The Piltover Post

Nicholas “Ablazeolive” Abbott, a 26 year old Canadian, started out with a skill for League of Legends and a dream. His career started in 2015 when Team SoloMid found him in the scouting grounds and knew his skill was something special. Since then, he’s gone on to follow his passions in a way that most people could only dream of. After a few years, he disappeared from competitive play. After a successful stint with Cincinnati Fear, with some players you might find familiar, like Lawrence “Exyu” Xu and Kim “Winsome” DongKeon, he is back in the NACL with Supernova.

Q: You’ve been in the league for a long time before gaining name recognition after scouting grounds and getting signed with Team SoloMid’s academy team, starting with Team SoloMid. What motivates you to keep playing?

A: What motivates me to keep playing is quite varied. I always try to be the best version of myself and I never got to show that on the biggest stage; I had a lot of external issues I had to work through that and now feeling more secure in life has allowed me to fully embrace what I can do to become better and I’ve never quite had the capacity for that so that is part of it. Another part is simply the belief in myself and I genuinely believe there is nothing any of the other teams can do if I give it my all to win. They will try their best but I’ve never met anybody better at learning than me and that will allow our team to get further and further ahead of the competition. This intrinsically gives me motivation because I know everyone is very good and I cannot be caught slacking.

Q: You got the first pentakill of the NACL split 2. What was running through your mind in that moment?

A: Honestly I felt like a kid again! It was amazing. I was super excited and even asked the enemy team to give it to me haha.

Q: Who do you think is your strongest laning opponent? What makes them more intimidating to face than the rest?

A: Nobody is intimidating to me they are all too passive and they are all the same

Q: You stepped down from tier one due to the pressure and stress that come with being one of the best in your region. As one of the teams looking most likely to qualify, do you think you are ready to face it again?

A: I definitely feel ready to face the pressure of tier 1 again, I have grown a lot as a person and learned a lot about myself and ways for me to handle/cope. Putting every waking hour into improving and losing every game is hard to cope with but you truly learn the most when you lose and being able to accept that has helped a lot.

Q: What are some things you wish you had known that you want to advise players who are looking to make it to the big leagues?

A: The most valuable piece of advice I can give is don’t forget to have fun. You can very easily optimize the fun out of games but you will play significantly better if you can enjoy yourself while playing.

Q: If you could elect any LTA player (actively competing) for a spot in the Hall of Legends, who would it be?

A: I would elect Robert “Blaber” Huang to the Hall of Legends. He played his entire career in NA and has championed them on the world stage countless times along with winning NA multiple times. He is a person everyone looks up to and has done an amazing job pushing himself to always improve without fear or regard of what people will say.