Fresh off of his 5th NACL title in 5 splits, CNV Tomio on his next goal: “I’d like to be playing in LCS. I want to see how I do with a full split. I think I’m a much better player than I was in 2024.”

Home > Articles > Fresh off of his 5th NACL title in 5 splits, CNV Tomio on his next goal: “I’d like to be playing in LCS. I want to see how I do with a full split. I think I’m a much better player than I was in 2024.”

Tomio and Conviction claimed the NACL 2026 Spring championship after a rough regular season in which the team finished in 6th place. This marks Tomio’s 5th NACL championship win since 2023 across 4 different teams. He has won every split of the NACL that he has played. Despite this, his time in the LCS was limited to a stint of six games with the last-placed Shopify Rebellion in 2024. We sat down with Tomio to discuss his latest NACL title, his path to pro, and what more he needs to do to earn another shot at the LCS.

You had a very dominant playoffs run with Conviction to your fifth NACL title. Were you surprised to see the other top teams eliminated in the lower bracket? What helped you guys show such a dominant postseason performance?

Tomio: I think it might have been harder if we had played other teams, but we’ll never know. I think we'd win either way. Going into playoffs, we started changing our drafts a bit. We realized we should put Sniper on his comfort champs instead of putting him on tanks. We’d ban the global champions like Pantheon and Nocturne so our laners can play however they want. We never dropped a game after we banned those champs.

What drove the roster moves and how did you build chemistry with the new roster so quickly?

Tomio: We were in a tough situation among staff, players, coaches, and management. I think we didn't have people with the same mindset. There wasn’t a lot of trust, and that extended to not listening to each other in the game. We just had really different ideas of how to play the game and what to do in different situations. On top of that, we also had draft limitations from champ pool issues, and overall, the team just wasn’t coming together the way we needed. We definitely did have a lot of internal issues.

How did the environment on Conviction compare to your previous NACL-winning teams, like Luminosity?

Tomio: On Luminosity, we actually dropped games to teams in the regular season. It was no different this time with Conviction. We found what we needed to work on, and when everybody was aligned with that and was willing to fix it, it became pretty easy. To fix the problem, you just have to find what your team's weakness is. Even if it's the same core players, there's always going to be something there. Even if we're winning the matches, we always find something to learn, and I think when everybody's on the same page, you can always have a winning roster in NACL or even at the top leagues. Teamwork and collaboration in and out of the game play a big role.

How does shot calling and playmaking work for Conviction?

Tomio: I usually do most of the shotcalling because I'm playing jungle, and I see a lot of opportunities in the game. Sometimes I kind of use my teammates as chess pieces. If I see they can come, I'll just tell them to come or I plan ahead so everybody knows the game plan and everybody's on the same page. I think it’s important that everybody's not doing too many solo plays or doing too many different things. It makes it a lot easier for me because once I see opportunities in the game, I know when to move the game forward or when we need to slow down. If somebody has a dive or some unique play, they'll call something, but usually, especially in the early to mid game, I have a lot of say in what we do as a team.

Let’s take a step back from the present and look at your career journey from the start. What was your introduction to gaming in general? Was League the first competitive game you played?

Tomio: I started when I was really young. My dad was a gamer, so I started with a lot of consoles from his generation. I started off with a Pong game on his Blackberry. Then he brought me on to the PlayStation 3, the Nintendo DS. I played a lot of the games he had when I was a kid. I don't remember exactly when, but I started off playing Minecraft, and I loved the PVP aspect and the Factions servers. Later, I played Overwatch; I reached GM playing that game while maining Genji and McCree. When Fortnite came out, since it was free, I got into that as well.

At that time, I only played League casually; I was just Silver or Gold, but I never actually played seriously. I only cared about the border and the skin that you get for free. I think it was 2019 when I reached Masters, and then the preseason of the next season I reached Challenger just playing Rengar. I was beating pro players and streamers I recognized, so when the new season came out, I just grinded solo queue after school. I got three accounts to 1,000 LP. Nowadays, it's like whatever, but when I got 1,000 LP, it was Rank 40. Eventually Rengar would get perma-banned, so I had to learn other champions. I picked up champions like Nidalee, Gragas, and Graves. I think playing Rengar helped me play those champions because those champs need mechanics and instincts when you’re in the moment.

In 2020, there was Scouting Grounds, which you qualified for from your ladder rank and your role. I qualified for it without even knowing. I did pretty well at the event, and I got picked up by EG for their Tier 3 team. That was my first time seriously competing.

How did you choose to play jungle? Did you consider any other roles?

Tomio: Jungle is just my favorite role. I picked the role because I was a big fan of watching Meteos when he was on C9, and that was why my old IGN was C2 Meteos. I wanted to play like him; I tried Zac. I wasn't really interested in any other roles unless I got autofilled. I enjoy it because you have so much control over the game, and I love influence and impact at all stages of the game. I'd say if I were to pick a different role to swap to, it would probably just be ADC because you just need mechanics for that role and good awareness. For jungle, you need a lot of awareness and decision-making, but mechanics are also important.

