São Paulo is calling, and is ready to take the stage. With the LEC representatives’ first match against looming, all eyes are on the European champions. Can they replicate the stellar performances delivered by Karmine Corp at last year’s First Stand? In an exclusive interview, Sheep Esports sat down with the team’s midlaner, , to discuss their preparations for the event, his personal growth throughout his career, and what fans can expect in the coming days.
With most teams arriving late at First Stand this year, how do you feel about the start of the event? Do you expect the meta to be all over the place and take time to settle?
Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther: “Yeah, we arrived like two or three days ago, and we’ve got to play against a few other teams here at the tournament. Everyone is coming in with their own meta read, their own view on the game. Luckily for us, the jet lag is actually quite nice for us because it pushes us a bit earlier, and the tournament is a bit earlier than we’re used to as well. So it fits quite well.
I’m just really impatient to get to play on stage. Of course, we didn’t play against the yet. We’ve been watching some of their games, and while they also played on a different patch, they definitely have a different meta read than we have had. There will definitely be a clash in our game understanding.After the LEC finals, you had a few days of break. How did you spend that time? Did you fully disconnect, or were you playing League of Legends still?
Caps: During the first two days, we still needed to do some media stuff. Afterward, I took a day completely off League so I could chill a bit. I watched two movies, and I got to catch up with my family and talk with them a bunch, so that was nice.
And then of course after that I started getting ready for the tournament. It was again mostly solo queue. We ended up having a few days of scrims before we left for Brazil, but definitely a lot of solo queue and trying to figure things out. There were a decent number of midlane changes on the patch, it was also on me to make sure that I’m up to speed. Of course I won’t get a perfect read, but I can get a better understanding of how big the nerfs were specifically.
Traveling to Brazil meant a 16-hour flight. During those long trips before a tournament, when there’s that period of anticipation before the event starts, what kind of things go through your mind?Caps: We’re mostly with the team, but regardless we just talk a lot about the patch and the meta. The schedule as well—there’s a lot of time spent thinking about things like how early we play, when do we wake up, what does a day-to-day look like, and of course also what we’re going to play.
Of course all of us have done their own bit of scouting on our opponents, and if anyone has anything to share they will do that as well, right? Or maybe someone saw something cool in a game that we can test out for ourselves, or maybe something that we might not want to test out, but it’s something that our opponents could do, and we need to be aware of. So just a lot of theory crafting, getting ready, and making sure that we are on top of our game for our match day.
You’ve been playing internationally for many years now. Compared to your early days, like at Worlds 2017, how has the way you approach international tournaments changed?
Caps: It definitely changed quite a lot, especially if you compare it to my first Worlds. That one was quite chaotic. I’m definitely a lot more proactive in terms of everything I just mentioned as well, making sure that I have a better understanding of what is the best way for me to perform the best on our game day.
Like making sure I get the right amount of sleep, making sure I get the right food, exercise, all these things—just making sure I’m a bit more productive on those things. My first Worlds was a bit of a disaster in that way. I had a bit of a wild schedule. Nowadays, it’s a lot better. Of course, everyone on the team, especially Isma (Performance Coach—Ismael Pedraza) and Romain (Manager—Romain Bigeard), are helping out a lot in that regard as well.
Of course, there are also a lot of smaller things, like during stage games. There are a lot less data in general, because there are fewer leagues nowadays. You have to make a lot more educated guesses on your own, and rely more on your own feelings, opinions, and thoughts.
Different regions have very different playstyles, and you really don’t want to be caught off guard. So you make sure you do a lot of prep on your opponent, and also just realize that these games can be quite chaotic. Some teams really like invading, some people really like doing crazy dives, and all these small differences change the way League is played quite significantly.
Many people see as one of the biggest threats at the event, but you first will have to go through or . in particular might be an important opponent for you in the group stage. How do you view this team, especially since they have a lot of rookies and can be hard to predict?Caps: They’ve definitely shown a lot of improvement, it’s really impressive. At the end of the day there are many very strong teams at this tournament, right? You mentioned , and of course is also in our group.
But even aside from them, there are a lot of strong teams, and I guess it doesn’t really matter how strong they are. It’s more so about what their strengths and weaknesses are, and we will make sure that whoever we face, we will prep for them well.
We have already watched a lot of the games from most of the teams at the tournament, and if we end up facing one of them, we’ll make sure to do some extra prep. And then we just have to trust that the things we’ve been practicing, and our condition being good, is enough to take them down and push us further in the tournament.
In the LEC Finals, you had a great Game 5 performance on Anivia. Mauro Garih noted that you spent time in practice tool working on specific wall angles, especially around bot river. How important do you think this kind of training is?
Caps: It’s definitely important. It’s always a bit tricky in the sense that it can be tough to always know what you’re going to play. And if you’re putting time on something, then you’re not putting time on something else at the same time. So it’s always a bit of a game of managing your time as a resources, right?
And whenever you practice something, and it comes into fruition—like you end up actually playing the champion or the matchup and find yourself in those positions—it feels very rewarding. So I definitely do my best to put aside as much time as I can to practice those kinds of interactions, whether it’s the Anivia wall, a dash, or a specific champion interaction.
But you also have to be mindful not to waste your time with interactions that can be fun but won’t necessarily come up in the game. And I think finding a balance in that is also very important.
We spoke with , the midlaner of , and he said he really admires you but felt too introverted to come ask you for tips at the office. Is there anything you would like to say to him, or any advice you would give him?Caps: No, I mean he’s doing great, right? We were watching yesterday when he beat , and it was already very impressive. He had a very solid performance there and came in clutch in the last fight as well with his Azir shuffle. So yeah, props to him and I hope he keeps growing throughout the rest of EMEA Masters.
This year marks your ninth season in the LEC / EU LCS, and next year will be the tenth year of your career in Tier 1. Does reaching that milestone inspires any particular thoughts for you?
Caps: Sometimes, I think about how it’s scary how fast time flies. It feels like years go by very fast. I guess it’s a sign that it’s been very fun, but it’s also disappointing in other ways. I always wish I would have gone further, but I will do my best to make sure that this year counts. For my tenth year in 2027, I will make it count even more.
Getting an international trophy would be great. We really just want to make Europe proud, and I also want to be able to be proud of myself as well. We have a shot right now here at First Stand, and it’s a great opportunity as well for us. We need to play our hearts out.”