Radix Esports’ top-laner David “Kirito” Koppmann (left) made headlines this week after claiming the UK scene is ‘the easiest ever and free money’.
His tweet caught the attention of the scene ahead of his team’s qualification for the summer 2017 UK Masters, and one of his plays was put in a montage video which has more than 80,000 views.
We interviewed Kirito and Radix League of Legends manager Alex “Naughty” Bowley (right) live on the ENUK Twitch channel about the UK scene newcomers, their goals and their roster.
UK Scene is easiest League I´ve ever seen. Will be easy Rank 1 and free money
— Kirito (@AuTKirito) May 15, 2017
So what was the thinking behind that tweet, was it just to generate hype/rile up the scene, or was Kirito also expressing his honest thoughts?
“Before we joined the UK Masters qualifiers, I was already playing with two of the members in a France qualifier and we reached the finals but dropped out,” Kirito said. “We played against strong Spanish and French teams.
“I’ve never heard anything about the UK league. I didn’t know about the leagues or the prize money, and I think this is a big problem because many people don’t know anything about the UK scene. It needs more hype.”
“Coming into the UK Masters qualifiers, we were confident. When we played the first qualifier matches, I made a funny joke it’s gonna be the easiest league ever, because we didn’t play against strong teams.
“But I don’t think it’s a completely blank statement because I really trust my teammates, and I’m 100% confident my mid-laner is the best one in this league, and our jungler is top 2 in the UK junglers I know.
“We will work hard and I will try to make that tweet a reality.”
Radix roster: Top:@AuTKirito Jung: @EADemo1 Mid: @ScarletRedHands Adc: @best_uk_adc Supp: @Snuggli_ Sub: TheOptimist
Did Kirito expect anyone to write an article about it, or for it to get the reaction that it did from the community?
“No, usually when I tweet something people don’t respond to it because I’m not a famous person. I guess it started escalating when Toaster responded. It’s fine, I can live with it.
“It creates hype and I think it’s important for a league that’s not as big as other leagues yet.
“I really like it when people trash talk each other, because it creates hype and makes you try hard every single game. Every league should be like this.
“In the Spanish league they’re mostly friends towards each other. There’s less in-game hype, people don’t try hard for their life to beat someone.”
Naughty added: “If we tweet stuff, don’t take it 100% seriously the first time you see it. Some people definitely got wound up. And we’re actually really nice guys so hopefully we can make a lot of contacts in the UK Prem as a team, and make a name for ourselves as a top-tier UK team by the end of the UK Masters and Prem.”
@AuTKirito When you come to claim your free money @AuTKirito https://t.co/y7LYEklVAy
— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) May 16, 2017
Does the UK scene need more hype?
“Yeah,” Kirito said. “I’ve never heard anything about the UK league. I didn’t know about the leagues or the prize money, and I think this is a big problem because many people don’t know anything about the UK scene. It needs more hype.”
“I really like it when people trash talk each other, because it creates hype and makes you try hard every single game. Every league should be like this.”
What are the team’s goals this split, are they hoping to go far in the ESL Prem too?
Naughty said: “We want to get top four in the UK Masters and qualify for the ESL Prem, and going to Insomnia. Then play in the ESL Prem.”
Kirito added: “I’d like to meet the players in real life, so I’ll definitely try my best so we can reach the LAN event.
“We want to get top four in the UK Masters and qualify for the ESL Prem, and going to Insomnia.”
“I think my team is already pretty good. I know our weaknesses and so does our coach. If I see our progress and we have good chances to beat top UK teams, and to beat the top Spanish teams in scrims first to prove we’ll be strong in the UK scene, we’ll keep [the banter] going. I have no choice I guess. If I just back off then I’d just be a pussy, gotta be strong and keep going.
“Imagine if we lost the qualifiers, it would’ve been a shitstorm on Twitter. I had to try-hard!”
Check out the full interview with Radix Naughty and Kirito below:
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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.
