Frankie Ward MSI 2023 interview: League, London and going back to where it all began

For British esports host, interviewer and charismatic character Frankie Ward, working on the MSI 2023 broadcast in London offers her a chance to reminisce on the past – and take note of her progress too.

In 2015, she worked with the BBC to cover Worlds at Wembley behind the camera – her big break in esports – and also Sport Relief at the Copperbox Arena. Now, eight years later, she’s back there, working on camera on the official Riot broadcast to cover the latest League of Legends esports event held from London, a city she knows all too well. Dom Sacco caught up with her on day five of MSI after PSG and Golden Guardians reached the last chance qualifier.

Hi Frankie! Good to interview you again. What’s it like having MSI 2023 on our doorstep in London, and to be a part of the broadcast?

Frankie Ward: I know, I did the last broadcast at Worlds 2015 [in London with the BBC, not on camera], so now this is mad! I’m doing three days, I get to work the weekend and also to be honest, see my daughter in the morning. I can hand her to my husband and be like: ‘Right, you change the nappy, I’m off to work!’

It’s amazing to be able to do that and see her and tuck her into bed.

Just being in London, I wish we had more events like this here, hopefully it’s the start of something.

Who’s impressed you at MSI 2023 so far?

Well after PSG played so well today, I’m excited if either them go Golden Guardians through. I think they were obviously very prepared for Loud and to be honest, because of Loud’s snowball victory yesterday, I thought it’d be a South/North American last decider, but then PSG totalled proved a lot of us wrong.

I was talking to Chuz, the coach of Golden Guardians earlier, and he did say he thought Loud were going to win, but that PSG technically are the better team and the showed that on stage today. I think the best-of-five will be a banger as a result.

I regard you as more of a CS personality, but I know you do League stuff too. Have you played League much, and if so, who is your go-to in-game champion and position?

So, I used to play Annie and Darius when I first started.

You’d be like: ‘Okay I’ve done the tutorial now, I’m going to play with some new people!’

I can play Annie mid and Darius top was quite successful for me, but to be honest that was quite early days and I don’t have much time [to play now]. So I’ve been trying ARAM recently, and anyone who’s seen my streams will know that it doesn’t go well when I play ARAM because it’s a free-for-all, then when I end up with someone I want, then there’s a remake, then I end up with someone I don’t want, but I know I need to learn them!

I know enough to understand how certain teams like to play and what they’re bringing to the draft now, and I also work with people who are incredible experts.

So I am playing League, probably more than CS at the moment, I just need more time!

I asked Caps in my Caps interview if he knew much about East London, and things like JME and Eastenders. What are your thoughts on London and your favourite things here?

The first time I came here was to watch the paralympics and an amazing sport called goalball. I also worked on Sport Relief for the BBC from this venue [Copperbox Arena], that was the first time I was behind the scenes here, but that was going back to 2015.

I used to live in Bromley by Bow, so I used to cycle around the Olympic Park, it’s changed so much in the last ten years and I was in the Olympics opening ceremony, so I literally have a proper history with this area. And I lived in Shoreditch ten years ago as well, so I’ve lived in North London in Willesden Green and South London.

But I’m very much on my London game, and I keep being like: ‘I will DM you recommendations! Please go to Haggerston, go to Berber & Q, please go to Dalston and Mangal 1 or 2. Explore and go beyond Westfield, people, please! It’s important to me that people get to see how great the city is.’

You can go on the Overground from Hackney Wick and go to Dalston, it’s so easy, there’s even a London gaming bar there.

There are so many opportunities to see the city, go on the Elizabeth Line, go to King’s Cross, go to Granary Square if you want posh shopping and nice places to eat. There’s a place called Hoppers that serves Sri Lankan food – spicy, brilliant, lovely stuff.

In South London there’s Brixton, the place where you can get pretty much any food from around the world. A load of great food places start there, like your Honest Burgers, Franco Mancas and other amazing food.

Do you listen to grime music, your JMEs of the world?

I wish I could quote JME but unfortunately I can’t. He’s been doing Twitch stuff for a while now.

I’m the first person to put Dele Alli on Twitch, for Comic Relief. I made him play FIFA and he rage quit!

And then Excel Esports signed Dele Alli. And then… he hasn’t had a great football career since, but…

Yeah but, Excel, LEC like… they…

I’m joking, I’m looking forward to seeing Excel come back strong. And I really like the org, I once modelled for them so, I want to make a joke but then I feel so guilty about them because I’m British.

Same. I want to see them do well. I chatted to Odoamne about MSI 2023 the other day and made the mistake of asking, ‘how’s it going’? And he was like: ‘Err, it could be better!’

He’ll bounce back, it’s Odo right, he’s the coolest, he’s way cooler than me. Don’t stand next to Odoamne, you’ll instantly feel like, ‘what have I done with my life? this man plays the violin, he’s won LEC!’

Speaking of music, you did a Barbie Girl video with Dagda and Oisín!

We were all wearing pink. Nicole, our talent manager, she done that. She’s the person who hires us and is also the person who makes our memes for us!

You said Vengaboys next, right, but I think Dagda and Oisín have finished MSI now?

Oisín has gone, and unfortunately, Dagda has covid and is in his hotel. So maybe I’ll film something with Laure instead.

If you had to pick CS or League, what would you choose?

I can’t pick one!

Right now, League, because I’m not getting offered CS jobs!

No, I’m doing ESL Impact which is amazing, it’s so great to do. I had to take time out because of the baby, then there wasn’t any space for me to come back, so I’m very fortunate LEC gave me some opportunities last year and have continued to do that this year.

So, it sounds bad but I’ve got to go where the work is, but I also love this game, it’s the game that got me into esports in the first place.

There’s a lot of good talent coming up in CS, so, people forget I do CS or something, I dunno! So I will go wherever people want me to, I can love any game, I’ve done Fortnite this year as well.

You’re going to be at the CSGO Paris Major too, with Alpine Esports, right?

Yes. Alpine, the F1 team have a sim racing team, so it’s an esports initiative and they have been wonderful so far.

So I’m really looking forward to working with them, I’ll be at their factory up in Oxford. They put together the cars in Oxford and make the engines in France as they are a French team. We’re gonna go to the major! I’ll head out there for the semi-final, do some work with Alpine for one day. So [turns to the camera] catch me there, if you can be arsed!

I’m really excited for the talent that get to be there, they all work incredibly hard, it’s going to be brilliant to see Freya [Spiers, British esports broadcast talent] who has literally grown up on Counter-Strike, she started playing when she was probably like seven years old or something. Seeing her host a major final, I imagine it’s gonna be Launders and Scrawny doing the cast, and I’m really excited for them as well. It’s going to be a fantastic event!

Cheers Frankie! See you soon and all the best.

Esports News UK MSI 2023 Coverage Powered by SideQuest Gamers Hub

Dom Sacco

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.