Mia “aiM” Cooper made history at ESL Impact Season 7 finals by being the first UK player to qualify for an ESL Impact Finals playoffs. Unfortunately, once in the playoffs, NIP Impact fell short of playing on the IEM Dallas stage in the Grand Finals, as they lost to the North American team Supernova Comets.
Heading into ESL Impact Season 8, NIP have made multiple changes. They upgraded their AWPer, replacing Anna “ramziiN” Ramsing with Ana “Zana” Queiroz, and added a new coach, Jesper “TENZKI” Plougmann, after their previous coach, Niels “NaToSaphiX” Christian Sillassen, joined the new Falcons Academy project.
As it stands, NIP have shown they are in contention for the ESL Impact trophy, as they have traded series wins against Imperial Valkyries on the run-up to ESL Impact Season 8.
Their first game in ESL Impact Season 8 starts tonight at 7:30 BST against 888aura.
Despite having an official starting 30 minutes before the BLAST Open London Grand Finals, aiM still attended and played the game backstage on a PC that BLAST lent her. During her time at Wembley, UKCSGO sat down with UK CS’s local hero to talk about her experience at the UK event, their ESL Impact Season 7 run, and their high expectations for ESL Impact Season 8.
How has BLAST London been? I hear people have been asking for photos.
Someone did take a photo with me, I have so many fans, what can I say [laughs]. It has been nice. It is the first UK event I have been to since ECS in 2019. So it has been a couple of years.
I missed the first map of the finals because I had to play an official, but thank you to BLAST for lending me a PC.
aiM playing back stage at the BLAST Open London Finals
You can say you played in Wembley now!
Not many people can say they have played in Wembley Arena. No context though… [laughs]
Does being at a UK event and watching a UK player give you any extra motivation?
Absolutely, I feel like the UK scene as a whole hasn’t got many good players and not much is going on. Especially on the female scene, there aren’t many of us around. To be here and watch a UK player on the stage is pretty amazing. It gives me motivation for the next Impact season to be on the stage and win.
Speaking about Impact, I want to take it back to the Season 7 finals in Dallas. It was a good run, but there was a bit of disappointment losing in the semis. Does it give you extra drive for Season 8?
We were definitely disappointed, to be honest. It was the first Impact season where the female grand finals were going to be on the main stage. For us, it was a massive disappointment not to be there. We felt like we could have made it; it was ours to take.
Some disappointment, but it only gives us motivation for Season 8.
Alongside that motivation, NIP Impact have upgraded with Zana. She is one of the best AWPers in the world, but she also seems to fit the team vibe super well.
Obviously, coming from BIG, she has so much experience. She has been to Impact finals many times; she is an amazing player.
Talking about the personality, we just bounce off each other. She fits into the team so well. Great personality, really funny. I think it was the right choice for us.
Do you see that as the addition to elevate you to the best women’s team in the world?
Yeah, absolutely. The experience she brings as an AWPer really makes us takes us one step ahead.
Unfortunately, you lost NaToSaphiX as he joined Falcons Academy, but you have replaced him with a very experienced player in TENZKI. What has that change been like?
It is always sad to lose your coach, especially when it is not you replacing them, and they are leaving for a different project. Obviously, it is very sad, and I have nothing but good words to say for NaTo. He is a great guy, a great coach, and I only wish him the best with Falcons Academy.
Talking about TENZKI, he has so much experience playing at the top level, and he brings a different side than NaTo. He is very technical; he looks at the small details. A different coach to NaTo, bringing something different and something that we need at the moment.
Can you explain that more?
TENZKI is very similar to NaTo, he just takes no shit. If something is wrong, he will just say it, he does not beat around the bush. He is very straight to the point.
At the moment, that is what we need: we need the straight-talking type of person to elevate us. He is pretty good.
You have been playing in open tournaments recently. The results haven’t been very good on paper, but what are the benefits for NIP Impact playing in these events?
I don’t think people realise how much it benefits us. Normally, in practice, we play people around our level, 3k elo teams or other female teams. Obviously, we are playing to our skill level. So when we get to play these tournaments, it doesn’t matter what score we get because we get to see where we are being taken advantage of.
Playing these tournaments improves us so much. We can lose 13-0, as we have, but we will know next time what went wrong, how we can improve, and it will only help us in the future against other female teams.
aiM celebrating after beaing Imperial Valkyries at the ESL Impact Season 7 Finals | Credit: Rachel Mathews & ESL
The main rivals have always been Imperial Valkyries. You got a pretty convincing BO3 win over them in Elite FE7, but then you lost a couple of days later in CCT. Do you feel like the gap between you and them is the closest it has ever been?
Absolutely. They have just changed a player, so some people could say they are looking a bit weaker than they were before, but it doesn’t really matter. They are still a really good team, but these results show that we are that much closer to them, being able to win maps against them and win series against them. It is closer now than it ever has been.
What are the expectations for the upcoming ESL Impact Season?
Obviously, qualifying for the finals is the first step, but we want to win. Every female team coming into Impact wants to win the tournament. That is what they set their sights on. For me to say any less would be wrong.
We do want to win, but we can’t underestimate anyone and have to take it one step at a time. Qualifying for finals is the main objective.
You might be on the road to win an ESL Impact, but you have never been an EPIC.LAN. Is that ever going to happen?
To be honest, I was planning on going to the last EPIC.LAN, but it didn’t work out. There were too many things that made it impossible. If there is one thing I do in my life, I have to go to an EPIC.LAN.
Whoever I end up going with, I think we will have a good time. 100% I will be going to an EPIC.LAN at some point.
