We interviewed three UK League of Legends heroes from MnM Gaming live on the Esports News UK Twitch channel this evening:
- Ashley “Rifty” Mayes, MnM top-laner
- Mantas “Hadow” Sukevicius, MnM support
- Will “FrozenDawn” Burgess, MnM head coach
The team are currently bootcamping at the MnM gaming house in Leicester.
We asked them a host of questions from 4pm to gone 5pm, from their chances in the EU Challenger Series qualifiers this month, to the pressures of representing the UK in Europe, the journey they’ve been on since ManaLight disbanded last year, and loads more.
FrozenDawn said: “I wouldn’t say we’re favourites to win or anything, but the nature of the series is best-of-one. With the new patch, no professional games have been played on it, so we’re figuring it out through scrims and solo queue etc.
“So one team might have a specific grasp or way to play the game, or pick that gives them a colossal edge over every other team there. So I feel like it’s a bit more up in the air than it would be, but there’s a lot of good talent in this tournament.
“I wouldn’t want to put a percentage on our chances to win, but in a sense I think it’s all to play for.”
“I wouldn’t want to put a percentage on our chances to win, but in a sense I think it’s all to play for.”
FrozenDawn
In terms of the other teams that are likely to pose the biggest threat in the qualifiers, FrozenDawn says that Millenium and Kinguin are most likely to be the best teams on paper.
Rifty added: “Out of all the teams, Kasing’s is obviously viewed as the hardest. Whether that turns out to be true, we’ll see – they definitely have a few weaknesses.
“I don’t see us having any major issues against any team, but I also don’t see us destroying any team, particularly, especially since there hasn’t exactly been a great deal of games for a lot of these teams. For Red Bull, Kasing’s team, we’ve only seen them play a few – let’s be honest – sub-par teams in the open qualifiers.
“I’d love to go into this and smash group stages, destroy everyone and not lose a game, but if that’s not what our skill level can do, we’ll have to keep on focusing, improving and practicing until we do that really.
“But overall I think it’s gonna be pretty fun to be honest. As long as we show up and do the best we possibly can, I don’t really care what the results end up being.”
“As long as we show up and do the best we possibly can, I don’t really care what the results end up being.”
Rifty
Hadow commented: “Kasing’s team did pull out some weird picks in the open qualifiers so you never know what they might pull out. You don’t really want to play against a cheese strategy in a best-of-one.
“I feel like we have a good chance here. If we make it, we make it, and if we do well, we do well. We want to just do well and show what we can do.”
The full video interview with MnM
“I feel like we have a good chance here. If we make it, we make it, and if we do well, we do well. We want to just do well and show what we can do.”
Hadow
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.
