Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
Mobile game publisher Supercell held SuperFest 2024 in Helsinki last weekend, with three world champions crowned in the Clash of Clans World Championship Finals (Synchronic Gaming), Clash Royale League World Finals (Mohamed Light) and the Brawl Stars World Finals (Hmble).
We caught up with Hmble’s UK coach Canaan, who led his Brawl Stars team roster of Lukii, BosS and Symantec to victory.
Congrats on winning the Brawl Stars World Finals! How does it feel to win and how would you reflect on the finals?
It’s been a few days but it still feels unreal. It’s one of those feelings you can’t really describe unless you’ve experienced it yourself.
I thought the gameplay and drafts throughout the tournament were immaculate and performing at our peak three days in a row is definitely something I did not expect. I’ll probably be telling this story to people for the rest of my life.
How did you get into Brawl Stars esports? Please tell us about your background.
I used to play a lot of sports competitively, but when I first started university in 2020, Covid happened. Gyms and sports grounds were closed so I had to find something to fill the competitive spirit in me.
I had been playing this game casually since 2018 but I was bored out of my mind in my dorm room so I decided to push as many trophies as I could.
I met a lot of new friends during that time, one thing led to another and I ventured into the territory of Brawl Stars esports. It happened to be one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.
Please tell us about your team roster and what you feel has made them champions.
I think our team has the perfect mix of personalities both in and out of the game. It helps that we’re very well rounded and we’ve naturally bonded as a group of friends.
In game, I would say we perform our roles to perfection and it’s allowed us to synergise better than other teams.
On match day, we were mentally resilient and we had the right mindset to win it all, despite other teams being more favoured.
“We’ve been underdogs since the start of the year, and that mentality definitely played a part in us triumphing in the end.”
Canaan, Hmble
Tell us about Brawl Stars as an esport. What’s it like and how does it compare to other esports. Why should people watch it?
In a way it’s more intense because there’s much less room for error compared to esports with longer game times. One small error could cause you the game, whereas there’s much more opportunities to perform comebacks in games with a high macro ceiling like League of Legends.
I enjoy perfecting our gameplay and making sure we’re on the right side of any pixel perfect mechanical plays or by making correct in game comms. Moreover, I believe Brawl Stars is a very beginner friendly game, targeted at all audiences – it’s easy to understand, easy to play, and easy to watch.
Brawl Stars has been growing endlessly and the esports scene is becoming even more popular in recent times. It’s the sixth most popular esport in the world this year and peak viewership at the 2024 World Finals exceeded 1.1m unique viewers (according to Esports Charts), up from 273,000 in 2023.
The game will only carry on growing and I hope the esports scene will continue to gain traction and increase in viewership.
What are your goals? What’s next for you and the team?
We’re running back the roster for next year and obviously the goal would be to win back-to-back championships.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you to all our fans throughout the year, and those who supported me before that.
It has genuinely been a pleasure to perform for the fanbase this year and I hope you keep cheering for us into the future.
Related article: All-UK team Nova Esports become first ever Brawl Stars world champions
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.
