Despite a comfortable position in the playoffs race (4-1), the reigning champions have not looked their best since the start of the LEC Spring Split. After a series that Karmine Corp almost lost to Team Heretics, Caliste “Caliste” Henry-hennebert discussed numerous topics. The KC prodigy spoke about his team’s form, his progress in Tier 1, his iconic “Remember My Name”, upcoming international tournaments, and much more.
Ethan: There were some complicated games today (against Heretics). You got stomped in every early games.
Did you expect Heretics to show that much resistance against you?
Caliste: First of all, we take some wins, it’s important, it’s the end goal. A win is a win, as they say. Did I expect Heretics to show that much resistance? Yes they’re good players, they’re in the LEC so they deserve to be there. If you make errors, they’re going to be there and they’re going to punish you. I think that today, I can’t really put words on what happened. I could be very mean and say crazy things, but we have just not been ourselves and we didn’t play the game today. Typically we did what SK did against us, we didn’t play the game, we gave away everything, we couldn’t find the solutions. And we just gave up a little. Inevitably Heretics are good players so they see that the ennemies don’t do anything and they go fight. Yeah, we just did nothing.
Ethan: You still managed to do something at some point in the games since you won 2-1… Are you satisfied in general with the level you have shown since the beginning of the Spring? I was talking with Yike last week and he also felt like you had a slow start.
Can we consider that your slow start is a bit normal after the intense winter that you experienced?
Caliste: I think that being happy is complicated but at the same time we are 4-1 which is ok. And the goal is to qualify for the playoffs and be in the best possible shape. But I wouldn’t really say that I’m happy. I think that individually I’m pretty happy, I’m getting into the Spring pretty well and I manage to continue to improve throughout the split. But I think that as a team we still experience troubles and we have to wake up a little. I think there was a little bit of an “excuse” of “we were tired, there was the first stand, we have to readapt etc.” I think that now we are starting to be into the middle of the regular season. So for me, there’s no excuses for not being fit or whatever it is, we’re in good shape. It’s about us, and only us. For me, it’s complicated to say that we’re happy with our split, even if we are 4-1. If you only look at the result, you’re happy. But for me, if you look at the games, how we play, etc. I know that we can do much, much, much better. And that typically, at First Stand, we were much better.
We are between 30 to 40% of the level we had at First Stand. There are no more excuses, we have to show up, we have to continue on the winning streak, but above all we need to have victories like against SK yesterday, where we win convincingly.
Not as we did today, where we were honestly supposed to lose. Since we are still very good players, we see the angles, and we know how to punish enemies, but we should not be playing like that. We’re not satisfied, of course.
Ethan: I have to come back on the last three months, you’ve talked about it a bit already. I don’t know if you remember, but we had a discussion at Red Bull League of It’s Own, and I asked you if you thought Caliste LEC Rookie season was going to shock more than Caliste LFL Rookie season. You were a little hesitant. But three months after, you dropped 17 kills against Viper at First Stand and you reached the final.
Can we say that your LEC rookie season was more shocking than your LFL rookie season? And are you satisfied with your evolution in the LEC so far?
Caliste: I think that LFL’s Caliste has less shocked than LEC’s. But I am not sure because, maybe now people are kind of used to me performing well. In any case these 3 months, I am very happy with my evolution. And with my level individually, there was one phase… The BO against G2, where I played badly and I talked about it. But I’m very happy because I managed to come back and I didn’t play that bad in the final. And after that, I just kept improving all along.
I’m really happy. I think I’m in very good shape at the moment.
I’m still learning and playing well. First Stand helped me a lot. Of course when you play against Viper, Peyz, Elk, JackyLove, well, it helps a little. And individually, I’m really proud of myself this split. I think it’s a good entry into the LEC, it’s still going well, I have to keep playing like this.
Ethan: You talked a little about the final.There was a bit of an iconic moment that you created with this “Remember my name b*tches”. I wanted to know a little bit of the history behind it. I’ll give you my opinion from an outside perspective. You often talked that you didn’t feel the pressure too much, etc. I had the impression that at that moment, it was as if you were unloading yourself of something that weighed a lot on your shoulders.
What went through your mind with this “Remember my name b*tches”?
Caliste: First, it wasn’t planned, the people who know me know that it’s not me to do this and it will probably never happen again. We’ll see, maybe when I win Worlds I’m going to scream. Not that kind of word… By the way, the G2 players know that I have nothing against them, it was just in the moment. Of course no one was hurt.
