After suffering a loss against G2 Esports in the LEC 2024 Season Finals, Bartłomiej "Fresskowy" Przewoźnik and his team, MAD Lions KOI, are now setting their sights on Worlds. With the need to battle through the play-ins, the team is already hard at work to build on their recent improvements and prove they are worthy representatives of Europe. In an exclusive League of Legends interview, the team's midlaner discusses their recent defeat, his personal growth over the season, and the team's identity heading into Worlds.

How do you feel after the defeat against G2 in the semifinals, considering you’ve still qualified for Worlds?

Fresskowy: I'm really angry. I think we could have won the series and didn’t play our best League of Legends today. We underperformed a bit. However, we can still take positives from these games. I'm happy we qualified for Worlds, so it's not all bad. Playing in Munich was amazing, especially in front of so many fans. Individually, I don't think I played badly; I performed well in the laning phases but struggled to translate my leads in the mid-game. I’m looking forward to improving from this series. I want to go to Worlds and try to improve as much as possible from that experience. I want to be the best next year. That's what I'm focusing on right now.

At the start of the year, you echoed this sentiment and said that you wished to be the best by the end of 2024. With your results this year, how close do you feel you are to achieving that goal?

Fresskowy: I think I'm closing the gap. I still need to improve a lot, but I don’t see myself being far from the top players. Currently, Caps and Humanoid are probably the better ones, but I believe I can match them. This year has been really useful despite the Spring and Summer splits not being the best quality of play from us. We threw many games, but we learned a lot about ourselves, especially me. It’s my first year in the LEC, and dealing with pressure, stress, and the anxiety of Worlds has been a big challenge. It has always been my dream to find myself here, so there's a lot of anxiety involved.

I’m happy to have gotten to know myself better this year, which will help me use official games more productively next year. I think I could have learned more about League of Legends itself this year, but I gained a lot in terms of mental strength. I’ll make sure to improve more in terms of gameplay next year.

Last year, you competed in the EMEA Masters finals in Montpellier, but this year, you moved up to compete in the LEC semifinals in Munich. Did the atmosphere differ between these two events? How did it feel attending such an event?

Fresskowy: I'm super grateful for this opportunity. It feels amazing because, as you mentioned, last year we were in the ERL with Movistar Riders, and now we're here in the LEC with MAD Lions KOI. It means we're doing something right, so I'm really happy. The experience was similar; last year’s final had a lot of people since we played against Karmine Corp in France, and it was a crazy atmosphere. It’s a similar experience, and I really like it. At Worlds, we’ll be playing on big stages as well, so it’s a valuable lesson and experience. Every pro player dreams of playing on these stages, so I’m super grateful for that.

After Summer, your Madrid bootcamp helped MAD Lions go from 7th to 3rd place and qualify for Worlds. Can we expect another bootcamp before Worlds? Is there a secret behind the Madrid offices that makes you this good? Maybe Madrid is the secret to MDK winning Worlds?!

Fresskowy: We're still discussing it. There's a chance we might go to Madrid again for a bootcamp, but we don’t know yet what will happen before Worlds. Since we just lost, we still need to talk things over and figure out the best plan to prepare for Worlds.

For sure, we’ll be doing something. We want to take a few days off now to rest, then reset completely and come back with new energy, plans, and ideas. We need to use this time really efficiently because it’s the most important part of the year for learning. We’ll be facing different countries and players, and the level will be much higher than what we're used to day by day. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to it—it’s going to be an amazing experience.

Your playstyle as a midlaner is quite different from others. Throughout the Season Finals, you had the lowest gold share among midlaners. How do you feel about your playstyle? Do you think it’s as effective as other midlaners' playstyles?

Fresskowy: I think I need to improve a lot. I need to be more demanding, if that makes sense. I’m not as selfish as some of the better midlaners who get more resources because they’re more confident and assertive. I tend to be more reserved and silent, so I can definitely work on being more proactive. I think that I should be able to provide more windows to my team to play through me. I want to bring more ideas to my team and improve on that.

In this series, for example, I had leads but I feel like I wasn't able to utilize them well enough and have a large impact on the match. I think I’m missing some of that, as I usually play a quieter role and do the less flashy tasks. But I believe I can improve a lot in this area.

What do you think is the biggest improvement you've made this year?

Fresskowy: Definitely my laning phase, I improved a lot there. I've also worked on my side-laning, though there's still room for growth. Confidence is another area where I've seen changes. It was shaky throughout the year—at first, I was pretty confident, but then I lost it a bit while adapting. I regained better confidence later on. Overall, these are the main areas I've improved.

Given your loss today, you'll start from the play-in stage and face teams from Asia-Pacific, Vietnam, Brazil, Latin America, and potentially North America. Do you feel confident about making it out of the play-in stage?

Fresskowy: Yeah, for sure. I’m confident we can make it to the main stage. That’s my goal for now. After that, I’ll focus on the future. Qualifying for the main stage means facing better players, which is very different from scrims. It’s a chance to test ourselves and learn as much as possible. Playing against Asian teams, whom we watch and review every day, will be an amazing experience. I really cannot wait to play against them on stage. I’m really hyped for that.

Are there any role models or specific players you're excited to face at Worlds?

Fresskowy: For sure, Chovy is one. But I'm looking forward to playing against anyone really, like Faker or Knight as well. There are so many good midlaners at Worlds that you could face, and I want to play against as many as possible.

Do you have a specific goal for Worlds, or are you just aiming to go as far as possible without a concrete objective?

Fresskowy: For now, the goal is to qualify for the main stage. My main focus, though, is to learn as much as I can. I don’t have a specific goal of winning or achieving something particular right now. I want to treat it as a learning experience, to take away as much as I can and improve so I’ll be a much better player next year.

Do you think the explosive playstyle you've used in the LEC will work on the world stage against higher-level teams?

Fresskowy: Yeah, for sure. We can learn from other teams, but I think it's important to stick to our identity and play to our strengths. We can adjust and improve, but this is our style, and I believe we'll continue with it.

Do you have a message for the MAD Lions KOI fans who have supported you throughout the year?

Fresskowy: I want to say thank you again for supporting us all year. It’s been a tough year, and I'm really sorry if we disappointed you. I believe we could have won the LEC this year. Both the spring and summer splits had their challenges, and we lost many games. But we've learned a lot this year. I’ll keep improving, make sure I become a better player, and help the team more. I'm confident we'll keep getting better and bring more joy to our fans because they truly deserve it.