The Bees delivered their final sting, falling to Karmine Corp despite a game one victory and ending their League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Summer Playoffs run with a 1-3 loss to their French rivals. With much uncertainty ahead, Team Vitality now enters the dreaded off-season, with little clarity on what a 2026 Vitality roster might look like. In an exclusive interview, jungler Linas “Lyncas” Nauncikas sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the team’s struggles, his personal growth, and what the future may hold for 2026.

What went wrong against Karmine Corp, and what do you think could have been done better?

Linas “Lyncas” Nauncikas: “It really sucks. Honestly, I didn’t expect the result. Throughout the last weeks we had good scrims. We were a top team in scrims. I felt like we were progressing well. This week was harder because of circumstances we couldn’t control — no electricity, no power, had to move — but it was the same for KC, so it’s definitely not an excuse. Feeling shit, to be honest. The ambition was to go to Beijing. Knowing our skill and seeing other teams and how we play in scrims, it was definitely doable. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but it feels really shit. Especially with my game 4, that was a war crime on the rift.

How much did the recent scrim issues impact your preparation for playoffs?

Lyncas: We had two scrims cancelled when we had four or five days to prepare, so it was awkward. But at the same time, KC had the same issues. On one of the days we didn’t scrim, they also didn’t scrim. We just had to get the best out of the situation. We definitely could have worked on some issues if we had those days, but it’s not an excuse. It's a best-of-five, you need to lose three games. If one or two days of scrim affect you, then you don't deserve to win. We were just not good enough today.

There was a lot of hype around Vitality before the match. What were your own expectations going in? Was there some overconfidence?

Lyncas: I was confident. Knowing what was going on in KC and their form definitely influenced that. Obviously, we as players have more information from scrims and stuff, and our scrims were going well. I saw us as favorites in this match, but I don’t believe it affected how we played. I just went into the game with a good mindset, like I had in the previous games in Summer. I can’t speak for my teammates, though, as I don’t know all of their thoughts.

This roster has had a lot of changes this year. Do you think if you had played Winter with Kadir "Fleshy" Kemiksiz from the start, you would have had a better result because of more experience together? And did the short Summer Split end up being detrimental?

Lyncas: 100%, yeah. If we had more time together, more issues would have been fixed and handled. We are somewhat of a new team. In Summer, it’s not like we had much time to prep either — just one month or so before the split started, and the split itself was also only about a month. What happened with the support changes definitely affected us in Summer, but Fleshy was by far the best support we had this year. He did a good job, and if we had him throughout the year, we definitely would have been a stronger team.

This is your first full year in the LEC, and you’ve had a full season to develop your play with these players. Are you happy with how you’ve grown, and do you feel you’ve evolved since Summer last year?

Lyncas: Yeah, definitely. I’ve made a lot of progress. In Summer, I actually had a really good split — until now. It’s a bit ironic to say that now that we lost, and I don’t think I had a bad series, but I definitely had a really bad game four. Game three wasn’t good either, but that was more due to other issues. Overall, I’ve definitely improved a lot. In Summer, I felt like I was a top jungler in the league, but it’s sad I didn’t get to show it, especially ending on such a bad game. I’ll be the most self-critical for sure. It’s disappointing that we didn’t go further, especially with how short the splits are. Spring was quite long, but Summer was short, so we didn’t get that many games to show off and get comfortable.

How do you feel about this roster and coaching staff? Do you think this team would have potential next year if the roster were to stick together? Are you expecting changes?

Lyncas: It’s really hard to say because we only had one split to work together, while other teams had three, and some didn’t make as much progress as us — Karmine Corp, for example. It’s definitely better to have been playing together for a full year, especially if you’re in a good mood with each other and like each other. To be honest, I think this roster definitely still has potential. I know it because our goal was Worlds. A lot of players stepped up — Czajek (Mateusz Czajka), for example, compared to the previous split, had a really good Summer Split. He was our best player today. But yeah, it’s hard to say. This roster didn’t achieve as much as it could have this split, but we can definitely do much better if we play together and fix more issues.

Do you have any regrets about 2025, or are you pretty happy with the year overall?

Lyncas: The results were horrific. Overall though, I don’t have any regrets about how much work I put in. I did everything I could personally to make the team work. It’s quite disappointing, but I can also understand finishing 6th. On an individual level, I definitely improved throughout the year and I think I was good in Summer. Today, I didn’t have the best showing — my game one and game two were good, but I still made some critical errors, the same as in the Heretics series. Game four was really bad. So yeah, I don’t have any regrets about work ethic or skill. When you know you did everything you could, but the result isn’t there, you just have to keep working and analyze the problems.

Is there anything you want to say to Vitality fans before we finish?

Lyncas: It’s a disappointing end. I can imagine our fans will be very disappointed with the year. I can assure you that we, the players, are the definitely most disappointed by those results. I’m very self-critical, so the only thing I can say is sorry. We had a roster in Summer that could have achieved more, and we had a dream, but the dream got shattered. I hope that one day Vitality can rise because it’s a great organization with a very good fan base that deserves more.”