MKOI Melzhet Explains his Coaching Philosophy – LEC Versus Playoffs Interview

Movistar KOI (MKOI) pounces back. After several ups and downs in the LEC Versus regular season, MKOI took a 2-0 win against Team Vitality in the first round of playoffs. At the end of the match, we chatted to MKOI head coach Tomás ‘Melzhet’ Campelos Fernández to understand the reasons behind the team’s volatile performance and what he’s doing to further improve his boys.

Davide: First of all, congrats on the victory. Before we dive into the series, I wanted to ask you about the preparation. We saw there was a major discussion you guys had towards the end of the regular season that was also featured in the team’s documentary.

What do you think was impacting the team’s performance? And how was the preparation coming into this series?

Melzhet: I think the meta changed a lot now. We were playing one year full of lane swaps, and you don’t really lane on bot or top lane, so for sure we needed to improve on that.

Also, because of the changes in the waves, I think my players really like to go to the limit in terms of recalls, tempo, and all that. So it was a lot of things to grasp and improve. And because lanes now can’t be avoided, you need to learn how to play [it]. Also, range or bully lanes like Neeko, Bard, and Nami are super strong; Lulu-Yunara is super strong.

So I don’t think that’s the playstyle that it fit us the most to play against or with it. We need to work a lot on how to play those lanes, how to play those champions in mid-game, and how to use those champions. It was a lot of new things that we needed to fix and improve, and I think even though in scrims [it was] working well, in officials, we still didn’t have the confidence because we didn’t have the proof of ‘Okay, we can play those champions and win with those‘.

Davide: I think today’s match was a lot more convincing, so I want to hear your thoughts on the series. Obviously, the first game wasn’t as clean, but the second one was super clean.

Melzhet: I think we were playing really bad the first game, like pretty rushy. I think Vitality really love to play with range. They love to group use the range and to get the advantage of position. We felt really rushed in terms of doing the fights; we were chasing, and we were not really clear.

They also did a good job with the double flex: I didn’t expect Jayce there, so that was my bad for the preparation. That’s why in the second game we banned Zoe, Ezreal, and even Varus because I thought those were the champions they had, and they needed to actually go in. We were really out of the game, really rushy.

least chaotic #LEC teamfight pic.twitter.com/9poZ58wk16

— LEC (@LEC) February 16, 2026

After the pause, we calmed down, and we had a bit more clarity, but I still don’t think we’ll play at all today as we should. Even in the second game, even though it’s clean, a lot of Vitality’s plays were misplayed and [it’s] not like we have actually been putting them in those situations, so we need to improve.

Davide: Do you think that MKOI can potentially get stronger as we go further into playoffs? It looks like the team’s potential has yet to be reached.

Where do you think MKOI’s potential could be?

Melzhet: Of course, you cannot say for sure what you’re going to reach. But I think we should be at the top of the league with G2 and KC. The others shouldn’t be a problem if we actually play how we know, and that comes to us. If we are not able to pull [it off], then we are not as good. But the potential, or how I see us, is competing with the top teams of the league.

Do you think NAVI is close to being a top team as well? You’re playing against them next.

Melzhet: I’m a really big fan of NAVI because [it] kind of reminds me of the start of this project. They are a bunch of rookies with Poby [being] the most veteran one, which [he’s] not really. So yeah, I really love it and I’m a big fan.

They are a good team, but I can see them struggling like we did when things keep going and the pressure [rises]. Since they are not used to playing those situations, they might show their best potential. Anyway, I think they are a good team and I’m really excited for them, because that’s really good for the region.

Davide: You were speaking about how it reminded you of when you first started leading the MKOI project.

Has anything changed in your coaching philosophy over these past two years? Are there new things or habits that you’ve implemented since you started working with them?

Melzhet: Yeah, I think I change every year, so I’m a completely different coach right now (laughs). Something that we are doing right now is [putting] more detail into the training sessions because we can still improve a lot.

So we have a system where there [are] days that we have different intensities and we try to adjust. When we play an opponent that we think we don’t need that much intensity, [we] adjust to not be tired and be able to perform when it matters the most.

But I don’t think we’re still doing a good job because we are trying something new. We are seeing things that we are doing bad and we need to improve on that. Also, the players are not used to the system. But we are literally changing every single time because we have the hunger to improve. I don’t think we are nearly as good as we need to be if we want actually be the best.

Davide: Does this thing that you just mentioned have to do with something that you’ve learned from last year, having played multiple internationals?

Melzhet: Yeah, it was a pretty intense year and [managing] the level of stress and intensity is really important. But also because I want to become a better coach and I’m always hungry to see how I can get the best for my players.

And it’s something that in other sports they are using a lot [and] it’s called periodization. I studied Mourinho (football coach) because he was really good and he was doing this. I thought, “Okay, I will take this idea, try to implement it here.”

In League, it’s harder because in football, you can select what you are going to train. In league, we are forced to play a whole game to train, so it’s way different. You also don’t have subs to change. It’s really different, but I’m trying to make the League of Legends version.

Davide: Have you been following other leagues?

What do you think of the top leagues in the LPL, LCK and then LCS?

Melzhet: I think [in] LPL, I’m still not sure who is the best team right now. They changed a lot. AL are doing a good job, but they don’t seem very consistent. BLG have a lot of potential, so I’m not too sure. And also, it’s not the league that I’m looking at the most.

In NA (North America), [it] looks like C9 is working really well, even though I think LYON has the biggest potential because I think they have really good players like Inspired (Kacper Słoma) or Berserker (Kim Min-cheol).

And in LCK, Gen.G is looking fantastic. I’m also really impressed by Diable. He’s doing an amazing job. I don’t know how they are not stealing him from that team. But yeah, and I think T1 are probably going to bounce back, or they don’t care till there is Worlds, and then they are the best team in history.

If there’s like one thing in particular that you would like to see from your players this year, what would that be?

Melzhet: I want to see them being mature and having the clarity to know what they need to win in each situation. Be more open and adapt better to both bad situations and the not-so-good ones.

I think when things go according to plan, we are really good. But when things go out of the plan or the lines that we want to follow, we are still a bad team. So I would love to see them mature and be really confident that we are good, and how to solve these situations, because in reviews, they are able to see it. But in-game, there is a lot of emotion, and it’s really hard.

Anything you want to add or say?

Melzhet: To the fans, thank you very much for the support. Probably you have a really stressful series. I think we can still do better so keep cheating for us and also be demanding. I think that’s good for us.