How did you decide to join EG Prodigies after Scouting Grounds?

Tomio: I was already planning to join them before Scouting Grounds because we had an amateur team already called Zenith Esports. We were just scrimming and playing random tournaments, and the scouts at EG wanted the team and I guess me specifically. I didn't really have any other offers or opportunities and I didn't look for any others. I was happy because I was already playing with the team that was going to be on the EG Prodigies team.

We did really well. We beat two Academy teams in the first Proving Grounds tournament when Academy was still around. After that, I got promoted to the Academy team.

Were you expecting to be promoted to Academy so quickly, or do you think it was because of your strong results in LCS Proving Grounds?

Tomio: I was probably expecting it. The promotion process was specifically the situation because at the time, they were running a six-man roster. Contractz was the Academy jungler, but they wanted him on the six-man LCS roster with Svenskeren, so they needed a new Academy jungler. I was in the system already and was doing well, so it was no problem to promote me.

How did you grow as a player from joining Zenith to the end of your time at EG Academy at the end of 2022? What did you learn?

Tomio: I learned to be more of a leader in shotcalling what I would want to do in the game and what the team needs to do, whether it's to pull people to the objectives or getting the team on the same page. I think I improved a lot near the end of EG Academy before I left. We were a dark horse team in the playoffs, and we were doing pretty well. We almost beat Team Liquid Academy, or we should have beaten them. We were in pretty good spots in the game, but we just didn't manage to finish it, which was sad. Overall though, the biggest thing for me was learning to be a leader.

You left EG Academy at the end of 2022 and joined C9 Challengers in 2023. That’s where your still-unbroken NACL win streak began. You won Spring with C9 then Summer with DSG. What changed in 2023 that helped you go from a competitor in Tier 2 to winning everything across multiple organizations?

Tomio: C9 Challengers helped me grow a lot as a player as I was surrounded by a lot of veterans. It was a good environment for me to learn. I was able to learn a lot and very fast because I was able to make a lot of mistakes. I was able to play without any pressure, and they were bringing the best out of me as a player. I learned as a jungler what were the good and not-so-good decisions to make. I learned what to do for the scenarios that pop up or when certain things happen in the game and how to adapt. And yeah, I think that was the biggest learning point for me.

They had a lot of coaches. I think any player who goes there, at least at the time when Academy was a thing, can grow and reach their full potential. Not only in the game, but they can also grow outside the game as a player because I'd say they treat you like family at C9. You work out, they provide food, and they always check up on you and make sure you're always in a good headspace for performance and in general. You just feel good.

What was it like to transition from C9, a super well-resourced legacy org, to a brand-new team like DSG? Was that a change of pace? How did you stay successful across two organizational environments?

Tomio: It was a big change. I went from playing in-person to playing remote. Also, we were planning to play with the same teammates, or at least keep four members of the roster, but then we ended up with two different members. The biggest challenge was restarting and learning to play with a different team even though we did have the same core. I think that process was very important because we weren't the strongest team at the beginning. Even in the playoffs, the games were pretty close. We grinded hard and peaked at the right moment in the playoffs, which is the only time that matters, honestly. Even on C9 Challengers, we actually lost to Dignitas in the upper bracket finals. We lost 1-3, and then we went 3-1 in the rematch in the Finals. The biggest challenge was just adapting, getting to know new teammates, and improving even if you lose the matches or you're not winning scrims as hard. You're online, so teammates, including yourself, can be a bit less focused or less motivated. It's important to keep discipline, especially when you're online, to show up in scrims, show up in matches, because you only have so much time with your teammates.

Winning NACL with DSG was your second straight championship with a similar roster. Clearly, you guys were a cut above the Tier 2 scene. How did you decide to sign with Shopify in the 2024 offseason? What other offers did you consider?

Tomio: I thought I was going to go to LCS. I thought I’d get a spot at least, but surprisingly there were no opportunities. Shopify was a sub spot, which I think the staff and the players had a say in because they liked the idea of keeping the core together, and maybe I’d play in the future. If I didn't have that sub spot, I probably would have played NACL again. That was my only opportunity to even be in the LCS, so I took it.

What did you learn from that experience as a sub in Spring and then playing in the Summer of 2024? Would you have done anything differently with the benefit of hindsight?

Tomio: It's important, especially as a jungler, not to become a passenger. You want to have your own opinion about the game. Even if things are going wrong or if the team you play on isn’t doing too well, you don't want to sacrifice yourself too much. Once you learn the way that you win games, you don't want to abandon that even if you aren't winning or doing well as a team. It's easy to lose confidence as a team, and everybody plays worse. Whether it's in the draft or scenarios in the game or how the team is playing, it’s important to still have strong opinions. If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself that.

