LYON Saint On Facing International Mid Laners: “Just Be Confident… It’s All The Same Person.”

LYON and Kang “Saint” Sung-in are heading into the LCS Summer 2026 Split with high expectations after their impressive MSI run. However, Kacper “Inspired” Słoma is set to miss the first weeks of the tournament due to personal issues. I sat down with their mid laner to talk about his last few months, his expectations for the upcoming split, and Locke’s power level.

I wanted to kick off the interview by asking how you feel about the last few months, because they’ve been very intense for you.

Saint: I remember MSI, so we can talk about that.

Luca: So you don’t remember EWC.

What happened there? Were you too tired to perform, or did things just not go your way?

Saint: I think we were too tired. We didn’t prepare the ADC mage matchup that much compared to other teams, so I think that was our problem at EWC.

A back and forth series, but @LyonLATAM falls pic.twitter.com/Xvty5kavDn

— EWC Extra (@EWC_Extra) July 15, 2026

Luca: MSI was obviously the big payoff, because it was an insane run. You, as a player, seemed to grow a lot during the event. You looked like a completely different player compared to First Stand or LCS.

Do you think playing in a competition like MSI lit a fire inside you and made you perform better?

Saint: The first thing was that we scrimmed against LPL, LCK, and EU teams.

After that, I felt like I could beat them. So after that, I just played like myself.

Luca: Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol said you beat Top Esports easily in scrims. And we saw that they didn’t look good at MSI. LPL also doesn’t seem to be in its best form right now, and there are some issues there. EU is also looking worse than LCS, obviously, while LCK is still LCK.

Where would you put LCS at the moment? Do you think you’re better than LPL, or is BLG the final boss and everyone else is below them?

Saint: I feel like our final boss was LCK, for me. They’re too solid. When they play, they always play pretty well, so it’s hard to beat them on stage. But with LPL, it depends on their condition. Sometimes we beat them in scrims 5-0 or something like that, and sometimes we lose to them. So I guess it depends on them.

Luca: You played that best-of-five against HLE, where no one would have expected you to put up such a strong fight. Everyone thought HLE would just win easily and move on to the final.

How did losing feel? How did you recover mentally after such a loss, especially when it was so close?

Saint: It was just one step away from winning, but we didn’t make it. Still, I’m happy we finished third. After that loss, I was still happy with the result.

Luca: Yeah, it’s an insane result for NA… No one expected that.

Before the HLE series, you said you were going to beat Zeka and that you were coming for him because you were very confident going in. Now, after playing against Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo, Zhuo “Knight” Ding, and Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther, you’re going back to facing LCS domestic mid laners.

What are you going to do to them now that you’ve reached that level of form? What’s going to happen to them?

Saint: I mean, it would be nothing different against them. I don’t think LCS mid laners are that bad. Some players from the LCK, right? Like Lee “Loki” Sang-min, Oh “Callme” Ji-hoon, probably I’ll be more confident while playing against them.

Luca: Loki is coming into C9 and is going to be switching with Eain “APA” Stearns.

Did you already have the chance to play against Loki in LCK CL? Do you know him as a player?

Saint: Oh yeah, we played before, over the last two years, and in LCK CL two years ago. So I know him, his playstyle, and his personality.

Luca: Are you better than him?

Saint: Sorry?

Luca: Do you think that you’re better than him, or is he close to you?

Saint: (Laughs).

Luca: C9 also made a big move besides Loki, because they changed the coaching staff. They have a seven-man roster now, so they’re going to swap players a lot.

Do you think it’s good to have a roster that big, or is it not optimal in your opinion? What’s your view?

Saint: I’m not sure. In LCK, if they have a seven-man roster like that, then it’s not that bad, because there are two match days per week, I guess. But in LCS, there’s only one match per week, so it’s 50% less match experience. If you need to share that with your teammates, then I don’t think it would be good.

Luca: Speaking about the Summer Split, there haven’t been major changes besides C9. We know that you are going to play the first week without Inspired. It’ll be your time to shine, actually. You’ll have to show everyone that you can lead the team and take them to victory.

LYON 🇲🇽 has announced Inspired 🇵🇱 will miss the start of the LCS Summer Split.

He will spend some time in Poland, before joining back with the team. pic.twitter.com/edsREERCtx

— Hotspawn LoL (@hotspawnlol) July 22, 2026

Coming into the split, we saw you doing well at MSI. We saw Liquid having good games against T1.

Besides those teams, who do you think is the third-best team in the league at the moment? There’s some room for doubt between C9 and FlyQuest, maybe.

Saint: We didn’t play against the changed C9 and the other teams.

FlyQuest was the hardest enemy for us. So I would guess they are right now.

Luca: Okay, that’s good to hear. There is more competition, and FlyQuest have a younger roster. That’s nice for NA as a region as a whole. Now that you did great at MSI, the expectation for NA coming into the next international event, which is Worlds, will be much higher.

What do you think the regional power level is like at the moment, besides you? How well can the teams perform internationally, in your opinion?

Saint: I think just make sure you understand your tier list and play for the win condition. I think that’s it.

Just be confident, you don’t need to worry about the LCK or LPL mid laners. It’s all the same person.

Luca: To finish, I wanted to ask one last question about the new champion Locke. We saw him in competitive already in Korea with the Kespa Cup. He is doing a lot of work.

Do you like it? Would you like to play it in competitive?

Saint: I mean, in MSI bootcamp, I played like 10 games of Locke. Even though I could not play him in MSI and EWC, it was really fun and too broken. Too broken.