After stella turnaround in fortunes from the first half of the year, the team have now qualified for the NLC 1st Division Summer Split Final and guaranteed a place in the EMEA Masters for the first time in our brief history.
This successful run hasn’t been without controversy. In our top of the table clash against Verdant we suffered a terminal issue resulting in Vladi not being able to play. While this result did have a bearing on the final standings, the players showed great resilience in taking Verdant down in our best of five playoff to secure the first Finals place.
As we reflect on our matches against the two remaining contenders for the other Final spot, we’re also planning for our entry into EMEA Masters. Success in the Final will put us into the EMEA Masters Group Stages, failure means we’ll need to go through the ‘playins’ or qualifiers for a Group Stage place.
The impact of these results doesn’t stop there as points from the playoffs games go towards the overall 2023 NLC 1st Division Championship Standings.
"We’ve been clear from the start of this campaign that the Summer Split was our focus for the year. The catalyst for this push was without doubt securing John ‘RNGLlol’ Crichton as our Head Coach and retaining Nikolaj ‘ScottyMcScoot’ Simonsen in his favoured role as Analyst,” said CEO & Founder Kurt Pittman.
“We also can’t forget the impact that our Management Team, Ryan ‘Rydona’ Dunkley and Sammy ‘SammyJungles’ Davies, have had throughout the process.”
“While we don’t have the resources to buy success, we are constantly looking for new ideas and opportunities that might give us an edge. Taking calculated risks is something that we embrace rather than turn away from. It’s something that Coaching Staff bought into from the moment they joined Nativz.”
While Head Coach John ‘RNGlol’ Crichton is well and truly settled into his role and the players are putting on a show week in week out, we’re now in a position to make some further improvements – to set us up for this next stage.
Joining the Coaching Staff with a track record of success in League is Žiga ‘Apples’ Jereb. Apples has been with us since week 5 of NLC Summer and will see us through EMEA Masters, primarily focused on developing our Top and Mid Lane talents Shikari and Vladi. The team will also benefit from his experience at EMEA Masters level as we plot a path to success in what will be the biggest challenge we’ve face in our small history.
Apples spoke on joining the team saying, "I was really excited at the opportunity to join Nativz due to my perceived potential the players possess and I want to help the organisation achieve a strong run at EMEA masters. It's been an amazing experience seeing them improve, working alongside the coaching staff and I can't wait to see how far we can go on the big stage."
Our NLC 1st Division Summer Split Final is on Saturday 5 August, 5pm BST / 6pm CEST. Format for the final will be based on a best of 5 against either Verdant or Nord. All games will be streamed via twitch.tv/nlclol.
EMEA Masters commence on 14 August with further details to follow once we know whether the team will enter via the Group Stage or Playins.
Join Nativz today with our Free Membership, our Citizen Key. All key holders gain access to a range of benefits starting with 5% off merchandise, secure yours online here now.
