League of Legends news » Meet the fans in London

The Worlds 2015 Quarterfinals at SSE Arena at Wembley brought some unforgettable esports action to UK fans. Not least of all, decisive victories from Fnatic and Origen, the two European squads still in contention for the Summoner’s Cup. On the Saturday morning of the Quarters prior to the showdown between Fnatic and Edward Gaming, we spent some time outside the venue mingling with fans. The grey sky and autumnal chill weren’t about to dampen anybody’s enthusiasm.

Dunk Memes

Upon noticing Philip “Darude Trolstorm” cosplaying Dunkmaster Darius, we made a fast break to go talk to him. Darius has been a fixture of Worlds 2015, after all, as one of the most contested power picks of the tournament. Not to mention the fact that the only two Pentakills in the history of Words secured by top-laners - Cloud9’s An “Balls” Le and Origen’s Paul “SoaZ” Boyer - both sported the Dunkmaster Darius skin specifically.

“I’ve had [the costume] ready since May,” Philip tells us. “I just got incredibly lucky. It’s good and bad because he’s my favourite champion and I’ve not been able to play him for over a month. So I’m on the ‘Nerf Darius’ bandwagon for the opposite reason to most people. Because I want to play him again.”

Philip had never cosplayed before and started out by trying to make the outfit and basketball goal prop himself. Things got off to a rough start. “I just have no talent,” he laughs, “I’ve not done anything like this before so I didn’t know what I was doing. So it was low-quality materials, low-quality work.”

A friend suggested he commission the work from an experienced cosplay designer instead, which he did. Getting professional-grade craftsmanship wasn’t cheap, but in addition to the costume and prop, he got a funny story out of the transaction: the bill for the goal prop, Noxus basketball uniform and postage costs came out to exactly £666. “My friends had quite a chuckle out of that because they hate Darius,” says Philip.

Philip’s team allegiance is easy to decipher if you look at the team logo emblazoned on his prop’s backboard. How does he like Fnatic’s chances against EDG? “Three-nil, easy win, and then three-nil over Origen in the Finals,” he says without hesitation. “All-European Finals. Fnatic first two-time World Champions!”

Friend Finder

Next up, we find two friends hanging out together. They live in France but weren’t able to get tickets to the Paris Group Stages so they trekked up to London for the Quarterfinals instead. Gabriel “Graabz” (pictured at left) speaks English more confidently so he does the majority of the talking. When asked about his highlight from the Quarterfinals, he gushes over the near-flawless performance from SKTelecom T1 that he witnessed the day before.

“Amazing. SKT is just amazing,” Gabriel says, his eyes wide in disbelief. “It’s like one guy playing as five. Everything’s perfect, no weakness. But we hope that a European team will reach the Final. We can dream, and maybe it’ll happen!”

Gabriel might have a better command of English than his travel partner, but it’s Richard “Bartork” (epic beard guy) who introduced him to League in the first place and boasts the stronger in-game prowess. “He’s strategically very good, he sees everything,” Gabriel tells us. “If somebody on the team is not playing as a team and is just playing solo, or complaining about kill steals, my friend destroys his mind with huge flaming skills [laughs]. The team has to play as a team. [Richard’s] a good leader but if someone is doing nothing interesting, they pay a price.”

Richard seems shy based on our short interaction, but he’s clearly an influential personality because when I ask how Gabriel got into esports, he jabs the finger at his pal yet again. “It’s all his fault!” says Gabriel, laughing. “He showed me. He said, ‘do you know the LCS?’ He was on an Android tablet watching and I was amazed by the skills of the players, it’s absolutely amazing. Even if you play the game, when you you see a pro team playing, it’s another world.”

We notice a neck tattoo poking out from beneath Richard’s collar so have to ask, does he have any League tattoos? To our delight, he reaches down and tugs the leg of his trousers up over his calf to reveal Miss Fortune. When we ask why he picked her, he explains, “I love pirates -- Miss Fortune, Gangplank, so I asked for a tattoo, that’s all.”

Team Outing

Vicky “Vicksy” has come to the Quarterfinals with the friends on her Platinum Ranked 5s team, Sinister Blades, whom you’ll notice standing in a huddle behind her in the picture below. Filthy photo-bombers, the lot of them. One of the group is a “Korean addict” (in Vicky’s words) but the rest are at the London Quarterfinals cheering for Origen or Fnatic.

“I’m so glad that I got tickets to see Fnatic today,” says Vicky, “it’s going to be a good game. I like Febiven a lot obviously because I main mid as well. I like watching him to see what champions he plays so I can copy his champions. Hoping to see some Azir.”