Without realizing it, yes it’s a certain pressure that I released, probably. Also because I had a bad performance against G2 before, during the Upper Finals. And there I was in the final so I really wanted to win and go to First Stand.
I think it was kind of a pressure that I relaxed a little and I don’t think that will happen again in the future. In any case that I shout this kind of words because it’s not me, people who know me know that it’s not me, I’m a “nice person”. But it wasn’t expected.
Remember His Name pic.twitter.com/qnWrsW511I
— Karmine Corp (@KarmineCorp) March 3, 2025
Ethan: I think it will more be remembered for the good reasons than the bad, honestly.
Caliste: Yes, I think so too.
Ethan: Until Spring, I had the impression that we saw you shine the most on utility type of AD carries. And since you came back from Korea, I see you mostly shining on hyper carries, like Miss Fortune, Kalista, Kai’Sa… And I have the impression that it’s not just you, but even the whole team in general. Yike who plays more carry in the jungle and tries to develop his Vi. Vladi who tried melee champions as soon as he returned…
Are you trying to diversify your playstyle and try new things since the start of the split?
Caliste: Of course. In fact, HLE play in a very different way. They can play kind of all the playstyles and a kind of all the comps. So, inevitably, when you get your face blown up by HLE… They do something that no one else in the world does. Which is to play on three lanes, they are a little everywhere, they play a lot on fog, etc. They play different champions. Of course, you try to learn. You might as well take into account that we went to First Stand to learn and be in the best possible shape for MSI and Worlds. We had scrims with a lot of teams too, so obviously we have a lot to learn. We try to diversify on a lot of compositions, all possible compositions which are going to be meta. And when it comes to me individually, I’ve always been able to play hyper carries, it’s just that I adapt to the meta, I don’t care if I play hyper carries or setup champs for my team. Whatever is the best depending on the meta, the draft, and my team, whether it’s hyper carries or setup champs, I think I’m good at both. Of course I prefer hyper carries, but I’m following the draft and what is best for the team.
Do you think that your biggest rival this Spring remains G2? And are you excited to be able to play them in front of your home crowd?
Caliste:
Honestly, I don’t think we have any rivals. If I have to be very honest, the biggest rival we have is ourselves, that’s all.
But I don’t think Fnatic are our rivals. I think that every time we played them in regular season, whether it was Winter or there, in Spring, I think we just sucked on game days. And I don’t think it’s a team that scares us in BO5. But yes, if there’s a rival, I’d say G2 by default, because it’s a good team and I’m looking forward to play against them in the Arènes.
Ethan: I suppose you went to First Stand with the ambition of learning and measuring your worth on an international scale…
Caliste: We got there with the idea of learning, and then we quickly realized that we weren’t clowns and that we could make something happen. Especially since we could win against anyone if we played our game and that we were playing well. So from there, we said to ourselves that we had to learn but that from now on, we really played at 200% to win and blow up the enemy. There was a little click where we said to ourselves that we really weren’t bad at all.
Ethan: After the scrims against LPL teams, I guess?
Caliste: The scrims helped a lot, and then especially the BO against TES. I think that helped us. Of course, scrims gave us trust.
If you qualify for MSI for example, will you have different ambitions than “learning”?
Caliste: Of course. We will still have the ambition to learn, but of course we want to win and we will do everything to win. We will go to the MSI to earn MSI, not to learn from it. We will try to learn as much as possible, but we will obviously play to win the whole thing.
Ethan: Finally, we often hear that you could be the saviour of Europe. But I want to rephrase that:
Do you think this iteration of KC could save Europe as early as this year, or even in a slightly more distant future?
Caliste: For me we have three big individual talents, at least Europeans, if I exclude Canna from the discussion. I think Yike, Vladi and me are huge European talent, we are young and we have a lot to learn. We can be very, very good in the future. I think we just shouldn’t do nonsense: we just have to work, we have to be well surrounded and we should be 100% very good assets for Europe in the coming years. And then, it depends. Myself I have a very good cohesion with Targamas, I think he’s very good. It depends a little bit, it’s like G2 in 2019, it’s a band that we have to create. I think we have very good individuals, we have a very good group, Canna is very good, he fits well into the the team. So, this iteration… I think so yes.
In any case, I hope this is not the only year we have together.
Because I think that we’re a very solid group, that we’re very good and that we have a lot to learn. We can go really far, 100%. But I think that we have 5 very good players in the roster and a good coaching staff. So on paper, it’s about us and only us. There shouldn’t be much stopping us from going far.
