After defeating G2 Esports (3-2) in a massive upset, this sunday, MAD Lions KOI are officially in the top 3 of LEC Season Finals. As the last matches of the year in the EMEA's elite competition of League of Legends will take place on stage, in Munich, MDK are already locked in for it. The head coach, Tomás "Melzhet" Campelos Fernández, takes us through the team's process to outclass the three-times champions of 2024 in a Best-Of-Five, and speaks his mind about the region state.

How do you feel after defeating the reigning champions ?

Tomás "Melzhet" Campelos: "It feels so good because we faced the team which is supposed to be the best in the region. And actually, beating them is a big boost to our motivation at the moment, so I will take that.

You've been to a bootcamp in Madrid for the last two weeks. How did the bootcamp go for you guys? Like, what changed during this time?

Melzhet: We were not doing a great job here in Berlin and we thought, okay, maybe doing a fresh start can remind us who we are and what are our strengths at that moment. So we decided to go on a bootcamp in Madrid, where they have a phenomenal staff that took very well care of us. And then in that bootcamp, we did a reset of everything. We're in this point, we have this big opportunity in front of us, how we can get the best from it? We prepared really well, we worked so hard, it was very intensive, and I think it paid off. So far, we are very happy with that.

For some people, MDK did not even deserved to be in Season Finals, especially in the upper bracket, and now you guys are locked in top 3. Does it feel good to shut down the haters, make them realize that you guys are actually here to play?

Melzhet: Yes, I think it's part of the job. I mean, we were a team that made some people happy and some people not happy with us... I don't take it personal. I think it's part of the competition. I wish that we were not that hard into rookies, but it is what it is. And it obviously feels great, but since I don't take it personal, I don't mind that much.

After shifting the expectations, how would you rank MDK going into the final stages of the LEC in 2024?

Melzhet: I mean, I'm the head coach. I need to believe that we are the top one. So that's my answer. I think our issue is that we are very emotional. We were underperforming a lot and we cannot fully relax just because we won against G2, we need to keep doing the job that we started in the bootcamp. We know we can be top one, but I have to say, this was a really close serie, it's not like we stomped them. So we cant relax.

What is your mentality going into the next match against Fnatic?

Melzhet: The same as against G2, that we are going to play our game, we are going to do our drafts. We are not going to care about anything wrong that happens, like if we troll one game, we just move on. And not doing the same mistakes that we did in the past. I think Fnatic is a great team, they are going to be as hard as G2, so we need to keep the same mood.

What do you think is actually the current level of EU and do you think the region can compare to others, even North America for example?

Melzhet: I think we are more or less the same level as North America right now. But both regions are really behind LCK and LPL. At least, by talking with other people that are here since many years, for example, one good change for me is that now, teams are not cancelling scrims. So maybe the level right now is not as good as it should be, but I think we are off to a good start, from now on to build something in the future. We need to have more long-term projects, because if we focus on in short-term, we are not going to be ever a strong region. I'm here to at least put my little effort on changing that.

By investing a lot on rookies, do you think that MDK can be the hope of EU for the future ?

Melzhet: I mean, I'm not sure if we are going to be the hope of Europe in the future, but for sure we are trying to develop that. It can be others, but at least, we need to change the things we're doing here. Obviously we started it well since we are at least top three with four rookies. We can make things move.

What was the thought process behind Alex "Myrwn" Pastor Villarejo playing carries in the toplane ?

Melzhet: I think the patch (14.15) changes many things compared to the previous ones. I'm not going to go deep there because I don't want to give informations away but I will say... We were not able to execute these comps because we were not in the best mental state. When we are in a good one, we can play these comps that are supposed to be really hard because you have triple ADCs or two ADCs and you need to be really disciplined. So in spring and summer splits, if we were playing these, we were getting hard stomped.

So we needed to play more conventionally, like we put front lanes in top lane, we try to play it more safe in order to get results, and it was working. But I think this is far from our best form, of how we can perform better. With this Season Finals mental reset and our bootcamp, we thought that we were reaching a point where we could, again, pull this out. Because if you don't play really well with this style, you will get smashed. And people are going to call you out, saying you're trolling by picking this, blah blah...

What are the reasons behind putting Elyoya on Morgana today ? Was it only to counter Vi ?

Melzhet: We need to give credit to Giants, they were the ones who pulled it out first. We saw it, we tried, we liked, so we took it. And yes, it was a counter to Vi. It was not planned, that might happen today, we worked on it also because, for example, Razork is a great Vi player, so... We thought that it was a pick that was worth having in our champion pool.

How has the atmosphere and the dynamics evolved in MAD Lions KOI over the year? Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla is obviously the more experienced player, but have other players as well started taking some leads and taking more of a captain figure as well ?

Melzhet: I think Elyoya is the leader of the team by far, and not only the shot caller, also the leader. But I think everybody realized they need to be in a good mood too, and we have kind of some "emotional leaders", like for example when Supa (David Martínez García) is happy. Well, Alvaro (Álvaro Fernández del Amo) becomes happy and it start being contagious for the whole team.

Elyoya is still the leader of the team in terms of gameplay and what to do in the rift when we are competing. Also, we tried to build around my style of envisioning League of Legends. We are all kind of on the same page on that. It's how I see the game, everybody likes it, everybody follow that direction. But in terms of the emotional, I think Elyoya, Alvaro and Supa are the big ones here.

Do you have any last words for MDK fans ?

Melzhet: Thank you very much for the support. Guys, I know it's hard to stick with one team when things are not going well, but as I said from the beginning, this is a long-term project, we need to have highs and lows, and I hope we finish the year with a good note for every single one of you."