Nardeus and BJK make the most of MSI
Riot·5/13/2015, 6:35:05 PM·2 votes·6,633 views
Beşiktaş e-Sports Club (BJK) may not have won a game at the Mid-Season Invitational, but after hearing the NA fans chant their name, the Turkish team is walking away with their heads held high and filled with all sorts of new tricks to take back to their developing region.
AD carry Nardeus had an especially good time at MSI during his first time in America. "I always wanted to visit USA," he told Lolesports. "Tallahassee is a small city, but it's so beautiful, so I really love it here."
He also enjoyed being among the great players like Hyuk-kyu "Deft" Kim and Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, who he's always looked up to, and he seemed thrilled to pick up as much game knowledge as possible from the world's top League of Legends teams. "I learned so much," he says with a humble grin. "I learned that I need to have a bigger champion pool. To go for the Kalista and Urgot. I learned that I need to work on my rotations in game and mechanics, and basically everything in the game," he laughs.
"These teams we played here, they're just the best of the best," he says of his MSI competition. "They're better in mechanics, in rotations, and experience. Everything around the game they do better." Nardeus goes on to explain how their opponents punished every single mistake his team made, "while if we play against a Turkish team, we can afford to make two or three mistakes in a game and not lose."
"I didn't have big hopes coming into this tournament, but still, getting stomped pretty much every game was tough," he explains. "I didn't really have my hopes up. I maybe thought we we could take one game from some team, but it didn't really happen. But I was prepared for it, so I'm not that sad."
Despite his team's 0-5 performance, Nardeus was blown away by the cheering of the North American crowd. "I didn't know the fans would be so supportive! They chanted BJK for one game and it was really great," he says with a huge smile.
"In the last game when we went against Fnatic, if we won, Team SoloMid would have had a chance to actually qualify [for the Semifinals]. So I kind of felt pressured by the NA fans. If we were to get stomped, they would maybe boo us off of the stage or something after the game, but it didn't happen, they just supported us!"
With his newfound support in NA and everything he's learned, the ADC feels driven to work harder in the future. "I've got this new motivation to really be on the same level as those players. So I'm just going to practice as I used to, maybe half a year ago, and I'm going to try to get on this level."
He explains how he stopped training so much when he first got to Turkey from the Czech Republic, as he didn't feel the need due to the lackluster competition in Turkey. But now, he hopes he and his team will bring back what they learned at MSI in order to stomp through their region. "If we are going to practice a lot, and actually learn from this experience, yeah we're going to be the number one team in Turkey by far. I believe that."
Not only does he believe BJK will do well in Turkey, but he thinks the team's involvement in MSI will only help them get to the 2015 World Championship. "I think that MSI was really needed experience for us," he says. "If we can really learn from this, I think we're going to be able to make a bigger impact on Worlds."
As BJK makes their way back to Turkey, Nardeus has nothing but the best to say to his new NA fans. "I really love you guys!" he exclaims. "You've been amazing. The BJK chants, it really put a smile on my face. I'm just sorry we didn't win against Fnatic and give TSM a chance to get out of the groups."
He also had a humble yet hopeful message for BJK's Turkish fans, saying, "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I know that you will support me either way, but it still sucks I didn't play my best here. But thanks for the support and everything, and I hope we will make you proud at Worlds."
With their fresh experiences and a positive attitude looking forward, BJK has a great chance to make it there.
To watch BJK's matches and every other game from the Mid-Season Invitational, you can head over to our spoiler-free VODs page.
Leah Jackson is a web content editor at Lolesports. Her favorite champion is currently Gnar. Feel free to follow her on Twitter for esports banter and corgi pictures.
Next Level Competition
"These teams we played here, they're just the best of the best," he says of his MSI competition. "They're better in mechanics, in rotations, and experience. Everything around the game they do better." Nardeus goes on to explain how their opponents punished every single mistake his team made, "while if we play against a Turkish team, we can afford to make two or three mistakes in a game and not lose."
"I didn't have big hopes coming into this tournament, but still, getting stomped pretty much every game was tough," he explains. "I didn't really have my hopes up. I maybe thought we we could take one game from some team, but it didn't really happen. But I was prepared for it, so I'm not that sad."
BJK! BJK! BJK!
Despite his team's 0-5 performance, Nardeus was blown away by the cheering of the North American crowd. "I didn't know the fans would be so supportive! They chanted BJK for one game and it was really great," he says with a huge smile.
"In the last game when we went against Fnatic, if we won, Team SoloMid would have had a chance to actually qualify [for the Semifinals]. So I kind of felt pressured by the NA fans. If we were to get stomped, they would maybe boo us off of the stage or something after the game, but it didn't happen, they just supported us!"
Fresh Motivation
With his newfound support in NA and everything he's learned, the ADC feels driven to work harder in the future. "I've got this new motivation to really be on the same level as those players. So I'm just going to practice as I used to, maybe half a year ago, and I'm going to try to get on this level."
He explains how he stopped training so much when he first got to Turkey from the Czech Republic, as he didn't feel the need due to the lackluster competition in Turkey. But now, he hopes he and his team will bring back what they learned at MSI in order to stomp through their region. "If we are going to practice a lot, and actually learn from this experience, yeah we're going to be the number one team in Turkey by far. I believe that."
Not only does he believe BJK will do well in Turkey, but he thinks the team's involvement in MSI will only help them get to the 2015 World Championship. "I think that MSI was really needed experience for us," he says. "If we can really learn from this, I think we're going to be able to make a bigger impact on Worlds."
Back to reality
As BJK makes their way back to Turkey, Nardeus has nothing but the best to say to his new NA fans. "I really love you guys!" he exclaims. "You've been amazing. The BJK chants, it really put a smile on my face. I'm just sorry we didn't win against Fnatic and give TSM a chance to get out of the groups."
He also had a humble yet hopeful message for BJK's Turkish fans, saying, "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I know that you will support me either way, but it still sucks I didn't play my best here. But thanks for the support and everything, and I hope we will make you proud at Worlds."
With their fresh experiences and a positive attitude looking forward, BJK has a great chance to make it there.
To watch BJK's matches and every other game from the Mid-Season Invitational, you can head over to our spoiler-free VODs page.
Leah Jackson is a web content editor at Lolesports. Her favorite champion is currently Gnar. Feel free to follow her on Twitter for esports banter and corgi pictures.
