In this year’s LEC 2025 Summer Playoffs, MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes spoke with the German ADC Elias Upset
Lipp. The professional player in League of Legends talked about his handling of pressure and his thoughts on the Fearless Draft.
The e-sport of League of Legends is also big in Europe, and this year in the top league LEC, 2 German professionals were able to show what they can do. Among them is Elias Lipp, also known as Upset, who has been playing as ADC for the well-known team Fnatic since 2024.
After his match against Karmine Corp and the prodigy Caliste, I was able to talk to Upset about the controversial Fearless Draft, which significantly influenced the e-sport of LoL, but also about the pressure on stage.
Upset on handling pressure and the meta
MeinMMO: First of all, congratulations. You played very well. So right to my first question: You played the first 2 matches with very consistent pressure? Not overly so, but very slow constant pressure. Then right after match 3, you changed the strategy a bit, much more aggressively. Did you plan to change from the beginning, or was it more of a spontaneous idea after you lost match 3?
Upset: I think we just didn’t play well in the third game, to be honest. I think our draft was harder to play, and we didn’t find the flow in the game, I would say.
MeinMMO: Fnatic is a very traditional team in League of Legends, and you have very passionate fans, as you could also hear in the stadium. How do you handle the pressure of playing for, well, qualifying for the Worlds?
Upset: I try not to think too much about those things. I always give my best, and what happens then is out of my control, so to speak.
MeinMMO: So, to more general questions. Bot lane is a role that is very present. Carry
is also in the name, but it can also be heavily affected by the meta, as we have seen in the recent changes. How do you approach training, as the way you play ADC changes significantly depending on the patch?
Upset: Yeah, I would say that with Fearless [this refers to the Fearless Draft established in 2025] it’s a bit easier to incorporate your individual preferences. Before, it was very meta-dependent. I would now say that you have a bit more freedom. I think it just depends on finding what fits you very well and then implementing that.
MeinMMO: Would there be anything in general that you would wish from Riot for the ADC role for next year?
Upset: I’m relatively satisfied with the meta, so I play Kai’Sa, Zeri, I even played Vayne, a bit of Twitch, so I can’t complain.
MeinMMO: Is there any other champion, whether ADC or otherwise, no matter how absurd, that you would like to see more often in pro play?
Upset: Maybe, I mean, I have played Vayne already, but more Vayne. Vayne is a lot of fun, yeah. Exactly.
MeinMMO: Regarding the ADC role, it’s very mechanical, very difficult. How do you keep yourself fit for it?
Upset: I play about 80% of my life League of Legends, probably.
MeinMMO: Is there anything else you play?
Upset: I enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering. Yeah.
Beginner tips and the Fearless Draft
MeinMMO: If someone says: Hey, I want to get better at LoL. Beginners as ADC or generally: Do you have three quick tips that one should keep in mind to improve?
Upset: Yeah, learn from your mistakes – learn from your mistakes, farm better and don’t tilt.
MeinMMO: And looking towards the Worlds: Which ADC would you most like to face off against at the Worlds?
Upset: I would like to play against Viper again, it was so much fun back then. [Viper is the Korean ADC of the team Hanwha Life, which also qualified for the Worlds 2025.]
MeinMMO: […] Germany is still a bit under the radar, although it has produced many top players, including you and BrokenBlade. And you also played for Schalke from 2017 to 2019, and Schalke then stopped, then tried to play again, but it didn’t work too well. What does Germany lack, in your opinion, to become a top-League of Legends
nation so that the whole world looks at Germany?
Upset: It’s very hard to say, there are certainly an unlimited number of factors that could lead to people playing less League in Germany or that the talent pool is decreasing [.] I don’t know, it’s too complex a topic, to be honest.
MeinMMO: Also in relation to tomorrow [referring to your match in the LEC semifinals against Movistar KOI]. If you win there, you’ll also have a third game, three days in a row. How does the preparation go so that you can handle that much pressure in such a short succession?
Upset: Yeah, it’s very difficult to come down after such a stage game in front of so many people. So tonight, we will just try to rest as best as possible, and luckily the coaches don’t have to play. So they can stay up a bit longer and hopefully develop a good strategy.
And then, yes, we will come here tomorrow rested and talk about how we want to approach the game. But most of the preparation has already been done over the entire year. So how we have worked over the whole year will show this weekend.
MeinMMO: Do you feel the energy of the fans in the game? I mean, when you sit in the audience, you can feel: Yes, this is Fnatic, these are the fans. Do you feel that on stage?
Upset: I just feel that I’m very in the zone. I see the game very clearly, it feels a bit slower, but at the same time not. Sometimes you play, and it’s a bit boring, and you get a bit stressed, you want to do something, but […] it feels slower, but at the same time, you are very present. Because the atmosphere is what it is. That’s the feeling, I would say.
MeinMMO: And in general, we’ve already talked about it. Fearless Draft, probably the biggest topic this year in LoL. Are you satisfied with it or would you prefer to focus more on individual champions?
Upset: In itself, I like a more structured approach to practice, and that is harder with Fearless because there is so much variation. But at the same time, if it gives me the opportunity to play characters that are my favorites but are not always meta, I also see a good side to that.
MeinMMO: Alright, that would be it.
Upset: Okay, thank you very much.
MeinMMO: Thank you.
How did it go for Fnatic after the match against Karmine Corp? Fnatic made it to the semifinals of the LEC 2025 Summer Playoffs after the match against Karmine Corp. They then faced the Spanish team Movistar KOI on September 27, 2025. Unfortunately, they lost the match, thus being eliminated from the tournament and finishing 3rd. However, against the champion of the LEC, Movistar KOI also had no chance: Danish superstar shows with his team in LoL why they are the biggest LoL hope for Europe
