In the wake of a devastating loss to G2 Esports, Fnatic must continue undeterred as the team moves forward in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) playoffs lower bracket. With no room for error, Óscar "Oscarinin" Muñoz sits down with Sheep Esports to discuss the circumstances surrounding the team's loss to their nemesis and shares a message of hope with Fnatic fans as the team prepares for their next match.

What went wrong against G2?

Óscar "Oscarinin" Muñoz: "We struggled with some issues around Upset (Elias Lipp) falling ill and sickness in the team, which didn’t help. I could feel it in the mood and energy. But overall, we just didn’t play the way we’re used to. In both games, we completely ran it down around Atakhan—we kind of lost both games there. So yeah, we just didn’t play well. Being sick and all that didn’t help either, I guess.

Did the sickness affect your practice? Would you say the team felt rusty ahead of the match, or were you still confident?

Oscarinin: I don’t think we felt rusty. We were feeling confident today, and practice this week was okay—just the same as always. I think we just underperformed today. And also, G2 played way better than they had before. So yeah, it was probably a mix of both things.

Is the confidence still there heading into the lower bracket? Do you think you could have beaten G2 on a better day?

Oscarinin: Of course, I still think we can take them down. They’re not unbeatable at all. It’s always the same with G2—when they start winning, everyone says, "Wow, they’re the best, no one can beat them." But I don’t think it’s like that. Obviously, they’ve started playing well again, but if we’re playing at what I think is our true level, we should be winning. We’re going to work hard to step up to a better level. But yeah, right now, G2 looks like a top-two team at a minimum—along with us on a better day.

Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle mentioned that communication issues led to overcommitting instead of focusing on objectives. Has the team improved on that? What’s your biggest improvement, and what still needs work?

Oscarinin: We’re playing way better around objectives now. It feels like we’re always ready, with good positioning and everything—we take that into account way more than before. I’d say our biggest improvement is macro around objectives and how we play around waves in general. But today, with the Atakhan, we didn't really get to show that. We showed our worst side and reverted to our past mistakes. So while we’ve improved in objectives overall, there's still a lot of work to be done, as we showed in how we played around Atakhan against G2.

How would you describe your role in Fnatic compared to last year? Has it evolved with the new lineup? And do you hope Riot removes lane swaps soon so you have more opportunities to shine?

Oscarinin: [Laughs] For sure. I really want lane swaps to be gone—I think everyone does. Toplaners, botlaners, no one enjoys them. At this point, I think everyone just wants them gone. Compared to last year, I feel like I have way more freedom with my picks and how I want to play. We’ve also improved a lot on lane swaps with our new bot lane—Upset and Mikyx helped a lot with that. But my role changes a lot every game. I feel like I can fill in whatever we need, whether it’s playing a tank and front-lining or being a carry—even though that’s harder with lane swaps. I’ll just do whatever we need to win.

You're now in the lower bracket and will face the winner of Vitality versus BDS. What do you think of this matchup, and how confident are you in Fnatic’s lower bracket run?

Oscarinin: Yeah, I mean, in Fnatic, we're kinda used to the lower bracket at this point [laughs]. If we don’t play like we did today and instead play how we’re used to, we should probably win easily against either of those two teams. I don’t consider them as strong as the other four. I feel like G2, Karmine Corp, Movistar KOI, and ourselves are pretty good. As for GX, I don’t know—they haven’t played that well lately, so I’m not sure if I’d rank them with the others. The top four is pretty clear, though I wouldn't put any team clearly above the others. The rest is decent, but not on the same level. If we play well, we should win against those teams pretty easily.

Were you prepared for Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik’s Warwick and Swain picks, or did those unconventional matchups catch you off guard?

Oscarinin: We knew he was going to pick Warwick into Ambessa for sure—we expected it since he played it yesterday. In my opinion, the matchup is fine and I didn't see Warwick as a big issue; we were rather even in lane. It’s just that Ambessa and Warwick do different things. As for Swain, we also thought he might pick it. We weren’t sure, but he had been playing it in solo queue, so we knew it was a possibility. So yeah, I was kind of prepared for both. I had already played against his Warwick in this matchup before, so I knew what to expect. I just should have played it better.

Does Fnatic have any surprises planned for the next few weeks, especially with Fearless Draft? Are there things we haven't seen yet?

Oscarinin: Yeah, for sure we have some surprises. But most of the spicy picks will probably come out in game 3s or best-of-fives. In a two-game fearless match, you can’t show much because there are still a lot of champions open. But we’ve cooked up a lot of stuff, so I hope we can show it.

Mikyx said that you guys are planning to watch Solo Leveling Season 2. Have you had the time to watch it? Are you enjoying the show?

Oscarinin: We still haven’t started it yet. We're waiting for Razork (Ivan Martin) as he's watching Season 1. We'll start the second season soon, but Miky and I have already read the manhwa, so we know what to expect. The anime has been pretty cool from what I've seen. I find the animations to be really good and I'm really excited to watch the rest soon.

Are there words you'd like to address to the Fnatic fans?

Oscarinin: I know it’s disappointing to see us lose, especially against G2 when we felt really strong and like the best team. But I want fans to keep believing in us because I know we’ll make a strong comeback and pull out some Fnatic magic in the lower bracket, as we always do. We’re going to make it to the finals, and I truly believe we’ll win the LEC. This group is really talented, and we work well together. So I just want everyone to trust us and believe we’ll be back."