As teams continue to compete to be crowned the League of Legends champions of Europe, Óscar "Oscarinin" Muñoz Jiménez and his team, Fnatic, watch from the top of the bracket, fully aspiring to claim Munich's throne as their own. With one more match to play in the LEC 2024 Season Finals, the toplaner and his squad are now ready to present their best form yet. In this exclusive interview, the player discusses competing in Munich, maintaining his momentum, the level of competition in Europe, and the state of SoloQ.

You're here in Munich, two days before your match, with the chance of watching both the EMEA Masters Finals and LEC Semifinals. How do you feel being here in Munich? Are you excited for the Finals?

Oscarinin: It's really exciting to be here. Even just waiting for the finals, watching the teams play and seeing their drafts, how they play... It's so much more relaxing than going through the lower bracket, so yeah, it's pretty exciting to be here.

Does playing in Munich have special meaning for you, especially after missing last year's finals due to your injury?

Oscarinin: It definitely means more than a normal final. Last year, I obviously couldn't play, and... it was pretty hard for me. During that period, it was tough to just sit back and watch my team play the finals without me, especially in such a huge event with that large of a crowd. It means a lot to me to be here, competing in front of the Munich crowd and actually playing in the finals. I'm so excited to finally play, probably even more than I would have been if I had played last year.

After competing in three LEC splits and two international events, do you feel ready to take on this next challenge in terms of stamina? Has this season taken a toll on you, or do you still feel energized and ready to compete?

Oscarinin: Having to play the three splits, all of these events, it's a bit hard in a way, because you have legit no break. I think I’ve had 13 days at home in the whole year, in nine months, so it's actually pretty hard to just be playing League of Legends every time, every day. Sometimes you feel a bit tired.

At the end of the season, you really feel the weight of it all. But it is what it is. We are in the finals. We cannot just go down now, just because we are feeling a bit tired. Everyone in Fnatic really wants to win. And that's what is motivating us right now. So, we are tired, but we really want to win.

People have been quite critical of Fnatic and have called out the team's tendency to choke in key moments. Have the criticism affected you mentally throughout the year?

Oscarinin: I mean, I don't really care what people say. I know what people think about us, about Fnatic as a team. We had a pretty bad EWC and MSI, and we could have played better in the finals. So, yes, I understand how people perceive us, but I don't let that bother me. What matters is how my teammates and I see the team—how we're doing and how we feel. That's what’s important to me.

There’s debate about the current level of European teams. Some say Fnatic and MAD Lions KOI are closing the gap with G2, while others are just concluding that as a whole Europe is just bad. How do you view the level of our teams and do you think you'll perform well at Worlds?

Oscarinin: I think it’s a good question because a lot of people are already thinking about Worlds and how we’ll perform internationally. Many are concerned about the level of European teams. I believe MDK has been playing well—they have a new and different style compared to other teams.

Regarding our team, we’re definitely catching up to G2, but I also think G2 hasn’t been playing at their best lately. They are still a very good team, but they’re not showing their top form right now.

Internationally, I don’t think we’re at the best level to beat the top Asian teams at the moment. However, I believe the level is improving, despite what many people think. I actually think we’re getting better and can perform better against Asian teams than we did last year. Teams like Gen.G and BLG will likely be challenging, but we’ll see how it goes.

Since you've always been a big Solo Queue player, what is your opinion on the current state of Solo Queue?

Oscarinin: Yeah, I feel like every year it’s getting a bit worse, honestly. Personally, I’ve always been very high elo in SoloQ and I play a lot, but it seems like every year it just goes down. In my opinion, things started declining when Division 5s was removed. Before, Master+ had about 1,000 players, but now it’s around 15,000. That’s a huge problem for high elo because you get matched with people who, in my opinion, don’t have the skill level for those games.

I think Riot is kind of trolling high elo, for sure, because you end up with low-quality games due to players who shouldn’t be there. It’s not the players’ fault—they’re just climbing, it’s the system. They made SoloQ much easier to climb and reach Master and Grandmaster, but the level is pretty poor. So, if you get Challenger games, they’re actually good, but if you’re matched with Masters or even Grandmasters, it can be a bit rough.

What are your expectations for the G2 vs. MDK match?

Oscarinin: Honestly, I feel like either teams could win. It’s weird because usually, you have a sense of which team might win and who’s a bit better, but this time it feels like it’s kind of 50-50. I want to see how G2 prepares against MDK because the first time they played, G2 wasn’t prepared for MDK’s flex picks and off-meta strats. I want to see how they draft and prepare, but I think it’s going to be close. It will probably be a fun series. I think G2 will likely take it, but I’m not really sure. If I really have to pick one, I’d be G2.

After playing against Nidalee Top three times in the last series, what do you think about that pick?

Oscarinin: I think he picks it as a strong blind pick because it doesn’t have many counters, and the counters that do exist are useless champs as well. It's a champ that you pick to get prio in the laning phase, but it's not a useful champion later, so the pick feels a bit weird. Past laning phase, it's so much weaker. Still, I wouldn’t say it’s completely useless. It’s a good blind pick that doesn’t lose against almost anything, securing a strong early game. It’s decent until mid-game, so it’s not bad. It really depends on the team composition you’re building.