ESL Premiership UK & Ireland League of Legends champions MnM Gaming will be bootcamping in a gaming house before taking part in the EU Challenger Series Qualifiers.
It’s understood that the MnM players originally owned the CS qualifier spot.
The players were going to sell the spot to a European org, but MnM came in and matched the offer.
This means the following winning team roster will be representing MnM in the European CS Qualifiers:
- Top – Ashley “Teimpo” Mayes
- Jungle – Alex “Candyfloss” Cartwright
- Mid Lane – Emil “Larssen” Larsson
- ADC – Ludde “LuddehZ” Johansson
- Support – Mantas “Hadow” Sukevicius
Will “FrozenDawn” Burgess will be team coach and Daniel Chung is manager. FrozenDawn turned down other Challenger Series coaching offers to stick with MnM and focus on a UK team.
MnM has arranged a six-bedroom gaming house in Leicester for the team to practice in throughout May.
The team will eat, sleep and train in the house and will have the added support of the ESL UK team, who are also based in Leicester.
The plan is to have six Stormforce PCs in the living room for scrims, then one system in each of the player’s rooms for streaming and solo queue in the evenings.
The CS qualifiers are expected to get underway in May, after the summer 2017 EU West open qualifiers conclude.
“Whether we make it through or not, I will still be proud knowing the players will have given it their all.”
Kalvin Chung, MnM Gaming
Kalvin Chung, MnM co-founder, told Esports News UK: “It’s an honour to be in the Challenger Series Qualifiers as a UK club from a UK qualifier with UK players.
“Whether we make it through or not, I will still be proud knowing the players will have given it their all.”
He added: “We’ve waited a long time for this day to come for MnM and UK esports. We started MnM with nothing but passion and we’re honoured to have the chance to be represented in the Challenger Series Qualifiers.
“We couldn’t have done this without the help of our sponsors, in particular StormForce and of course ESL UK. We want to do this right as a UK club with UK players, qualifying from a UK event.”
ESL UK MD James Dean commented: “We see this move by MnM Gaming as huge positive step for the continued growth of UK esports.
“We see this move by MnM Gaming as huge positive step for the continued growth of UK esports.”
James Dean, ESL UK
“The ESL Premiership is the longest running UK national league and presents a genuine opportunity for pro-amateur teams to start their journey to professional esports.
“By winning the ESL spring series and earning a qualifier spot in Riot’s Challenger Series, MnM Gaming has the opportunity to write the next chapter in its history and ESL are proud to be part of their exciting journey ahead.”
Last split, after MnM won the ESL Premiership, a series of unfortunate events saw the roster change at the last minute after an ‘investor’ mucked the org about.
This time, there will be no such thing. MnM are going to the Challenger Series Qualifiers, and we’re sure they’re going to give it their best shot as a team. They’re the best the UK has to offer in League of Legends right now, and we’ll be rooting for them in Europe all the way.
We’re proud to announce after weeks of hard work we’ll continue with our LoL Team & secured a month boot camp. ?https://t.co/fju1CyV3HB pic.twitter.com/fDoRPyJSTk
— MnM (@MnMGamingUK) April 26, 2017
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
