SK LIDER: “The only reason why I play League of Legends is because of the competitive aspect… I’m addicted and I enjoy it.” – LEC Spring 2026 Interview

It’s been a very difficult start to the split for SK Gaming in this LEC Spring Split. So far, the team has played the most best-of series in the league, and they currently sit at the bottom of the standings with just one win, putting them in a very bad position in the race for playoffs.

In this challenging context, SK’s mid laner Adam “LIDER” Ilyasov sat down with us to look back on the lost series against GIANTX, discussing his views on the current meta and mid lane champion pool, talking about his expectations for the rest of the spring split, as well as his interest in potentially playing in Brazil or the Pacific region.

How are you feeling after this defeat?

LIDER: This defeat showed a lot of the problems that we’re having just from our practice, and it should be easily solvable. Honestly, just re-watching these games, draft approach, and everything.

This is the first time we’ve seen you on a defensive pick; you played Galio in Game 1. Do you regret that pick? Would you have preferred to have a different champion in your hands?

LIDER: I did regret it a little bit, but honestly, my pick still wasn’t bad. It made sense into enemy champs, they wanted to come in. I have push early game, we should be able to snowball. I feel like from the early game with our bot jungle support, ADC picks, but we probably did something wrong and we should for sure re-watch and see what we can do better.

During the second game, you played your second most-played champion, Sylas, and this came last pick Red side. Was that Anivia a flex between top mid support or is it not a champion you see yourself playing?

LIDER: Who knows, it might be a flex everywhere. My ADC plays it as well, my top and support play it as well, so it’s a flex everywhere. Maybe jungle too, who knows? Maybe jungle.

You were in Berlin at the time with Astralis and Vitality. This year SK moved to Cologne. How does it feel? Does it make a difference?

LIDER: It is very hard. This is the first time we actually traveled to Berlin, which is last week. We stayed in Berlin for a week now and we’re leaving today. For now, I’m not a big fan of traveling by car, personally. It just feels like a waste as well because we lose out on a day or two of practice on top of that. I’m not the biggest fan of it, but I think it’s still not as bad. I don’t think it’s the worst, but it could be better.

How are the facilities in Cologne? Are you enjoying it?

LIDER: They’re very, very good. It’s the best facility, the best gaming house I’ve been in throughout my whole career. Everything is just nice about it, honestly. It’s worth it to travel just because of that office.

Duncan “Skeanz” Marquet previously said he’s struggling to find his place within the team. How would you describe your mid-jungle synergy? How is it going?

LIDER: Right now, it’s all over the place and we’re trying to find an equal footing on how to actually play as a mid-jungle. But at the same time, it’s not only mid-jungle, but it’s also more support included in it as well. And ultimately, ADC and top lane will be included in it as well. It’s a team game after all. But we are a bit rough around the edges as a mid-jungle, but just a little bit of smoothing it out and we should be fine. It should be much better.

Since SK’s roster was announced at the start of the year, there has been a lot of criticism here and there. People are calling it a “for fun” roster, saying it’s Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle who brought in his friends. How do you feel about that criticism?

LIDER: I personally don’t get affected and I don’t care. I really don’t care. It’s criticism from people who are criticizing because other big people said it. It’s like a snowball effect. Everyone just hops on because this is the trend. So all in all, I don’t really care about it.

We are in an era of League of Legends where playing meta champions is really important, which punishes players with more unique champion pools like yours. Is that something you find unfortunate that the game has become so sanitized?

LIDER: Right now, it can be true and both untrue as well. People with unique picks, as long as they play the meta champions as well, they’re going to have the benefit of actually having all these unique picks later on in the drafts.

Because right now, as you can see, usually Orianna, Ryze, and Azir are banned. So that’s when you have to expand your champion pool from there and have those unique picks into it. So it’s not as bad; it’s honestly beneficial.

And how are you feeling personally on these meta picks, Orianna, Azir…?

LIDER: Just like with everything, practice makes perfect and I’ve been practicing it a lot, so I’m very comfortable on them.

Can we speak about this crazy glowup btw#LEC #theSKway pic.twitter.com/a0cVsWxeW0

— SK Gaming League of Legends (@SKGamingLeague) April 5, 2026

Do you still enjoy playing League of Legends competitively as much as before?

LIDER:  The only reason why I play League of Legends is because of the competitive aspect, honestly. The moment you taste high highs in whatever thing that you do at the top level, it’s hard to enjoy it when it’s a lower level, basically. You’re addicted to the feeling of playing at the top level and for sure, yeah, I’m addicted and I enjoy it.

How do you feel about the rest of this spring split? Do playoffs feel achievable or do you think it will be a bit difficult? Honestly, how is it going?

LIDER: Honestly, it will all depend on the two weeks right now that we have until our next match. It depends on the approach that we take and what common ground that we get to as a team. And like I said, as a team, we are still very rough around the edges.

We just need more time, I would say, more time and more agreement between each other. And more listening to each other. When you get all of that in place, which can be a work in progress and might take time, everything will go well. But at the moment, it’s very hard. We are not performing to the level that we should be showing.

Ilyas: You are quite a seasoned player. Also, your coaching staff, David “OWN3R” Rodriguez de la Torre and Simon “Baguette” Cordonnier are young coaches.

Does your voice have a huge impact on the team? How does it go with coaches?

LIDER: I mean, OWN3R is the same age as me. But I don’t think it really matters when you’re in a competitive setting. I don’t know. With the European culture, I would say, seniority based on age doesn’t really exist. So it’s nothing special about it.

Talking more about your career, did you expect to return to the LEC two years after your time with Astralis?

LIDER: I was hoping, and I was playing, I was doing everything I could. Definitely not expecting it, but I was more hoping for it. And if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t happen. It’s not something I want to be sad about.

You didn’t play competitively in 2024. Was it just [that you] didn’t find a team? Or the projects didn’t suit you?

LIDER: The projects initially didn’t suit me. I didn’t really want to play in ERLs. And at one point when you are not doing anything for a year, like I said, addicted to the competitive aspect of the game, I was looking to go abroad, maybe play in Brazil, in top projects there, or even in one of the Pacific Leagues as well, just to try a different culture, try to work with different kinds of people and see how it goes.

That was what I was searching for. But ultimately, nothing really landed. Maybe it was too late. That’s usually what happens when you don’t play competitive for too long. A big question mark happens around. Does he still have it? And projects weren’t suiting on top of that. I was waiting to see how, whatever Mikyx, what’s happening with Mikyx, because I think he’s the best support in EU.

You talked about going to Brazil or Pacific. Is it something you still would like to try?

LIDER: I would say it depends on the split, but for sure, I still want to try different cultures.

Talking about Astralis, things started off kind of well at Spring, but the end was less positive. Now with more hindsight and perhaps more maturity, what do you think didn’t work in that team?

LIDER: We were understaffed. I would say we were understaffed, and the meta just didn’t suit us. On top of it being a best-of-one, the whole split ended in one patch. The meta was just very missed for us. So we struggled a lot.

So you wished you had maybe more time with Doğukan “113” Balcı and the other guys?

LIDER: For sure, yeah. I enjoyed playing with them.

What about your time at Vitality?

LIDER: Vitality, I mean, we did good, I would say. We went far. We played a five-game series against Fnatic that went to Worlds later on and played in finals. So honestly, just time is always what I feel like I’m lacking whenever I’m in a team. I came in late in Astralis, Vitality split started late as well, and didn’t last two splits like I was hoping to. So yeah, there are a lot of regrets just because of time.

Any last words?

LIDER: Just keep on watching us. It will be better even though we’re showing a very disgusting performance right now.