In Solo Queue, Vicky has gotten as high as Diamond I this season but is currently sitting at Diamond III, which she blames on nerfs to her main champ Katarina. She’s hoping to hit Master Tier before the end of the season.

When asked for her highlights from the Quarterfinals, she praises the local UK crowd. “The crowd is always amazing,” she says, “English crowds are always fun to be in. Just seeing everyone here just makes you feel like a really big community. Since I saw that BBC were broadcasting it, I think [esports will] get somewhere eventually where a lot more people will get into it. There are so many people here already.”

Will having League featured on the BBC raise the profile of her hobby in her parents’ eyes?

“I told my parents to tune in,” she replies. “They’re not too keen about it, but they let me play. It’s what makes me happy.”

Father & Summon

Thirteen-year-old Jensen “OfficialWolfLord” has a duo partner for the Saturday Quarterfinals showdown between Fnatic and EDG -- his dad. “I’m a complete virgin when it comes to League of Legends,” says Jensen’s dad. “I’m the taxi for the day so I’m here to learn, see what he does all the time when he disappears into his bedroom for hours and hours.”

Jensen’s dream of coming to see Fnatic compete almost ended in heartbreak. When the second batch of tickets were released for Saturday’s matchup, he begged his dad for a chance to attend. Jensen’s dad gave him his credit-card details so that could order the tickets when he got home from school, but in the excitement and rush of placing the order, Jensen accidentally bought tickets for the wrong day. Things worked out in the end, and he was able to get a refund.

“He was so excited about coming,” says dad, “he must’ve hit ‘buy now’ on the Thursday. So I had about eight missed calls from him. But it’s brilliant. At the end of the day, Jensen loves his computer games and this is pretty special. You’ve been on to me for ages and then this came up.”

“Maybe when I’m playing, you won’t be sleeping the whole time,” Jensen teases.

“This is true,” says dad with a laugh. “You gave me some videos to watch, didn’t you? I was brought up in the era of the Sinclair and the Commodore. When I was his age, I used to work in a computer shop so I got to bring all the games home. I’m a gamer, absolutely. In my day job, I manage the whole land’s electricity so that’s like playing a real-time computer game because it’s all done remotely on PCs. I can turn the whole of London off so that’s my computer gaming now and I get paid for it. And it’s real-time, which is fantastic. So now since I sit in front of five screens all day long, the last thing I want to do when I get home is start playing games again.”

What does dad think of the whole esports phenomenon?

“At the end of the day, these guys are putting a lot of time and effort to get where they are now,” he says. “So because there’s a massive following like there is in football or other sports, they deserve to become professional gamers. They end up having their fans. People come especially to see their heroes, which is absolutely fantastic.”

When we find out that Jensen is a Silver IV support main, we ask him if he has a message that he’d like to pass along to his favourite team’s support player and captain Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim?

“Do good!” says Jensen.

Short and sweet. Just like the 3-0 spanking that Fnatic will deliver EDG in the hours following our conversation with this pair.

A Star is Born

When Julie “nekomaow” first set eyes on the Star Guardian Lux skin, she knew she had to cosplay it. Especially since Lux draws inspiration from some of her favourite anime shows. “I love Lux. She’s my main mid champ. I usually play ADC but it’s too cold to cosplay as Jinx today, it’s freezing!”

Julie had enough experience with making cosplay to craft the Star Guardian Lux costume herself. “The fabric part was easiest because I’m pretty good with sewing,” she says. “The props and the accessories were made from foam and Worbla. And I’ve never used Worbla before -- it’s a thermoplastic that you melt and mold -- and it was my first time dealing with that, so that was a challenge. I hope I’ll be able to use more of it on my future cosplays.”

She’s been playing League since Season 2 and is currently Gold V, so the hand-eye coordination that gives her a knack for crafting cosplay apparently carries over well enough to the game. The temporary orange Fnatic tattoo on her bicep gives away her allegiance, but she’s excited about SKT as well.

“I’m sort of rooting for SKT and Fnatic to make it to the Finals, that’d be awesome to see,” she says. “Then again I also want Origen to make it, but there’s Origen vs SKT in Semis. Maybe we could have a three-way Finals. Split the map three ways, that’d be fun!”

Julie has come to the Quarterfinals as fan of Fnatic, but her Star Guardian Lux cosplay is rapidly creating a fan following of its own.

“Loads of people have been asking me for photos, I was really surprised,” she says, grinning. “I do feel a bit self-conscious, but it’s really fun seeing people and they’re like, ‘oh, Star Guardian Lux’ or they’re like ‘Lux! I love playing Lux!’ so it’s a real connection when you meet other people who enjoy playing the same champions as you!”

For more Quarterfinals and Worlds content, visit Lolesports.

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