The Piltover Post

With the summer season of the North American Challenger League well underway, everybody is fighting for one thing. They want to bump Disguised out of the provisional guest slot and dive into the League Championship Series. Despite it being the organization’s rookie split, Cupid Esports is looking to be a strong contender. With strong drafts that were able to take down defending champions, Conviction, and the more senior orgs in Blue Otter and Maryville University, a team well known for their tier 2 to tier 1 pipeline, CPD looks like they just might do it. Behind their victories, a new challenger approaches; their assistant coach, Aiden ‘Crankshank’ Cruikshank, stands tall and triumphant. Se’s gearing up for a successful freshman split and reflects on how she got here.

Q: First of all, welcome to the NACL! Not only was it Cupid Esports’s debut in the tournament, but it was your debut as a coach in tier 2. What was going through your mind in the moments leading up to your first series, where you faced defending champions Conviction?

A: Thank youuu!<3 Leading up to my first NACL match, I’m not gonna lie, it was a mix of, like, super nervous the day before and up until, like, 3 min before the draft and super excited, and then once I got into the draft it kind of disappeared. Then in between games, that excitement and nervousness came back. The match being specifically against CNV didn’t affect me THAT much, especially since my friend Arlant is the assistant coach. I just thought about it like any time I do draft one-on-ones with him, which definitely helped calm my nerves mid-draft. In between games, though, it felt so surreal to see my drafts and name being streamed on Twitch with the casters of NACL and just seeing the players in the game; it just didn’t feel real and still doesn’t sometimes.

Q: Cupid’s head coach is Boc, who’s been in the scene for 2 years now. Boc has been very open about letting you spearhead the drafts. How does it feel to know that he has such confidence in your ability?

A: Having my head coach be BOC is such an insane opportunity already, as I had a bunch of respect for him before even working with him. It was something I was super grateful to have, and then having BOC have such trust and faith in my ability in the draft is just very … I guess thankful would be best to describe it, and lucky, and knowing that he has that trust in me is also just such a nice boost to my confidence, especially mid-draft when I’m feeling a bit uncertain. I can always have trust in myself because I know that Boc, who I have so much respect for, has faith in my ability. I also get blessed by his baldness, as we all know: bald coach>> haired coach.

Q: Do you see a difference in how you coach Cupid vs The University of Toronto? Did coaching for the collegiate team even remotely prepare you for this?

A: I think how I coach now vs how I coached during CLOL is pretty similar; I would just say my knowledge and skill have improved a good bit, like my style of coaching hasn’t changed, just improved. I’m naturally a more shy person and soft-spoken, so at UofT that trait was a significant detriment: I would let things go I shouldn’t have, or not teach a concept because I was unsure whether I was right. Whereas now, it’s still something I struggle with, but I think I’ve improved at having more confidence and a stronger voice while still sticking to my natural coaching style. In terms of UofT preparing me, I don’t think anything could have been done. The team environment is just so drastically different because UofT was a much more chill vibe of 5 friends playing on a team who still want to improve and win. However, it was still laid back like we didn’t scrim, whereas compared to Cupid, our goal is DSG’s spot and so naturally the vibe and practice is just infinitely more serious.

Q: When you aren’t working with your team to continue your stomp, what is your favorite role to play?

A: When I have some free time to do some solo queue, I usually play whatever role speaks to my heart at the time, but I always end up back playing jungle. 

Q: Who do you think is the strongest opponent in your group? What intimidates you the most about them? 

A: I think the strongest in our group is CCG; however, if the leak is true and Dardoch goes to DIG, I think it becomes either WU or DOG. I feel like both teams are pretty good, not that CONT isn’t; I just can’t say every team is the best, sadly, but DOG, I think, has some power of friendship going on with them and can play really good League, and WU I think have good players. Still, with top/mid/adc leaving, they are basically a new team, so my guess is they are still figuring out how to mesh properly, and once they do, they have strong players. Hence, they are pretty scary as well.

Q: A lot of NACL fans felt cheated by CPD securing the slot from Supernova instead of giving it to one of the teams that placed highly in the promotional tournament. How does it feel to be at the top of your group, essentially proving that you belong in tier 2?

A: Um, honestly, maybe this isn’t the best thing to say, but I can’t say I overly care about how people feel about Cupid taking the spot because I personally had nothing to do with it, but I do understand why they would be. I definitely would be a bit upset if I were on DME, not going to lie, but I’m just happy to be on this team, so yeah, I can’t say I really think about it; however, it does feel really awesome for this team to be doing as well as it is, and I am SUPER happy to help prove that the players are at the top of their roles and that we are a threat, as well as prove that I belong as an assistant coach at this level. It’s just awesome to continuously develop my skills at such a high level.

Q: And last but not least, what advice do you have for people who are looking to get involved in Tier 2?

A: For advice to others wanting to get into Tier 2, sadly I can’t say I have an overwhelming amount to hand out. Still, connections are really important, along with just constantly striving to improve and continuing to develop your skills and knowledge with an open mind. I personally got kinda lucky, I feel like, with the people I got exposed to. Aloxeo, the assistant coach for OME,  was the first head coach I worked with, and he is just a super nice and knowledgeable person who took me on when I knew like nothing about the game or comp. He has done a lot to help me learn the game and is just a W friend. Beenes at Blue Otter has done SOOO much to help me build connections and talk to people who are at a higher level in the space, and is also a W friend. Arlant has also done a BUNCH to help me improve, especially draft-wise, and again is a W friend; I’m pretty lucky to have especially those 3 as my friends/mentors. So TLDR; make connections and just constantly be doing your best to find opportunities to learn from others or work on teams as an HC to improve your coaching ability, or be an assistant coach and work with a coach who may be better than you currently and learn.