In 2025, was Luminosity the obvious choice, or were there any other teams that you were considering?

Tomio: I didn't really know what I was doing until they said there was going to be a promotion tournament at the end. The guys wanted to get together to play with each other again and try to fight for the DSG spot. We were looking for an ADC and decided to try to get Tactical. Promotion was something fun for us all to compete for, and LG wanted us. It wasn't really planned. I don’t know if we’d have played if promotion wasn’t a thing.

Once again, it was pretty clear that you guys were stronger than the other NACL teams in both splits. You were one series away from promotion to the LCS. If that team couldn’t promote, who could? Do you think the structural advantages of funding and scrim partners for the incumbent LCS team are insurmountable, or do you think there’s a world where you took DSG out?

Tomio: For sure, it's not impossible. It's very possible because the only advantage they get is more scrims against better players and better teams, but just from my experience on a different day we would have taken them out. We were in such good positions in those games. We were up so much gold every game and I thought we were going to win the series. In the first game, we threw a 7k gold lead. We just weren't able to finish the game and do the correct steps to win the game without throwing. I think it's very doable because in the end, it's just League of Legends. Unless it's a clear stomp, it's anybody's game. That's how I felt, at least. I think most teams that will compete will have a shot. I think Estral could have had a shot if they didn't lose their top laner. In the end, it's anybody's day because everybody's nervous, and it's more on them to lose or keep the spot.

How was the environment playing remote with Luminosity in Tier 2 competing for that Tier 1 spot compared to playing in Tier 1 with Shopify? What was it like to transition to LCS in 2024, then transition back to NACL in 2025? Were you able to continue improving?

Tomio: Even if you're at a level higher than your competition, you can always still learn and improve on things as a team or individually. In the end, it's important to have discipline because no matter what in this game, you can never be perfect at a thing. You can try to be, but it's always important to be very consistent and have purpose, whether it's in the game or out of the game. It's easy to lose motivation or discipline because your opponents are just falling over or you might come into the day thinking we're just going to win the games anyways. I think it's important to always practice hard no matter what you're doing and competing in. I'd say there wasn't a really big transition. Just do your individual job and try to contribute as much as you can even though it's hard. You have to have grit.

What did this past offseason look like for you in terms of the opportunities that were available to you?

Tomio: I thought I played very well in the Promotion Tournament and throughout the whole year. I was talking a bit with some teams but didn't really get the opportunity I was looking for. I was looking to maybe play in Europe in the LFL. I was considering playing for BK ROG, but I heard rumors that they didn't pay their players on time. It just seemed like a really tricky situation where I’d rather stay at home and play NACL. I heard that they lost their spot for financial reasons, so I guess I made the right choice there.

Would you consider playing EU Tier 2 in the future? Do you think it’s a better environment for development as a player?

Tomio: I would play there for sure if I got a good opportunity. It depends on the situation, but it's a good place for players to develop because it's more competitive there. They have more players, EMEA Masters, and the opportunity for some teams from Tier 2 to play against LEC teams. They're more open to inviting NA players these days, I think. Some LEC orgs have Tier 2 teams, and I think that helps a lot. I think there's no problem for NA players with aspirations to go pro to go there.

What do you have to do to get a shot at a full split in the LCS? How does that factor in the decision whether or not to keep playing pro? How many more times do you have to win NACL to get that chance?

Tomio: If I want to get out of Tier 2, I need to win promotion. It doesn’t look like I’ll get a shot otherwise. Winning NACL is too easy and free, so I'm just going to keep doing it. I still enjoy improving, learning, getting better at the game, and competing. I'll keep doing it until I lose the passion. If I think I can win the league, I'll always keep playing because it's fun to win. For reaching LCS though, winning promotion is all that matters.

Where would you like to see yourself in 2027?

Tomio: I’d like to be playing in LCS. I want to see how I do with a full split. I think I’m a much better player than I was in 2024. I wasn’t myself for sure; I fell into the classic rookie mistake of becoming a passenger. You absolutely cannot do that as a jungler. With what I’ve learned since then, I want to get a good split in, leave it all out there, and see what I can really do.

What else do you like to do outside of the game, whether that's other games, physical activities, other interests?

Tomio: I go to the gym a lot, five times a week at least. Also, I play TFT. That's the only game I've ever touched in a while other than League.

Do you happen to also enjoy rock climbing? That's something we've seen with a lot of NA people; they all love to do rock climbing. Are you part of the rock climbing mafia?

Tomio: No, I don't like rock climbing. My friends from when I was in school don't really rock climb and it's not interesting to me. Maybe if somebody got me into it, I'd like it.

Tomio will return with Conviction in the NACL Summer Split to defend the title of NACL champion. If you’re interested in improving your own League gameplay, check out League of Legends coaching from pros like Tomio on ProDiff.

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