“Next year I'm going to be at Worlds, 100%” — Rhilech After NAVI's Loss to MKOI in Nice
Photo Credit: Riot Games
NAVI's dream run came up just short. A loss to MKOI in Nice ends their season one series from Worlds — but for a roster built almost entirely of newcomers, reaching this stage was already a statement. Rookie of the Year Enes "Rhilech" Uçan sat down with RFT.GG to reflect on the series, the pride he takes in the year, his gratitude to the org, and his conviction that Worlds is only a matter of time.
What are your first thoughts on this series and what happened today?
Honestly, it was an amazing experience to play on this stage, in this arena, in LEC Summer finals. But they were just better today.
Around drafts, teamfights, map movements, they were just playing better.
We only kind of had the early game, but except for the first game, we didn't have much early-game snowball. So the last three games were hard and they played well around it.
Was this your peak level as a team today, or is MKOI simply a better team than NAVI right now?
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I don't know our peak level, honestly. Sometimes we play really clean, really good; sometimes we're just hesitant. I think today we were just afraid to lose.
We weren't playing to win, we were just playing to not lose.
So we slowly gave them a Drake, a grub, a wave, small things. We gave away so many small things, and they snowballed and used it well. That's how they beat us, actually.
Was that partly because you're a bit inexperienced compared to them on this kind of stage — a bit scared to win because of the stakes and the big stage?
Yeah, I think so, for sure. I felt the same in the KC Road Trip, where we dropped a game to Shifters and one to Fnatic — games we wouldn't normally drop. It was kind of the same today. We just played so hesitant, we were pressured. Even I wasn't feeling that pressured, but I could feel it in the voices, in the tone of the team. So I was also getting a bit pressured, or maybe I felt I needed to do extra because people were doing less. It was a difficult moment.
In the end you made it to LEC finals and you'll have the Demacia Cup soon. Are you proud of what you accomplished this year?
Our ultimate goal was Worlds. But when you look at it objectively from the outside — full rookies coming into the year, and they're this close to Worlds — I think it's an achievement. Even though we didn't reach our goal in the end, it was a good year.
I'm proud of my team, I'm proud of myself.
Do you think it's a matter of time before you reach Worlds?
Yeah, I think next year I'm going to be at Worlds, 100%. This year I don't feel that much disappointment, but if we don't make it next year, I'll be so sad. We'll be there — I'm not even thinking one year later from this point, not making Worlds is not a choice.
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I really feel disappointed, but it's normal. You shouldn't overthink it — when you start overthinking, everything gets worse. So just let it go, let it happen.
Are you happy at NAVI? It's a very young org in the LEC, yet you made top four in the first year with a roster praised by many for being coherent. Would you be happy to stay?
Yeah, I'm happy with NAVI. The management and coaching staff are really helpful, they're trying their best. And overall I like NAVI's mindset about rosters and about League of Legends — they look committed.
You won Rookie of the Year, and you're the team's star player because of NAVI's playstyle — the one carrying the responsibility of winning many games, dealing the cards to snowball. Are you proud of your first year individually?
I'm really proud of myself. I think I showed what my capabilities are, but I won't stop there — I'll keep working and improving, and this international event at the Demacia Cup, and next year will be so much better. As for our playstyle: at the start of the year it wasn't 'let's go carry jungle,' it was 'let's just find ourselves, play whatever we do well.'
After Winter we saw 'when we play this, we win; when we play this, we lose.' And coming into Summer we realised we were winning with Zaahen and other picks but losing with certain champions, so we needed to focus on that because we were going to play best-of-fives and had to be good on everything.
Sometimes I'd get mad because I felt we weren't drafting our best champions even though I was playing well.
But the point TheRock had was: if you go to playoffs or best-of-fives, they'll focus on banning these champs and you'll have to play others, so it'll be so much worse. He was also thinking long term — for next year and other tournaments. If we keep playing the same champs, we limit our improvement, so we need to be able to go everywhere. That was the idea, and I think it went well. We won with Jarvan — even today we won the Jarvan game [Editorial note: it was lethality Jarvan].
What are your expectations for the Demacia Cup? You'll go to China very soon.
Honestly, I don't know what to expect — I've never been to an international. I think we're lucky to have this Demacia Cup option, it's really good for experience. We'll see how it goes.
Do you watch the other leagues at all?
Yeah, I watch the LCK, mostly every game — I don't really watch the last two or three teams. I know about KT and FEARX... I watch KT, they're a really solid team. It's going to be amazing to play against them.
I hope we play KT, even if we lose — I don't care, I want to play them.
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There might be legendary players in China too — someone like Monkey, who's very creative in the jungle. A last word to close out?
Thank you to everyone who supported us so far. I'm really proud of everything, and proud of everyone who kept believing in us and saying good things about us. Sorry for not making it to Worlds, guys, sorry for not keeping our promise — but next year we will be at Worlds for sure.
