Nord Esports are a relatively new esports organisation playing in – and currently dominating – the League of Legends NLC EMEA Regional League for the UK, Ireland, Nordics and Malta.
Rising from the ashes of defunct org Bifrost as an icy phoenix, they have put together an impressive Division 1 roster featuring UK support player Kasing, sub top Shikari and a stream team in Division 3 with UK ADC Dragdar, mid-laner Elite500 and more. How do they feel things have been going so far – and what’s next for them? Dom Sacco asks co-founder Michel Klepper.
Please tell us about Nord Esports, why did you set this org up and what are your aims?
We founded Nord Esports in early January 2023, with the goal to bring new glory on the European stage for Northern esports, especially in League of Legends. The co-founders are Peña, Pol, Calvin (Elite500) and me.
Nord Esports aims to become the largest Northern European esports organisation representing the Northern communities globally on the biggest stages in the world. “Nord” shall be mentioned in the same breath as a sign of Northern excellence in the field of esports and gaming.
What are the backgrounds of yourself, Peña and Pol?
All three of us have worked in Bifrost the last year, this is how we got to know each other. After Bifrost went down we decided to start a business on our own. Me and Peña have mainly worked as Head of Esports or Project Manager before in different clubs, while Pol studied esports and worked in the G2 Sales Department.
How would you rate your performances and your competitors in the NLC Div 1 so far?
I think the competition is in general very weak but we are doing good, currently being first in our first ever split as an organisation is for sure a good achievement. There’s much more to learn though, but we will get there.
What are Nord Esports’ goals with your League of Legends team and operations?
League of Legends is supposed to build our grassroot game, we want to establish ourselves at the top of Europe representing all Northern countries at the EMEA Masters and ensure that the NLC gets the pride that a region with so many countries and people deserves.
Our goal for this split is to go to the EUM Main Stage, and in the long run to bring the title towards our region.
What are your views on UK/Ire/Nordics/Maltese League of Legends right now?
I think the League of Legends community in those regions is underdeveloped currently, there is a lot of potential but also a lot of work to do. A good example is France, this is what we should all aim for, especially with the casual player base engagement – we need to improve that.
Competitive wise we have always brough the most high caliber players but we need to engage a fandom.
“We want to establish ourselves at the top of Europe representing all Northern countries at the EMEA Masters and ensure that the NLC gets the pride that a region with so many countries and people deserves.”
Michel Klepper, Nord Esports
Tell us about Elite500 coming on board as a co owner, how did that happen?
Calvin (Elite500) is an amazing person, we got in contact with him through Lathyrus and after a few very good talks he was on board.
You have some UK talent with Kasing on your team, Shikari a sub and Dragdar as a streamer. What are your views on them and UK talent in League right now, and what are they like to work with?
Kasing/Dragdar/Shikari are amazing to work with, we’ve known them for quite a while now already and never had any trouble with them.
In general I think that the UK produces a very good amount of high caliber talent, which we are always looking into when building our rosters.
Tell us about your creator team in general and them competing in Division 3.
In general the idea behind the creator team is to engage more of the casual gamers from the Nordics, get them closer to esports and create cool events for them.
How do you feel about your region being bridged with the UK and Ireland a few years ago, and what are your thoughts on UK teams like Ruddy and Verdant?
On the merge, this is actually a very difficult topic, I believe there are a lot of positives and I think long-term our region will profit from it, and we might become the strongest region of them all (due to most people, most countries, biggest markets). But it of course makes it way, way harder to start.
In terms of Ruddy and Verdant, they are both new teams like us, so we need to see what the future brings. For now I can say I have not recognised a negative thing from our side and we are happy to be in their competition.
Have you not seen that DonJake causing trouble on Twitter?
Haha I have. To give a specific answer on DonJake, I like what he is doing, it’s pretty funny, i’s not really mine or Nord’s style so we would never do it like that ourselves, but it brings some life to the scene, and NLC needs that more than anything right now.
“We founded Nord Esports in early January 2023, with the goal to bring new glory on the European stage for Northern esports, especially in League of Legends. Nord Esports aims to become the largest Northern European esports organisation representing the Northern communities globally on the biggest stages in the world.”
Michel Klepper, Nord Esports
Are there any other games you plan to move into in the future?
Yes, our plan is to expand into Valorant soon, since it’s a game title we are also very familiar with and see a lot of potential for in the future – especially in Europe.
What’s the future of Nord Esports, what’s next for you?
For sure the League playoffs, but also expanding our content team and professionalising in every sector. And then when we are established in League and have created a decent content roster, then we’ll be expanding into new titles and new strategies.
I like how your logo and branding is inspired by Anivia and an ice phoenix rising again following your time with Bifrost. Has the situation with Bifrost settled now, would you say, and can we expect to see some Anivia picks in future games?
Thank you, yeah the end of last year was tough for everyone involved in the project but it also strengthened us in a way.
Who knows? Maybe we’d never have had the commitment to start Nord without this happening. I am a fan of seing something positive in things, regardless of how negative they look. That’s why we have chosen to be the positive sign for the NLC, set an example for what our region can be and rise from the ashes like the ice phoenix.
About the Anivia picks, I will have to check with Furuy haha.
Make it happen haha! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I want to thank everyone who supported us from the beginning and want to invite everyone to follow our journey and take a look at Northern Europe esports, you will like it – I promise.
Nord Esports play against Vanir and Riddle at 7pm CEST on Tuesday March 7th and Wednesday March 8th respectively on the NLC Twitch channel. You can follow Nord Esports on Twitter here.
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.
