It’s just been gut punch after gut punch for Immortals Progressive so far in the 2022 League of Legends Championship summer split. It seems like every game so far this season has been one’s where the team appeared to turn the corner and start moving up the standings only to constantly move down. Despite the team playing much better than their record indicates, the team has not been able to close out games. The 3-10 squad experienced another brutal week that saw them carry leads against the two best teams in the league in Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves. But the result has been the same, play hard and come up short. Even the most stoic pro players have a tipping point; it’s impossible for morale to be high after constant heartbreak. IMT’s top laner Mohamed “Revenge” Kaddoura isn’t afraid to admit that.
“Honestly, it’s been really hard; I just try to keep looking forward,” Revenge said. “But it just feels really bad to not get wins when they feel deserved.”
The story of IMT’s second half has been the same in nearly every single game. Take control of the game, be in the driver’s seat and then lose in a blink of an eye. It’s happened against nearly every single team in front of them including Counter Logic Gaming, Team Liquid Honda as well as the aforementioned EG and 100. It’s definitely not fun to lose games, especially not this often, but Revenge gets through it in his own ways.
“I do rock climbing in my free time, that helps take my mind off of League,” Revenge said. “But I honestly dedicate most of my time and thoughts and everything to League, 90% of my thoughts, 90% of my time is League, its not always easy for me to disconnect.”
“Sometimes, it’s just a matter of me taking a step back and doing something like bouldering outside of playing the game to remind myself where I am and what I need to do to be my 100% and be my best self.”
Since Revenge is so early in his professional career, the strive to improve is greater than the negatives around losing for him. The young top laner is quick to reflect on each game, taking positives out of the losses. At the end of the day, it’s all about self improvement for Revenge.
“I feel like I’ve been improving a lot as a player and that makes me happy,” Revenge said. “But of course, I’m more happy if we can win, so I’m just gonna keep trying to be as consistent as I can and help us win more games.”
In the match against EG, Revenge shut down EG’s top laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-young hard. However, EG still won the game in spite of Impact’s 1/8/4 performance. Revenge is glad that he’s showing his value by putting up great performances, but that alone doesn’t translate into wins. He can’t control what his team does in the game, but he said he does try to keep his team morale high during these rough losses.
“We have a great group of guys together and we really enjoy being around each other,” Revenge said. “I think that’s ultimately what it’s gonna come down to is keeping our team relations high and focusing on improving as much as we can.”
Shockingly, playoffs are very much alive for IMT as eight of the 10 teams make it to post-season play. IMT is just a single game behind eighth place with five games left to play. Although the losses are rough, there is no question in Revenge’s mind that IMT will make playoffs.
“I think people should not count our team out,” Revenge said. “I hope people see these recent performances against the top teams shows that we can compete with everyone and we are constantly improving every week.”
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