“We’re the underdogs, and we’re winning:” NAVI Rhilech on his growth, attitude, and LEC success
Natus Vincent (NAVI) entered LEC against 2026 with a nearly complete rookie program and little to no expectations after its summer 2025 debut.
However, the program quickly shook up the standings and became one of the first three teams to make the playoffs, finishing their first season in second place. An important part of that run has been the team’s jungler, Enes’.Rhilech‘You can.
In an interview with Esports Insider after NAVI’s victory over G2, Rhilech opened up about the mindset that shaped his journey from ERL champion to one of the LEC’s top contenders. Rhilech shared details about NAVI’s no-nonsense attitude, the team’s focus on improving results, and the champion picks it hopes to field in the Fearless Draft — Shaco not included.
Read the full interview below.
Esports Insider: First off, can you give me your thoughts on the matchup against G2?
Rhilech: It sounds amazing. We just hit G2. It was like a stomp game.
It was really amazing to win against G2, especially against SkewMond, because two years ago, when he was in the LFL, I didn’t win against him. And going into the LEC, in the fourth week of my first job, he made the Worlds like top eight, beating him here feels really amazing.
ESI: Guys [NAVI] you entered the league with a lot of confidence, you proved yourself with many rookies in your roster, and everyone is now talking about you as one of the potential winners of LEC Versus. Psychologically, how does that make you feel?
Rhilech: It sounds really amazing. We are the underdogs, and we are winning. It’s a really good feeling.
For other players, I don’t think we are young. We are going to be the top four, top five teams in the eyes of other teams from now on. So it will be great to play in the playoffs as well.
ESI: Is there anything about your game that you wanted to improve on heading into last week’s regular season?
Rhilech: In general, great gameplay, I think that’s the biggest problem. We are really good players. We are good at mechanics. We are on the same page, but our macro is lacking at times – especially against Karmine Corp. That was a really hard game to play. They really had control over the map. They beat us on the map. So we want to improve on the small gameplay.
ESI: We’re about to go to the finals, how excited are you about Fearless Draft? Are there any jungle champions you’d like to play?
Rhilech: I think I have already brought many champions. I have a really good feeling about Fearless, but we’ll see, because we didn’t write Fearless. It was like the best four weeks in the LEC.
There was no point criticizing Fearless. But starting next week, we’ll start scrimmaging Fearless, and we’ll see what we can bring. I don’t know yet, the skill, the maximum number of champions I can bring, but you will see.
ESI: We talked to Sheo today at the Rebel Group, and he said something about the Shaco forest…
ESI: Very difficult?
Rhilech: No, no, no way. There is no chance. Well Shaco is coming and he’s going to steal my level 1 red. Oh my God. I can’t think. [laughs]
ESI: Which champion would you really like to play? You said you have a really good champion pool, and you’ve been showing it this week. Is there maybe a champion, with Patch 26.03, who thinks it is good to play?
Rhilech: I’ve seen Hecarim frustrated and tried him with SoloQ, and I really like him. Actually, when I first started playing League, Ekko, Hecarim, and Kayn were my top three champions. I was only playing these three.
I want to maybe bring Hecarim or Kayn to Fearless Draft in the playoffs. It will be really amazing to win with my champions in the playoffs against some of the best teams in the LEC.
ESI: How did you feel when you arrived at LEC? Did you have any expectations that may not have been met?
Rhilech: My expectation was to be in the top four in the LEC in my first year.
In my second year, I want to be the best. I want to be the best jungler in the league next year, that’s what I expect. So far so good, I think. I feel like I’m in the top four junglers and we’ll see next month how it goes and then next year.
ESI: Did anything disappoint you while playing in the LEC?
Rhilech: The only disappointing part was like the spectators. I don’t think there are many LEC viewers. Maybe it’s because of the regular games, but the stage feels smaller than I expected.
And there aren’t too many people watching. It’s like 200 people, I think. I was expecting 1,000 or something, but other than that, I’m not disappointed or anything.
ESI: You have some tours coming up in the Spring, so you can see a different side of the audience there. Have you seen the LEC fans meet and greet?
Rhilech: After the games we have fan meetings, and it’s really nice to see people interacting with you, seeing their opinions on Twitter and other places. It feels really good. The art is really good. People know you, people know you’re good, people know you play well — that feels amazing.
On the road trip, that’s our team goal right now, to go to Barcelona, and we’re working on that, and we’ll be there.
ESI: There is a recent partnership with Movember announced by the LEC. What do you think about the LEC offering more support to players with their mental health?
Rhilech: I don’t know how this works because I didn’t get any bad habits or anything, but the idea is good. Bringing this to help the players, to help them develop and build character.
ESI: If you’re comfortable sharing, how is your mental health in this sport and being a professional athlete?
Rhilech: My approach is ‘fail to improve’. I don’t just want to win. I want to keep improving. If you keep improving, even just 1% every day, eventually, eventually, you will win. That’s the biggest thing that matters when you’re a top player. And most of the players don’t understand this, they only want to win, win, win… But winning is not the only important thing.
ESI: How did you come to this conclusion? Did anyone support you in the early stages of your career?
Rhilech: The biggest turning point was last year for BK ROG Esports when we won the LFL. But everything – the crims – was going really badly, we were faltering in the official games. We got choked up, but after one point, I realized, “okay, it doesn’t matter, in the end, we need to improve. We need to focus on the next one.”
In this sense, working together as a group, we became close like this. It worked very well; we won the LFL. We went from almost being eliminated one game to winning the LFL. It was truly a miracle.
This year, in the LEC team, we are really professionals. We all have a mental coach, Zuzanna Hejduk-Mostowy. He is really helpful in this matter as well and everyone is on the same page regarding the development. We care about winning, but the main goal is to improve, and everyone has this mentality in the team.
