Worlds 2023 R7 Ceo: “I just really want to make the fans proud”

Worlds 2023 kicked off in Seoul with an MSI 2023 rematch between the PCS, PSG and LLA, Moviestar 7. Although it was 2-0 to PSG, when we caught up with the ADC of R7, Lorenzo "Ceo" Tévez didn't seem too disheartened and was thoroughly enjoying being in Korea for his first-ever Worlds.

This is your first ever Worlds [congrats!], with that in mind, what did you learn from being on the international stage at MSI?

r7 Ceo: "Back at MSI, I think I was a different person – the time that has passed since then I think has made me more mature as a player, these things are what I want to show at Worlds, to show I’ve developed and progressed and can do better, and that I learned from the experience of MSI."

How do you hope to bring what you've learned to Worlds?

r7 Ceo: "While we were back in LATAM, I think I've improved a lot in the laning phase and just general team fighting which are obviously important and something I want to show at Worlds - as something I improved and learned from, from being at MSI."

Within your home region (LATAM), R7 has seen a lot of success, especially in finals where you 3-0'ed your opponents – how do you feel you stack up among other wildcard regions?

r7 Ceo: "Well, we just played against PSG and I think I did pretty well in the laning phase, unlucky stuff happened but based on scrims, I think I stack up well to the other minor regions. But I have to work a lot harder to compete against the major regions, for example Europe or NA."

You’ve obviously played PSG before [at MSI 2023], what was going through your mind knowing you would face them again? Is it exciting for a rematch or do you wish there was an opportunity to play someone else?

r7 Ceo: "I'm always happy to have a rematch with PSG, I want to prove that as a team we can beat all the minor regions and I can beat the other minor region ADCs. I just really want to make our fans proud."

In Game 2, we watched you try and put PSG behind, is this a strategy you've learned from playing them before or is this your playstyle being used on them?

r7 Ceo: "We never scrim PSG as we are always rivals, but our strategy is based on knowing our limits and knowing what we need to do to set ourselves up for a good game. We were quite nervous so even though we had advantages, when other things happened [in game] it became harder for us to win."

From an audience perspective it looked like Game 2 was slowly slipping away from you and the rest of R7, what were you thinking as you were playing this match?

r7 Ceo: "From my perspective, it felt like we were really stomping bottom lane and that was going really well, but as the game went on we didn’t get the information we needed and that made it more difficult which was unlucky. And when they start getting objectives, it became really hard to play, especially when they would group mid. They already had the advantage, we were trying to do something; it just wasn’t really working out how we wanted it to."

So when we met you at MSI we didn't get to ask you what animal you think you are - so what animal are you and why?

r7 Ceo: "I think I would be a lion – strong and cool [interviewer – do you like cats as well, does that play a part in your choice?] [laughs] no, just because they look cool and are strong."

With Worlds being hosted in Korea, it would be rude not to ask what the food is like?

r7 Ceo: "Korean food is way better than British food, I really love being in Korea, really good food, the city is very beautiful, and playing here is just so awesome [...] I’ve been at LoL Park a lot and it was pretty cool to see all the merch and the museum of all the jerseys from other players, and I always wanted to visit LoL Park so I'm really glad I get to now."

Unlike a lot of regions, the LCK stage is set up so that teams are actually opposite each other (give or take a monitor), do you find being opposite your opponent as opposed to being to the side of them makes the match scarier?

r7 Ceo: "Playing in front of each other with our monitors pointing towards each other, I really don’t care and it doesn’t bother me as I'm looking at my monitor only. But being opposite each other is exciting because you are able to see your opponent when you are moving around more so than when the stage is split."

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