“It’s been one hell of a journey” – Jack-of-all-trades and world champion coach Nbs in an interview about VALORANT Olympus and LoL Worlds

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In this interview, esports jack-of-all-trades Nbs talks about his experiences as a professional player in LoL and StarCraft II, as well as his work as a coach for VALORANT World Champion Acend.

Before Laurynas “Nbs” Kisielius became a successful coach in the popular game VALORANT, he was also known as an esports player in League of Legends, StarCraft 2 and PUBG. In 2013, he even made it to the World Championship in MOBA by Riot Games. Together with his team Acend, Nbs won the VALORANT Champions 2021, the most important VALORANT event of the year. In this interview, the coach talks about his experiences in the Esports scene and the current state of VALORANT.

A dream come true

How does it feel to be the first VALORANT champion?

Nbs: I can tell you this much, it feels really good. It’s been a hell of a journey and at the beginning of last year we basically formed the team from nothing. We won the Masters 1 and then at the end of the year we won the Champions. I couldn’t have expected more from my players. It was really amazing.

Even before your big success in VALORANT, you were already a professional player in StarCraft 2 and also League of Legends and even went to the World Championship in Season 3. How was it playing at the Worlds?

It was a very nice experience. I would say at the time when I was playing League of Legends, we were a bit lucky during the qualification because of the system. It was one of the first region-based systems that had an international wild card tournament. This gave every smaller region a chance to make it to Worlds and I think we were in the right place at the right time.

We were a roster entirely from Lithuania, but at that time it was also part of the CIS region. At that time, the CIS region didn’t have many good top teams. We had managed to win and went to the Worlds. We knew that the tournament would be insanely hard and we wouldn’t even make it out of the group stage because of the difference in skills. Even the top tier teams in Europe were not beatable for us and China and Korea were even stronger. It was a very nice experience to participate in the World Championship and also an honour.

Shortly after, I quit League and played other games like PUBG and now VALORANT. But I had the dream of competing in two different World Championship titles. I was in League at Worlds and I wanted to compete in another World Championship. In PUBG, I was already very close. We finished seventh in the season and only the top six teams were at the World Championships. That was quite hard because my dream was within reach and I hadn’t achieved it. But then in VALORANT it worked out and it was crazy because we were able to win the Championship.

You need the right people in your team

What are the three most important factors to be successful in esports?

I think one would definitely be talent. With talent and without passion, you won’t get far. The second thing would be – and this should be even more important – the right mindset for training as well as a good environment for it. It is important to have the support of friends and family until a top level is reached. Later, the support of an organisation is also important.

Maybe a bit of luck is also necessary, as you said one should also be in the right place at the right time?

As a third factor, nothing really comes to mind right now. Luck only makes up a few percentage points in the end. Even if you don’t win, you know you did well. There will always be only one champion, but that doesn’t mean that all the other teams have done something wrong. They just have to acknowledge how everything went. For example, last year Gambit was also very successful and Liquid were also on top.

I think in team games it is important to have the right people. There should always be a good balance between the players. That way there are enough people who talk and also enough people who don’t talk too much – but still convey the important information. The same goes for energy. They have to respect each other.

It’s just different. There is no game that is similar to it.
What is so special about VALORANT that it has become such a popular game in the esports scene?

Riot Games follows a formula that already works. It goes way back to the days when I played the beta in League of Legends. They took a genre created by Dota, but made it a little bit different and added their own vision. Then slowly over the years they made the right decisions for themselves and the whole Esport business. Now they are doing something similar with VALORANT.

Riot wanted to create a tactical shooter like Counter-Strike. They found their own spin on it and did it differently with the skills and the agents. But the principle was kept.

The differences between League of Legends and Dota 2 and VALORANT and CS:GO in esports is that Riot has over ten years of experience with League and it’s the most successful and biggest ever. That makes it a lot easier for them to have a good start with VALORANT as an esports title. They have made it successful, the numbers show it.

Would you say VALORANT is better than other shooters?

I don’t want to say better or worse. It’s a top tier game. One of the best games like CS:GO, League, Dota 2 or Rocket League. It’s a very good game, with a good developer behind it. It’s just different. There is no game that is similar.

I remember when it was released and people said it was 80 percent Counter-Strike and 20 percent Overwatch. I completely agreed with that because it has a bit of both worlds and it’s mixed with Riot’s vision. It’s really good and I really can’t say if it’s better or worse. It’s always been the same with League and Dota as well. I never said League was better than Dota or vice versa. I acknowledge that both games are really good, both in terms of the game itself and on the esports side.

I really like the way it’s going. I trust Riot because of their experience.
How do you see the VALORANT esports scene evolving, especially with the changes in the VRL that anyone can participate and even qualify for the VCT?

Riots is going in the right direction in esports. It has proven to be successful in League of Legends. LoL is basically the same. You have the regional leagues. It’s not possible to limit the leagues to eight teams because there are a lot more people who want to participate and we need those regional leagues.

It’s the right way to make sure the scene grows on its own. I really like the way it’s going. I trust Riot because of their experience.

Unfortunately, in my experience, not all developers are like that. But Riot always LISTENS, gathers feedback and doesn’t put it off. Riot is good at this kind of thing. If at any time something is wrong, they fix it quickly.

How do you prepare your team for upcoming matches?

We do three things. First of all, we do our regular training sessions as usual. However, training is not everything and the players also need to rest.

That’s why we have rest periods between the days. Especially when we have lost a match, because losing is always hard. It never gets easy. I have to make sure everyone has time to refocus, relax, regain motivation and then move on.

We also watch how the opposing team plays, for that we analyse their VODs. In addition, we develop our own game for upcoming matches. We make sure we are well prepared.