Next in Line Esports have risen from ESEA Open to ESEA Advanced in a single season, winning the division outright. Now, the UK/Finnish combine have their sights set on the EPIC.39 title. Tom “tomtom94” Coles sat down with their in-game leader, John “Dutchy” Holland, after they finished runners-up in group B with four wins and a draw.
How is Epic going so far?
It’s been good, I’m liking the vibe, it’s kind of an old-school LAN vibe from the different hall.
Are you enjoying Wolverhampton?
Yeah [laughs] it’s definitely easier to get food and stuff compared to Kettering. Shorter drive as well, which is great for me.
Who do you most want to play in the remaining games of EPIC.LAN?
I guess the two main ones is the mix with smooya and stuff, cause they’ve kind of got a target on their backs. Everyone just wants to beat those kind of players because it’s showing that you’re better. And then 7AM as well, just because of my history, playing with them [LVN and husky], I’d quite like to beat them and show them why I deserve my spot and stuff.
Can you win the event?
100%. I think before ESEA Open started, a lot of people would have said we couldn’t win Open and we did that, so, no reason we can’t win Epic.
Tell me a bit about winning Open and making Advanced.
It was good. It was a really long run, with a lot of random teams. It was really difficult, because there was so many teams, so many different playstyles, we had to adapt and even in the regular season try not to lose any best-of-ones. It was very long and gruelling, but I think by the time we got to the end of it, we were glad it was over to be honest.
Was it a good final, taking on ESC Gaming?
It was kind of perfect that we played them in the final, two players that have been in the scene a while, bondik and Edward. Edward mainly, is a CS great right? His name is ingrained in CS history. To beat someone like that in the final and get ourselves into Advanced, kind of what we deserved I thought.
You’ve said in the past that people looked down on you when you quit Royals to start this project, do you feel vindicated now?
Yeah, a little bit. A lot of people called me stupid or wondered why I done it, but at the end of the day I wanted my own thing, my own project where I could build something and I could play with players that I thought had a big drive to improve. I think it’s shown from day one, we started from nothing, and we got kind of unlucky in ESL Prem, but it wasn’t the worst run, we didn’t lose our spot or anything, and we obviously made Advanced which was the goal at the start of the season. A lot of people will now maybe respect my decision in hindsight a little bit more.
How have Next in Line been as an organisation?
They’ve been great. Wylch [Director] and Whale [COO] have done everything we’ve asked of them, Wylch pulled an eight-hour drive yesterday to pick up Otto and kappe from the airport, and obviously it’s a big help to get them over from Finland. It’s a big ask to get Finnish players over to the UK for an EPIC.LAN, and obviously they made it happen.
Your team isn’t just a UK team, you also have ottob and kappe, how did they get involved in the project and what do they bring to the team?
It was really weird, Otto just messaged me out of the blue and it was kind of the first time I’d ever spoken to him, and then straight away it kind of clicked, later on he recommended kappe. Both of them are really good, sometimes the big struggle is obviously the language barrier, especially between Scottish – I can barely speak English [laughs]. They bring a lot to the team, they bring a style that we’re not really used to, which gives us a lot of outlets and ways to win rounds. We don’t just have one way to win a round, we can win it any way, we can win it by just shooting people in the face, we can win it by using utility, we can do anything.
So going back to EPIC, you’ve got Wolfie subbing in for Mad this event, how’s that going?
Yeah, it’s going really good. Andrew [Wolfie] and I are really good friends, arguably even best friends since we met at some Scottish LAN like five years ago or something like that? It’s really enjoyable playing with someone that I’ve not really had much chance to play events with and stuff, and he fits perfectly in Mad’s roles, so everyone’s enjoying it. Andrew’s always a good laugh.
What’s the goals for play-offs?
We play Royals first game, which is pretty favourable for us, rather than playing smooya’s mix early on. I think we just want to win our first game and then take it game-by-game, we want to win the event but we just have to take it one game at a time and hopefully we get where we want to be.
Is there anything extra riding on your game later against Royals because of your history?
Not as much as I think there is with 7AM. It’s not as if there’s bad blood with 7AM, but I left Royals, so if anything maybe that’d be a better question for Swaggy, if he wants to beat me rather than the opposite.
What are your goals for the rest of the year?
Hopefully Source 2 is out by the time [ESEA] Advanced starts, and from there… I don’t think we actually want to set any goals, because it’s going to be an absolute brawl, no-one is going to have a single clue what’s going on. Just looking forward to that really.
Lastly, if you had to shout out one player on your team other than yourself, who would it be?
I’ll say kappe. kappe’s like, really quiet, a lot of the time, but he’s really explosive. He’s one of those players, he’ll have a few quiet rounds, but he’s one of those players, he’ll go in somewhere, kill four people out of nowhere and I don’t have to call anything, which is perfect. I think kappe’s a really good talent.
What sort of level do you see him at in the future?
I think he can push himself as far as he wants, really. It just kind of depends how far he thinks he can go. I think he could go as far as you can imagine, really, especially right now with these tier 2 players going into tier 1. I think it’s kind of the same, if kappe stays dedicated for a year or two, I think he could be up there quite easily.
