Riddle Esports are on fine form in Division 1 of the Summer 2022 NLC, having recorded seven wins in a row.
Lee Jones interviews their experienced Serbian jungler Stefan ‘Stefan’ Nikolić about whether they could top the table above Excel this season, his time coaching at his former team X7 Esports and more. Check out highlights below and the full interview above.
Firstly, how do you go about coaching a world champion in Haru as your first coaching gig at X7?
Well, it wasn’t necessarily planned. Like my first option was to be a player, right? That was what I wanted to do. But basically, long story short, a team was dragging an offer very late into the offseason and they ended up going with someone else. I don’t want to go into details. It was very unlucky, very unfair, but it is what it is. And I had basically no other options.
I got contacted by X7, they asked if I want to coach, I said: “Sure, sounds fun.”
I tried it, I liked it and, yeah, it went pretty well, we (X7) won the NLC, it was really good.
Did you always feel confident you could do something like that? I suppose it’s a totally different skill set, being able to actually coach people as well.
Yeah, I mean, it came naturally to me, obviously, like being a player for such a long time, I kind of can feel what the players can feel playing games. And in traditional sports as well, most of the bigger coaches are ex players. So it kind of makes sense for me.
Also, I do think I will continue coaching at some point in the future, obviously I think I’m performing really well now as a player. So I want to keep that up as much as possible. But when I’m done with that, I’ll go back to coaching for sure. I really like it.
“I don’t really care whether we are first, second, third, or whatever in the table. I just look at each game as it comes and try to play the best as we can. I think we still have a shot at being first. Who’s better: X7 or XL? I think we’re gonna aim to beat them both.”
Stefan, Riddle Esports
Do you feel you were able to learn from Haru in some ways, while you were coaching him?
Yeah, 100%. I think players work differently and they learn differently, but one of the ways that I learned is looking at VoDs, for example, or players just generally playing.
I think watching such a good player like Haru play for like four or five months, maybe playing six scrims a week, it for sure helped me a lot. I think I mimicked a lot of Haru’s gameplay from his last split in NLC and so yeah, it’s definitely helped.
Obviously, Haru has gone off to Vitality now in the LEC, joining that ‘super team’ that first formed earlier this year. But I think it’s kind of fair to say they’ve not really looked much better yet since he’s joined. Would you agree with that? And then secondly, I’ve heard people say that the way he would play doesn’t necessarily match up with them?
Honestly, I feel I agree with you firstly, that I don’t think the team is performing very well so far. I don’t think it’s necessarily the play style, I feel like Haru is very versatile. And he was able to, like completely play for one or two lanes or completely play for himself. It just depends on on the draft mostly. So I don’t think it’s the player issue.
I do think they’re underperforming. One thing I’d do if I was coaching with Vitality, I would probably put Haru on his comfort picks. Because I think when he was getting his comfort picks in NLC, it was just a bloodbath basically every game when he was on the Hecarim, on Xin Zhao, I think these games are so easy to play. But nowadays, he’s playing a lot of the new things like we tried Viego as well in NLC on X7, and it wasn’t working out very well. Now Viego is one of the stronger picks. So maybe the method doesn’t fit him as much. So maybe, maybe it is, I’m not sure.
Riddle are on a seven-game win streak right now, and are second in the league table, behind JD XL. X7, your former team, had a bit of a rough start but are now joint-third. Do you still see yourselves as the clear second best team in the NLC?
To be completely honest, I don’t really care about that. Like, I’m just looking at the games as they come and trying to prepare as much as possible. As for the future games, in terms of standings, I think we still have a shot at being first, basically, if we win every game, or if XL drops another game, we can contest the first spot.
So I don’t really care if we’re, first, second, third, or whatever, I think we’re going to look at the games as they come and try to play the best as we can.
I think X7 had a really rough start. I don’t think they found their identity on time. And maybe they needed more practice. But yeah, I think X7 is for sure one of the best, if not the best team in the league in terms of individual players. If they’re in playoffs and they perform there, then everyone will only remember that, nobody will look back at X7’s third game of NLC Summer 2022. You know, they will look at them either winning the championship or being top two, top three this split.
Who’s better: X7 or XL? I think we’re gonna aim to beat them both.
“Working with Haru helped me a lot. I think I mimicked a lot of Haru’s gameplay from his last split in NLC. One thing I’d do if I was coaching with Vitality, I would probably put Haru on his comfort picks. When he was getting his comfort picks in NLC, it was just a bloodbath basically every game.”
Stefan, Riddle Esports
Is there anything anything you’d like to add, any final words that you’ve got for the people?
Yeah, don’t underestimate us. I think we have a really strong team and I think we will prove that over time. I mean, we’re already proving it, but I think that when playoffs come we will be ready.
Thanks for the interview.
