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Meet Red Bull Solo Q 2022's top two players, SneakyLemon and arnax
We caught up with the winner and runner-up of Red Bull Solo Q 2022 to find out how it felt to be crowned the top 1v1 League of Legends players in the world.
The dust has settled on Red Bull Solo Q 2022, and a winner has emerged – Ahilleas 'SneakyLemon' Natsis, currently the substitute jungler for Greek Legends League 2022 Pro-Am's Team Refuse took down everyone in his path to secure the top spot and the coveted trophy.
It was a tough battle the whole way, with many of SneakyLemon's matches ending with a clutch victory in the final round. But he managed to pick up some momentum in the semis, winning 3-0 against fellow Greek player and former team-mate Panagiotis 'Goro' Agoros. This propelled SneakyLemon into the Grand Final with a serious confidence boost, and only one player stood in his way.
Arnas 'arnax' Stepanauskas had an advantage of his own, having been runner-up at last year's Red Bull Solo Q, so he already had experience with this unique tournament format. It paid off for Red Bull Solo Q 2022, where he won most of his games in the Playoffs with a 3-1 record. But SneakyLemon could not be stopped and closed out the tournament with four wins compared to arnax's two.
Both players should be proud of their accomplishments at the tournament, having taken down some of the finest 1v1 players from around the world. We caught up with them after their epic final clash to find out more about how it felt to compete at Red Bull Solo Q and what's next for these players.
The long journey
With this year's Red Bull Solo Q taking place in New York, USA, both SneakyLemon and arnax had quite the journey to make. For SneakyLemon, getting on a plane to represent Greece in the US wasn't something he expected to happen – "but I'm glad I did, and I'm not regretting it," he says.
On the other hand, after his performance in last year's tournament, arnax was quietly confident of making a return for 2022. "I had confidence from last year," he says, "so I did expect to make it this year."
Both players had serious competition throughout the tournament, and neither one came away unscathed. For SneakyLemon, the hardest moment of the tournament was the fact that he was playing on a new setup that he was unfamiliar with – making it all the more impressive that he eventually took the trophy.
But he also had to contend with facing down his friend and former team-mate, Goro. "It was really hard to outsmart him," says SneakyLemon, "because he knows me, and I know him." It wasn't easy taking out a fellow Greek player either – "I was hoping that we'd make the Finals," he says.
The final moments
For arnax, the toughest moments came in the Finals, where he simply couldn't find a way to counter SneakyLemon's champion picks. "I just sat there and thought for, like, 50 seconds on what to do now," says arnax, describing his self-described panic as SneakyLemon kept picking better champs and taking wins.
That said, this stressful situation also led to arnax's favourite moment of the tournament. Three games down and with just one win to his name, arnax had to make a desperate attempt at survival with his Darius versus SneakyLemon's Volibear.
"He just went for the tower," says arnax. "It had, like, 50HP left on it, but I managed to kill him somehow." Under Red Bull Solo Q rules, the first to get a kill wins the round, so this clutch kill kept arnax in the competition just a little bit longer. "It was a nice bounce back," he says.
On top of the world
SneakyLemon's favourite tournament moment is slightly more straightforward – winning the Grand Final and being crowned the victor of the entire tournament. For him, the experience of winning, "like the guys cheering for me, waving at me, applauding me," was the highlight of the entire tournament.
"It feels amazing, it's the best feeling. I can, like, walk down the street and be like, oh, I'm the winner!"
So what's next for these players? For arnax, he'll be preparing for next year's Red Bull Solo Q. "I'm gonna try every year, of course," he says, "because every Red Bull experience is just life-changing. You remember these moments all your life."
Meanwhile, SneakyLemon will aim to play competitively in the winter, possibly for a Greek team. Before then, though, he's made plans to go clubbing so he can celebrate the win in style.
As for future competitors at Red Bull Solo Q, SneakyLemon has one key piece of wisdom – "try to read the meta so you can win the draft. It's even more important than playing well!"
