After an important victory against Disguised, 100 Thieves advance to the qualification rounds and are set to face Team Liquid in the League of Legends Championship of The Americas North (LTA North). Will the team be able to pull off another heist and defeat last year's runner-ups? In an exclusive interview with the team's 18-year-old toplaner, Rayan "Sniper" Shoura, Sheep Esports dives into the young player's return from Worlds, his thoughts on the LTA and its fan engagement, the level of the league, and the team's goals for 2025.

It's been a while since we last spoke at Worlds in Berlin. How has your return to the LTA been? Are you enjoying the new league so far?

Rayan "Sniper" Shoura: The LTA is honestly amazing. Just having the opportunity to play Tier 1 LoL feels like a blessing to me. I'm always grateful to be here, to be able to be in the arena. That alone—I'm already grateful for that. So yeah, the LTA is very nice.

Before the match, you joked about shaving your head if you lost. I heard your brother was even ready to do it for you. After seeing Kangas looking like Dr. Robotnik, I assume you really didn’t want to end up like that, right?

Sniper: Well, I mean, Kangas is a Chad. He's probably one of the nicest people in the League scene. But he has way too much confidence. I have a decent amount, but Kangas is just on another level—no glaze. But yeah, I would definitely have been embarrassed.

Were you actually scared you might have to go through with it?

Sniper: Every second of it, to be honest. My Twitter had been kind of dead for a few months—wasn’t getting too many likes—so I had to spice things up. But before the game today, I was talking with eXyu, ScaryJerry, and Castle, and they suggested a deal where I’d have to shave my whole head and put "DSG" on the side, while eXyu would only have to pluck a single hair. That was a super bad deal. So yeah, I was really anxious going into the match.

This first match looked a little rough for you. There were lane swaps and other shenanigans going on. Did that impact your play, or was there another reason? It didn’t quite feel like your usual self today.

Sniper: Yeah, I definitely wasn’t my usual self because I wasn’t on champions I’m really comfortable with. I obviously won't say what comfort picks I'm referring to, but yeah, we wanted to try stuff out. Since it’s Fearless, we have to get better at these picks. I definitely could have played better, but I did my job.

In the first game, Jayce got a kill at level 1. I didn’t TP back bot, so he got a CS lead off that. Then I didn’t ult the Vi when she dove me, and after that death, it just snowballed. He was up 30 CS and had prio the whole time.

In the second game, I played Aurora. I actually had a really good early game—handled the dive well, played everything right. But I didn’t do anything with my timers. I had perma prio, but I just didn’t use it, while Castle did. I’ve got to give him credit for that. So yeah, I know what to work on. If I had used my timers properly, I would’ve looked good.

You're now in your second year in the LTA. The first year was about adapting and getting used to the league. How would you describe your second year in terms of your goals and what you want to achieve?

Sniper: Obviously, I just want to win it all. I want to feel good about my gameplay, and right now, I do—but I know I could be doing so much more. I haven’t reached my potential yet, but yeah, winning it all is definitely the goal. I’m also just super grateful to be in the LTA and to be where I am right now. More than anything, I want the process to be fun for me, and I believe if I enjoy it, things will come together. So yeah, I just want the process to be fun and rewarding. That’s my main goal.

I heard you’ve been playing tanks in scrims and sometimes even performing better on them. How has it been adapting your gameplay? It seems like you’re evolving into a more versatile player with different playstyles.

Sniper: Yeah, that’s pretty true. I feel like I can adapt to anything now, especially with the Fearless Drafts and the training I did during the off-season. Me and my twin brother, Crimson—he always grinds solo queue, and that really motivates me. We have some kind of friendly rivalry in a way. At some point I went like, "Oh wait, my brother is higher LP than me now? I have to beat him," you know?

I’m really grateful for Crimson just being there with me. We were grinding together, had our ups and downs, but he really helped me stay locked in and be prepared for the season. Because of Crimson, mostly, I can play other champions now—and play them at a good level. So yeah, the off-season definitely helped, thanks to my brother.

I saw on Twitter that you're joining the LCS Players Association as vice president. What will your role be, and what are you going to be doing?

Sniper: We had our first meeting about a week or two ago. I’m just a very curious person, and I feel like I have to live life to the fullest, you know? So, I decided to take the opportunity. Even though I’m kind of... I’m a bit slow in the head—I’ll just say that—I try not to let it bother me.

I just focus on learning as much as possible and trying new things. I wanted to step outside my comfort zone and join the association, and it’s been going really well so far. Everyone’s been super supportive and always there for me, so I’m really glad I joined. Hopefully, I can be a good leader for the league.

You’ll most likely be facing Team Liquid in your next match. What are your thoughts on that matchup? Also, what do you expect from Dignitas if you end up facing them later on?

Sniper: I think we only lost one scrim game to Dignitas, and we scrimmed them like two or three times. So if we go up against them, it’s just going to be a 2-0—very, very fast. But Team Liquid, we kind of go even with in scrims. I feel like they’re very similar to us. But if I can step it up, keep playing consistently, and get the champions I want to be playing, we’ll definitely beat Team Liquid. And if we do that, I think we have a really good chance at winning it all, 100%.

With all the roster changes, how do you feel about the overall level of the LTA right now? Where do you think 100 Thieves places in the league?

Sniper: I think we’re probably third. I can confidently say that we’re top four at the very least, but it’s crazy to me how big the difference is between scrimming against the top four teams and the bottom 3-4 teams in the LCS. 100 Thieves, SR, C9, FLY, and TL are all very competitive with each other.

It’s just insane how much of a gap there is between those top five teams and the bottom three. In scrims, we might not win as much against the best teams, but when we go up against the lower teams, we just 6-0 them, 5-1 them, or whatever. It’s the easiest thing in the world. So yeah, it’s just crazy how big of a difference there is.

Worlds was a tough tournament for 100 Thieves. What did you take away from that experience, and do you think it will help you grow this year?

Sniper: Yeah, that's honestly a really good question. It's something that's hard for me to change, but knowing that I wasn’t good enough to compete against those players—it's tough to come to terms with. Even though I know I can compete with the best, if I stay the same, like I did during that Worlds run, doing the same things over and over again, I won’t beat the best players in the world, and we won’t win a World Championship or an LTA Championship. During the offseason, I really tried my absolute hardest to change things. I just want to give a big shout out to Crimson again. He really helped motivate me.

Does this experience make you feel even more determined to prove yourself this year and correct past mistakes?

Sniper: Yeah, I definitely feel more confident about my gameplay. I feel like I’ll be more consistent and keep improving. I’ll get back to where I should be, which is becoming one of the best toplaners in the league. Then I can start thinking about that. But, you know, I just have to take it day by day, trust the process, and not get in my head. I was getting in my head at Worlds because everyone was just clapping me. So yeah, just take it day by day, enjoy the process, and whatever happens, happens.

The LTA North has been lacking some hype lately, and it feels like fans are a bit disengaged. Do you have anything to say to hype them up for the rest of the split?

Sniper: Yeah, you're not wrong bro. I don’t get why, well, besides Bwipo, it feels like everyone else is just sleeping, even the players. We need to be more engaging with the fans, you know? We need to stir up some beef. Like, what me and eXyu had—it wasn’t personal, but we were talking a lot of trash to each other. During the games, I always heard people going like, "woah!", whenever eXyu or I typed something. We need more testosterone in the league.

If we want to engage fans, we need to really show our personalities, be ourselves. Think about what the fans want and try to give that to them. I think Bwipo and I do that well, but the rest of the players, they're kind of just AFK. It’s the players' fault."