After earning their first win in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Spring Group Stage with a victory over Team Heretics, Movistar KOI now sits at 1-2. Despite the standings, the team is approaching things with a fresh perspective, doubling down on their efforts to rise to the challenge. In an exclusive with Sheep Esports, support player Álvaro "Alvaro" Fernández discusses their new training methods, the league’s revamped format, and the upcoming roadtrip to Madrid.

What are your thoughts on today’s victory against Heretics? Are you happy with how you won, considering the shaky early game in Game 1 but the cleaner Game 2?

Álvaro "Alvaro" Fernández: Of course, I’m happy because I think we were in control at every moment of the games. As you said, in the early game of Game 1, we made some mistakes. For example, we knew Zyra was coming bot and that she would be faster in tempo because she clears faster, but I still played a bit too aggressively in lane. I got caught, and we ended up dying two for one. But besides that, I would say we played pretty confidently. As Jojo (Joseph Joon Pyun) said in other interviews—and I agree—being disciplined is important. So, this win shows that we’re being more disciplined in training as well.

Last week, Elyoya (Javier Prades) said your practice wasn’t great, but this week Jojo said it was your best so far. What changed to make things improve so much?

Alvaro: There are a lot of things. Of course, when you lose to the two teams you’re likely going to face in the finals—G2 and KC, who I consider good rivals—you start to realize, “Okay… this isn’t enough.” You need to put in even more effort, more hours. You’re always trying to give your best, but sometimes you see it’s just not enough.

In terms of how we practiced before, I think we approached it a bit differently. Right now, our practices look much closer to our official games, and I think that’s what Jojo was referring to when he talked about discipline. It’s really important that practice mirrors officials, because if you train one way and then the actual games feel completely different—especially with the added pressure—it just makes things harder.

So I agree with Jojo. We’re being more conscious during scrims, putting in more effort. This was a really good week, but it’s still not enough. We need to keep holding the bar high.

Consistency has been a big topic around KOI. GrabbZ (Fabian Lohmann) recently said your team can beat top teams but still lacks consistency. How do you actually go about fixing something that difficult?

Alvaro: As I said, it’s complicated. Repetition helps make it easier for next time, but for me, the most important thing is that now we’re setting clear objectives. After every scrim, we have three different goals, and we rate each one from 1 to 5. I won’t say exactly what we’re working on, but two are about map control, and one is more about coordination.

Even if we win or lose, we still evaluate these goals, and if we’re doing things well, we aim for a 4 or 5. But we’re holding the bar high—getting a 5 is really hard in our team. This week, we actually had some 5s, which shows we’re capable of doing it. The best part is when you finish a game and do reviews. You can really see the improvement.

Of course, it’s not always consistent—if you’re not hitting the goals the next day, then you have to ask why. What’s stopping you from performing? A lot of that is individual, so we need to grow both as a team and personally. I think this is how you can train consistency.

But yeah, going into an official, like today, you still get scared something might go wrong and you won’t perform. That’s why this win is really important—it shows that you can do it, and it gives you that confidence.

The LEC format is very different now, with a longer seven-week group stage and best-of-threes. Do you think this format is good for a team like Movistar KOI? How are you approaching this split differently, now that there’s more time to reflect and improve?

Alvaro: Before, as a player, I always wanted to compete as much and as fast as possible—competition is what I play for, it’s what I love. But in this case, not competing as often and having more time to practice before games really shows how important practice is.

For example, if we play on Sunday next week, that’s six days to prepare. But sometimes you play on a Saturday and then not again until the following Monday—you can have eight or nine days without an official match. So you really have to manage that time well. Personally, I like it, but I would also prefer to compete more if I could.

I think this format also shows how teams handle things emotionally—how strong their mental is. If things aren’t going well, it can be really hard to stay focused all the way until playoffs two months later. Plus, there are LAN events in Spain and France, so that adds more pressure. Coming back from a tough spot can be even harder.

But at the same time, the extra time can make things easier. Last year’s Winter Split was only three weeks, so now you have way more time to practice. The meta will shift a lot, and you get time to test and prove new things. There are a lot of scrim days, and always chances to try something new or better understand how the game is evolving.

You’ll be playing against Fnatic in Madrid soon during the LEC Roadtrip, which looks like your biggest challenge coming up. Are you excited for that match, and what are you expectations like?

Alvaro: I’m really hyped to play at the event. When I go to Madrid, both my mother and my brother are coming, so that’s going to be really hype. And playing in front of our crowd, since it’s in Spain, makes it even more exciting.

Facing Fnatic, like you said, they’re a strong opponent. We lost to them last split, so winning now—beating them after they eliminated us—would feel even better. But in the end, as we always say, we’re focusing on the present. Our biggest enemies are ourselves every day. You just need to beat yourself to become a better version.

After that, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is. We just need to play how we practiced, focus on what we’ve trained for, and give our best. I think Fnatic is a strong contender, but we can definitely beat them.

I saw you’ve been playing a lot of Arena lately. Do you think you’re the best Arena player on the team? And who’s the worst? I saw you were carrying Zeph (Quentin Viguié), right?

Alvaro: Yeah, I was playing with Zeph earlier. I played fast because I had to eat and do a presentation right after, so I didn’t have time for solo queue. I really like playing Arena, but I think the best is Myrwn (Alex Villarejo) for sure. He knows everything—every single augment and item.

I’d consider myself the second best, then Elyoya as third. Supa (David Garcia) would be fourth since he doesn’t play it much, and Jojopyun fifth because he doesn’t like it. So yeah, Myrwn is definitely the best. We even won the LEC Arena Tournament—Myrwn and me—because we’re tryhards. And yeah, I think Myrwn is top 1.