3–1. Following this defeat, jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma reflected on the elimination and a disappointing First Stand for LYON, his regret at not being able to face G2 Esports, as well as his matchup against Yu “JunJia” Chun-Chia.

How are you feeling after the series?

Inspired: Pretty disappointed, honestly. It felt like the enemy team underperformed a lot and we should have been able to capitalize on that and win those games. So, pretty disappointed.

This marks the end of @LyonLATAM's journey at #FST2026. pic.twitter.com/nyRjVb3xBJ

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) March 20, 2026

Last year group stage was best-of-threes, this year is best-of-fives. Which format do you prefer?

Inspired: The format from last year was pretty nice for the teams. You got to play against every team during the tournament, so that was kind of nice. I didn’t really think about it much, but it would be nice because the way this format went, we didn’t really get to play against EU, and that’s for sure a matchup that everyone would like to see.

In Game 1 you were really far ahead, then the game ended very quickly in JDG’s favor. What happened?

Inspired: We greeded top tower with Galio. When the enemy team decided to just finish the game on the drake, if they would lose that fight the game would probably be over with us winning. But we made a judgment that we have enough time to keep pushing top with Galio, get the tower, then still get the base off and TP to the fight, which was wrong.

If we just decided to TP a bit earlier, we would have been in position to take an even teamfight, not going to the fight when the drake is almost dying and rushing into things. It was just poor judgment by the team.

About Game 2, there was a moment where you told Berserker to hold position. Was there a miscommunication?

Inspired: Maybe it was the teamfight where Annie was flanking and I went to mark her. Then Annie decided to waste her stun on me and I was fighting her and I said that I’m going to fight Annie, just watch. The whole team decided to follow me instead of keeping their positions, because I felt like the enemy were in a bad spot there. We didn’t really have to pull the trigger, we could just keep holding and I think we would find a better angle.

In the last game you got banned five junglers but still got your hands on Sejuani, your second-most played champion. Did the bans impact your game?

Inspired: Honestly, when we did the drafting for it, I felt like I would have a really hard game with how the matchups were picked and that I had to play Sejuani in that game. The enemy team made a lot of mistakes in the early game and I managed to get a really good game for myself. It was a bit sad how the top matchup went.

We felt like Aatrox was going to get into a good position against Sion, but it felt like Sion was always impacting the map and Aatrox was a bit invisible, so it was a bit hard for us to play. I was expecting the game to be really hard with blind picking Sejuani and then last picking Azir mid against a strong mid laner with Poppy that can pressure me early, but the enemy made a lot of mistakes so the game was pretty easy to play for me.

Some people have been harsh about the level of the West recently. How do you deal with that?

Inspired: I mean, I don’t care really. We are definitely way weaker than LCK and LPL teams and there is no shame in admitting that. We are trying our best to play well. In scrims it looks worse. Today on stage both BFX against G2 and JDG against us showed that they are also not actually that good and they can make mistakes in important situations, that’s why G2 managed to win and why our games looked very competitive.

But I still think that as a region we are really behind and we still have a long way to improve. It’s kind of hard for us to improve compared to Asian players because of how many good players and strong teams they have. In Europe and NA you maybe have a few, maybe two good teams per region, so it’s harder to get good and understand what you should be doing to win. So the criticism is understandable and I also think so.

Do you think this is the best roster you’ve had to win internationally?

Inspired: I don’t think that this roster is the best that I ever had to win internationally. The previous FlyQuest roster was a bit better to try to win internationally. When I play in NA it’s way easier for me to lead the team because everyone is just pretty bad or other teams don’t pressure me.

While against Asian teams I have to think a lot more about my decisions because they are way faster with pulling the trigger. Even if I waste 15–20 seconds somewhere, it can backfire. So it’s harder for me to keep an eye on the whole team. But I don’t think that’s the only reason—I also think the teams at international events are just way better.

Could you have had a better roster last offseason?

Inspired: LYON was the best roster I could have gotten this offseason, so that’s why I ended up on LYON.

Your top laner, Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, said in a previous interview he had never seen someone control the game to that degree, talking about you. Is that something you already had long before?

Inspired: Yeah, I definitely had that on FlyQuest. That’s why we had a lot of success there.

Frankie “Zamudo” Lin couldn’t play for LYON due to visa issues twice. There’s also been some criticism about Worlds 2026 being held in the US—do players talk about that, and is there any concern?

Inspired: Uhm… No, we don’t really talk about it. I’m happy that it’s in the US because we don’t have to travel the world, so I’m looking forward to it.

You played against CBLOL, LCK and LPL teams, Would you have liked to play against G2?

Inspired: Definitely, it would be really good for content. Our game against G2 would be really fun because it’s a big league battle.

Do you think you would be better than G2?

Inspired: Honestly I’m not sure. G2 plays well too. They play tank top and try to get into good positions in games. I think that’s why they won. They try to find edges anywhere they can to win. They are probably a bit better than us, but I wouldn’t say we would necessarily lose. On stage, the series would probably be a bit favored towards G2.

Was the series versus JDG decided in the jungle matchup?

Inspired: Honestly I think I played really well all four games in the early game. I’m just really sad about how we ended up playing the Ambessa game because I was really fed and if the game was more stable I would be really strong and carry.

Game 1, I did pretty well, Game 2 as well with Malphite, and in the last game I stabilized well and played teamfights decently. Overall I didn’t feel that much pressure from Junjia, but in Game 4 he had the opportunity to have a really good game but he didn’t do anything. Our Bot Lane played pretty well and managed to win their lane in every game so respect to them.

Any message to your LYON fans or European fans who are cheering for you to end this interview?

Inspired: Thank you guys for supporting me and watching our games. I will try my best next time.