After taking a gut punch of an upset, Rayan "Sniper" Shoura and 100 Thieves are now preparing to fight their way through the lower bracket of the League of Legends Worlds 2024 Play-In. Nonetheless, the toplaner and his team remain confident as they move on to face Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming. An exclusive interview with Sniper to recap the team's loss against Movistar Rainbow7, his team's meta read, and his aspirations for the rest of the tournament.

How do you feel right now after this match?

Rayan "Sniper" Shoura: "It definitely sucks that we lost. It just didn’t feel like I was playing my natural game, so I felt kind of clueless on the map. From the looks of it, I haven’t really changed, you know? From NA to here, I’m still not side-laning properly, and I don’t know how to play swap lanes properly again. So yes, it’s frustrating. I don’t want to say I’m sorry because I tried my best, but I just have to be better, you know? That’s all there is to say.

You played K'Sante in all three games, being first picked twice. What led your team to make this draft decision, especially since it required you to give up the counter pick against Summit?

Sniper: We honestly thought that K'Sante is really broken. He's probably the most OP champion in the game. But I do think that the K'Sante pick was fine if I knew how to two-lane properly. I wasn't really playing lanes well in any of these games, and we could never find an opportunity to fight. We just thought he was broken, although I probably should have picked Renekton because it's just easy priority, and it’s just as broken as K'Sante. But yeah, to sum it up, we just think K'Sante is OP.

Do you think your understanding of the meta will be challenged, or do you still believe you have the right read on it for the upcoming matches?

Sniper: I think our read on the meta is pretty good. It's more of a gameplay issue right now. So yes, we literally just have to get better. I just have to get better if we want to have a chance at doing well because we can't be losing in Play-Ins. That’s pretty disgusting. We just have to lock in.

You’ll be facing Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming and playing against Evi, a well-known Japanese toplaner. What are your thoughts ahead of that match?

Sniper: We lost today, and even the game we won was pretty disgusting. So I don't know; we might lose to them, you know? I'm not going to say we're going to beat them 100%. We could lose to them because we're just completely dull. We were so bad, you know? So, I don't know. I'm not sure.

Are there any other aspects of 100T that aren't going well right now, aside from what you mentioned?

Sniper: There's too much. There's too much to tell you. There’s a lot I need to work on and fix about my gameplay. So yeah, there are just way too many things. That’s all I’m going to say—way too many things.

How has your experience been so far in Berlin? Scrimming, playing Solo Queue, meeting teams...

Sniper: It's definitely been a really cool experience playing against G2 and the other European teams. Playing against these players that I always looked up to is a privilege for me, and I’m just having a really good time. I also wanted to say our scrims have been going pretty well, surprisingly. We had a 60% win rate, I’m pretty sure. So it’s just surprising that we didn’t show up today.

In SoloQ, you played a lot of different champions like Yone, Irelia, and Aatrox. Do you think we might see more variety in the toplane since you're known for that?

Sniper: There definitely is a chance for that. But at the same time, I need to be vocal about it. If I think a pick is good after we ban a certain champion, I need to tell my coaches about that. I'm not really doing that, you know? So I guess there could definitely be a chance for that if I really commit to it.

You've mainly talked about improving and trying to go as far as possible this Worlds. Do you still have a goal for what you want to achieve? Maybe qualify for Paris?

I'd love to go to Paris if we make it that far. But we just have to take it one day at a time. We really need to fix our issues and solve our problems before we can start thinking about that. We need to focus on our gameplay first, and then we can think about going to Paris and playing against all these different teams and that kind of stuff.

Are you worried that Bwipo will tweet about you after this match?

(Laughs) I honestly don't care. He can say whatever he wants about me—good or bad, or whatever. I personally don't care about it. I only care about what I think. It would be pretty exciting and funny if he tweets about me and asks if I want to review this or whatever. But you never know; I might take it, you know? Because Bwipo is a good player, and he's very smart about the game too.

Recently, you mentioned that you were at one of your lowest points due to a stressful year—your first in the LCS, which included success in Spring, a slump with your team, and then making it to Worlds. How have you handled the expectations of being a pro player and tried to be in your best form for Worlds?

It's been a roller coaster for sure this entire year. One day, I’m in the best mood ever; we’re winning every single scrim game or match, and everybody’s on my nuts on Twitter or Instagram or whatever. Then the next day, something goes wrong or I just have a mentality shift, and everything goes downhill. So one word I have to describe this year is just "roller coaster," and I'm just trying not to get into my head and enjoy the process. So yes, it's just been a roller coaster for sure.

Is there someone at 100 Thieves who helps you with that?

We do have someone. His name is Ryan, but you know me—I'm pretty lazy with that kind of stuff. I always try to keep it to myself and figure it out on my own. I don't really go to anyone, except my parents and family, of course. I try to solve it myself because it’s more of an in-game thing. We definitely have a lot of support at 100 Thieves; it's just that I want to solve it myself because I know it's me against me. I need to figure it out.

Will your family be able to travel to Worlds to support you in the later stages?

My older brother and his fiancée were actually going to come and visit me here, but unfortunately, they couldn’t because they had their engagement. V1per (Omran Shoura, his older brother) is going to be coming in a week. He's not going to be watching my games; he's just going to be bootcamping. Nobody's going to be coming over at the arena, but they'll be watching from home and supporting me.

Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans and 100 Thieves fans?

I'm not gonna apologize because we all tried our best. I just wanted to say to keep supporting us, you know? We made it here for a reason. We are a good team. I am a good player; I just have to really get into the right space and enable myself. So just keep supporting us. We will get out of play-ins."