Humanoid opens up about Fnatic’s scrim woes during Worlds 2022, and paving his own road to improvement this year

This League of Legends Worlds 2022 coverage is brought to you by EsportsBet.IO, the official betting partner of Dot Esports. Visit EsportsBet.IO for the best betting odds and in-depth match analytics.

Be gamble aware!

After their surprising loss to LOUD on day three of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship, Fnatic’s star mid laner Humanoid remained transparent on the current issues plaguing him and his team, especially when it comes to practicing and preparing for the tournament.

Before the start of Worlds, his teammate and bottom lane star Upset revealed that the team had yet to scrim before the tournament, sending LEC fans and analysts into a state of worry. The lack of prep time after the 2022 LEC Summer Playoffs was already a major issue, but right before they were set to travel over to North America, both Upset and Hylissang tested positive for COVID-19.

“I think this Worlds was hard to prepare for because our plans got ruined by a lot of people getting sick,” Humanoid said. “I was sick a week ago and then [our] bottom lane got COVID so then we couldn’t really scrim much… It was pretty hard so far.”

Riot and Fnatic had no choice but to delay the two players’ flight to Mexico City, which meant that Fnatic had to scrim with their substitute players, AD carry BEAN and support Rhuckz. It was an unfortunate circumstance that could have had disastrous results, but the team powered through with a 3-1 record heading into the fourth and final day of play-in groups.

Although Rhuckz did play relatively well in his Worlds debut on day one, Humanoid said that the full starting roster has yet to practice together, which is a huge problem. If Fnatic can get out of play-ins, the 22-year-old thinks this team will finally get a chance to scrim together the week after play-in stage ends. Health-wise, the team is doing pretty well except for Hylissang, who is still feeling a bit under the weather but game-ready.

With such a bumpy road set before him, it would be easy for a player’s confidence to be shaken at such an important event. But Humanoid believes that the adversity he’s dealt with over the past year has helped hone him into his best, most reliable form yet.

“[Over the year], I think I learned how to be at my best at the most important moments, especially at Worlds and [in] playoffs,” Humanoid said. ‘It happened to me many times, where I would get burnt out in past years, but now I feel really good, and I’m just ready to stomp everyone.”

Fnatic still tops the standings in group A, tied for first alongside Evil Geniuses. Humanoid actually had plenty of praise for the NA team’s young mid laner Jojopyun, praising him as the best mid laner in the group—besides him, of course. But now, the confident Czech star will need to put his money where his mouth is when he tries to lock in first place with a win against Beyond Gaming at 3pm CT.