Movistar KOI’s dream final in front of a Madrid home crowd quickly became a nightmare, losing convincingly in the LEC Summer Finals to frequent winners G2 Esports. Though another regional title was just out of their reach, the side still have more to play for this year with the World Championship coming up next month. Following the defeat in Madrid, Hotspawn spoke to MKOI support Álvaro “Alvaro” Fernández for an interview.
What is your immediate reaction to the loss today?
Alvaro: I mean, overall it’s a disappointment. I think both us, the people that cheer for us and also the fans, they don’t really deserve this. No one really wants to be in this position, because it’s different losing a finals, but losing a final 0-3, I think it’s even harder to digest.
So right now, disappointment. And trying to think positive and trying to think on what is coming next, that we’re gonna go bootcamp in China. But yeah, right now, not really happy.
Lee: Of course, G2 is a completely different opponent to Fnatic.
But why do you think MKOI wasn’t able to have the same level of performance against G2?
Alvaro: I think yesterday we were more calm and we had better and faster decisions. Today we were struggling a bit to actually find the best play. And when we found the best play, we were still either being a bit too greedy and too cocky, because also I think G2 is a really strong team, so you get even punished more.
So I think those, I would say, bad habits that we also have in practise, they come out. And yesterday, for example, at least it was a bit different because we were way more relaxed, we were taking better decisions and we were playing more on the same page. Today, I think it was harder for each of us to play for each other.
Lee: Of course, the loss will be disappointing, but the mere opportunity to play an LEC final in front of a passionate home crowd is one that extremely few players ever get. And it’s especially impressive given it was still only last year when most of your team joined MKOI as rookies to this level.
Despite the loss here in the LEC Summer Finals, are you able to step back and appreciate what a surreal experience it’s been the last couple of years?
Alvaro: I mean, I’m really grateful that I can share [it] with both my fans and my team. I think this journey has been really enjoyable with the top four, top one and top two. I have gone to both MSI and I’m going to Worlds, so I cannot really be sad about it.
But at the same time, I am a really competitive person and I want to aspire for more. I think everyone in my team does. So, yeah, right now, it’s not the act of losing, I think it’s just not being able to finish the LEC year on a good note — I think it’s something that will actually haunt me for some time.
Lee: Those fans in the arena never stopped cheering for MKOI today, even when things were looking bleak in the series.
How have you felt seeing the fans supporting you so passionately this weekend?
Alvaro: They are the best. I have already said it in other interviews, but all the support that they have, they are the reason why esports is still a thing, you know, basically because of them, because of the people that are supporting and cheering for us, we are able to keep going on the day by day.
And [it] also doesn’t need to be the people that are here in Madrid, it’s also the people from online as well. Everyone is cheering for us and I just feel, in that sense, disappointed because we couldn’t give them what they actually deserved.
But I think it’s really good and cool to have LAN events because I think everyone really enjoys it.
Both teams, I would say, even if they were booing other teams or other players sometimes, I think they were still cheering for them anyway and they just want to see good League of Legends.
Lee: Since joining the LEC, you’ve become a European champion, gone to MSI, and now you’re going to your second Worlds.
How do you reflect on your own personal journey so far?
Alvaro: I think I need to enjoy the day by day and be more conscious about how I want to impact on the practise, because I think I have developed and I have improved a lot individually in terms of my routine — both gym, as well as sleep. Of course there’s still issues, but I think overall I’m happy with that because I think I have become stronger in those terms.
But at the same time I think I can still be even better in terms of gameplay. I don’t think it’s a matter of hours because I think we put a lot of hours. I think we’re one of the teams that put the most hours, but I think it’s just the quality of those hours. We can make it still better.
So that will be my objective both for the bootcamp and for Worlds, and coming into the next year as well for LEC.
Lee: In the previous MSI and Worlds that you attended, results didn’t go particularly well for MKOI.
What have you taken from those tournaments that you think could help you at Worlds this time?
Alvaro: I think last Worlds we realised how much the gap was. I think coming into 2024, the expectations were different to now. I think we are a more solid block, and we also developed a lot of individual strengths, so right now we are just a better version of the team that we were before.
I think Worlds 2024 was most likely realising what the things that they were doing better than us were. I think coming into MSI 2025, we have performed better. I still don’t think that we performed well, but I could see in the practic that we were actually fighting into them and we were even winning some series. I still think that the practice is a bit fake. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I think practice and stage are completely different, so you cannot really get baited into that. So I think you need to value especially how you perform on stage.
And I think in MSI, inside the game, we knew how we wanted to play, but right now we realise, ‘Okay, we need to do this, we need to do that’. For example, we have to make better decisions and faster because the game is played in a really fast pace. EWC was still a bit better, but yeah, it’s still not enough. So now I really want to ramp up and, in Worlds, at least, make it even better.
What are the aims for Worlds then?
Alvaro: I’m a person that always, as I said, is really ambitious and I’m always aiming to be on the top.
I acknowledge that it’s hard because I think other teams are really strong. But I mean, of course it’s a bit delusional to say now when I lost 0-3 into the best best team in Europe right now, but I want to be in the semifinals or I want to be in the quarterfinals. I want to experience those best-of-fives because I think it’s actually what we all want to play for.
Lee: Is there any specific bot lane you’d like to face?
Alvaro: I think LPL and LCK, they are really strong. I think CFO as well. But I will say the ones that I like the most will be Keria/Gumayusi, they still need to win a best-of-five versus IG to qualify. I think Duro/Ruler is also a decent botlane.
But I think from LPL, I think Elk and ON because they have been the people that I have faced both in 2024 and 2025. So I really want to prove myself even more now with what I have learned as well from this year.
Lee: Are you confident in facing NA teams, because they’ve been beating EU somehow the last couple of years?
Alvaro: Yeah, I mean, we couldn’t face them, but we will s*** on FlyQuest. I’m joking but… I think it will be actually really fun to get to play into North America because I didn’t have the chance.
Finally, any message for the MKOI fans?
Alvaro: Many thanks to all of you who came to support us. We are as disappointed as you. You really deserved more. Still, there’s no need to be too sad, we still have Worlds, we have to look at it on the bright side.
We are going to give everything, literally, in Worlds, both in the bootcamp right now and in the official matches, and we’re going to try to turn this situation around and really give it our best shot. So keep supporting and thank you so much to everyone who came.
