Natus Vincere faced Movistar KOI in the lower-bracket final of the LEC Summer Playoffs 2026 in Nice – with the last remaining European Worlds slot on the line. Afterwards, support Parus spoke openly about his role as a shotcaller, comparing this year to his difficult rookie season at Team BDS, and the upcoming Demacia Cup.
"They were just better than us"
RunItDown: MKOI came into this split with horrendous form and still beat you 2:0 back in the regular season. Now they've beaten you again. Does your opponent's form make a difference for how you approach a match?
Parus: I don't think so. Most teams are kind of the same, except maybe G2 and KC. They usually want to play around jungle, get a lead, and play for mid lane to generate gold. I think MKOI is doing that better than us right now. Every time, they are just better, faster, and more decisive. But we don't do anything fundamentally different against this team.
RunItDown: So that's essentially the biggest reason you couldn't beat them either two weeks ago or today – the decisiveness, the speed?
Parus: I think their biggest strength is how they play for Jojopyun (MKOI's mid laner). I think he's a really good player, and they know how to get him time, items, and farm, and let him scale. In the late game, they're pretty strong in teamfights.
We were grouping early, we dropped some waves – I'd say they kind of outsmarted us. What we could do better: sometimes they step up when they shouldn't. We could punish that, be more decisive. Today we weren't decisive at all. They make mistakes – you just need to capitalize on it. We just weren't good at that today.
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"We gave them easy opportunities"
RunItDown: For most of the split, MKOI has struggled to close games out cleanly. Is that something you think about consciously in a match against them – like, if we fall behind in gold, we wait for their mistakes specifically because it's MKOI?
Parus: I think, except for G2 and Karmine Corp, nobody in the LEC knows how to close out waves like we do. You can see that from game one – you know you have time, you can scale, and play for enemy mistakes.
But you still need to play well, we know that too. And we gave them easy opportunities to kill us and hand them control. We were late – that's why they finished game two so fast, I think. We just didn't know what our comp wanted to do. We played right into their hands, and they punished us for it.
"I'm not demanding enough of my team"
RunItDown: Your rookie year at BDS in 2025 was, by most accounts, a rough one. We know NAVI specifically wanted a vocal shotcaller in that support role for 2026 and picked you over more experienced names partly because of that voice. How would you evaluate your first year at NAVI against that backdrop?
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Parus: I think there are areas where I can do better. Overall, I talk a lot, but I'm not demanding enough of my team. I try to get vision on my own instead of calling my teammates to skip a wave or something similar – that's what a really good support can do. But I don't do it enough yet. That's my main focus, that's where I see room to improve. I need to be more confident in what I know and involve my teammates more. Usually I try to get vision without drawing my teammates' attention, so they can farm and take camps in peace. But I don't think that's the best approach I can take.
RunItDown: So the next step for you would be growing more into a leadership role and actively pulling your jungler, mid laner, and bot laner along, instead of just supporting?
Parus: Yeah, I think being more demanding about vision and control is really important. If your support does that, it's a big extra – I don't think I've done that well enough so far. I wasn't calling much, I was mostly the guy who helps everyone, or at least tries to. I think that's the weaker part of my game, and that's exactly what I'd want to work on.
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"I still hope the best for the players"
RunItDown: BDS has clearly had a much worse season than you this year. Did you expect that when you made the switch to NAVI?
Parus: To be honest, I didn't expect them to achieve much. I think there are bigger problems on that team than people know. But I wouldn't say I expected to do way better than them – I just didn't expect them to achieve much because there are clear issues. I still think they have decent players. Nuc, for example, I thought was really good – I think he's maybe lost some motivation by now, he's apparently taking a break this year. I think there were flashes from individual players, but they weren't cohesive as a five last year, and they're still not this year. There are problems they couldn't fix. But I still hope the best for the players.
"I'd like to go to China and play some games"
RunItDown: You're now locked in for the Demacia Cup – the first time this tournament has ever taken place. Now that you basically have to play in it, what do you think of Riot adding this extra international event to the calendar?
Parus: I think it'll be more chaotic than anything. It'll be more for fun – not that we're only playing for fun, but the teams going there aren't "clean" teams anymore. Maybe KT Rolster can play clean against the other teams and show their strength. But I'd like to go to China and play some games. I think it'll be fun, and I think we can put up a decent performance.
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RunItDown: Why should I, as a European fan, be confident that you can beat KT Rolster, Team WE, or LGD?
Parus: Against KT it'll be hard, no question. But I think Korean teams aren't that strong on the macro side. They test you more on skill, they're pretty good at skills and micro. If an LEC team plays to its macro strength and doesn't fall into their hands – like takes every skirmish, fight, fight, fight – you can probably beat them. If you can play macro, I see a chance. Macro is more of a newer approach for Korean teams, one they still struggle with.
RunItDown: Last question, leaving KT aside: give me the one reason you're going to win the Demacia Cup.
Parus: Rhilech is going to carry us. I'm like everyone else, really – I try to help my teammates, and when you give them a lead, we usually make good things happen. That's exactly how I'll approach it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.