Ireland’s Nativz Gaming have become the first esports organisation to qualify for the top division of UK, Ireland and Nordics’ League of Legends for 2023.
They defeated UK esports organisation MNM Gaming, in a five-game thriller in the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) Division 1 2023 Promotion upper bracket final.
MNM took game one, only for Nativz to level the series 1-1. MNM then took the lead 2-1, and looked to take the series, but Nativz won the next two games to win 3-2, and book their place in the Spring 2023 NLC.
Nativz were ecstatic with the win, with the organisation’s official Twitter account saying ‘this is only the beginning for us’.
And MNM Gaming offered congratulations to their opponents after the match:
Demb, head coach for Nativz, took the time to thank the players and staff, saying that Nativz can’t be stopped.
MNM Gaming still have another chance to requalify for NLC Division 1 after they were pushed down to the Promotions tournament following the Summer 2022 Season.
They will face UniQ Esports Club on September 28th in the lower bracket final, with the winner reaching NLC Division 1 and the loser relegating to NLC Division 2.
Update (September 28th): MNM have defeated UniQ 3-0 and have moved back up to NLC Division 1. UniQ will play in Division 2 again for 2023.
MNM’s Scottish mid-laner Chemera told casters Duckling and Emtest after the match: “It feels good [to requalify for Div 1], I feel like the whole relegations was just like the pressure of staying up. We as a team know we’re a good team when we have our highs, it’s just those inconsistencies that mess us up.
“In the back of the mind we feel like we’re better than these teams and there’s pressure to stay up, rather than promote. It feels good to stay up, I’m happy we could do it for MNM, they’re a really good org. I felt confident [ahead of the game today].”
Singularity, the fourth team in the Promotions tournament, have already been relegated to NLC Division 2 after losing to Nativz 3-1 and UniQ Esports Club 3-0.
JReal and Solari were on NLC casting duties for the upper bracket final broadcast between MNM and Nativz, and the team’s players were as follows:
- Nativz: Lunddorf (top), Sn1lle (jungle), Rylle (mid), Jopa (ADC), Cl0x (support)
- MNM: Kaylem (top), Sof (jungle), Chemera (mid), Mishigu (ADC), Karakal Jr (support)
“Congratulations to Nativz. It’s great we have an Irish org at the top level in the NLC, we’ve needed that for a little while now. Having an Irish org is really important.”
Viperoon
Esports News UK asked former caster Viperoon in a separate interview what he thought about the news of Nativz reaching NLC Division 1.
Viperoon said: “Congratulations to Nativz. It’s great we have an Irish org at the top level [of UK, Ireland and Nordics League of Legends], we’ve needed that for a little while now. Having an Irish org is really important, we have a history as a scene of not giving Irish orgs credit and giving them a space. So I’m really, really happy for them.”
The news comes a few days after Nativz Gaming struck a deal with an Irish collegiate esports league.
And in other NLC news, the groups have been decided for the separate Aurora Open Pro-Am tournament, which allows teams from across the various NLC divisions to take part.
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.
