On December 9, Niklot “Tolkin” Stüber finally met League of Legends world champion T1 and especially Faker at the Red Bull League of Its Own
-event at the Velodrome in Berlin. MeinMMO author Fabienne Kissel was there and spoke with Tolkin.
Note: The title image is an edited collage, using material from the Content Pool of Red Bull League of Its Own 2023. Photographer Credit ©: Marius Faulhaber / Red Bull Content Pool.
It is the dream of many “League of Legends” professionals and streamers: to compete against the best of the best – we are talking about the Unkillable Demon King
Faker and T1. The man is a living legend – the Goat
.
For the German LoL player, caster, and streamer Niklot Tolkin
Stüber, who officially co-streamed the Worlds 2023, this dream became reality at the Red Bull League of Its Own Event. As a huge fan, he was excited beforehand that Faker was able to secure his fourth world championship title – now he could play with his team NNO Old against world champions T1.
He wasn’t sure if it would really happen, as he reveals:
For me, it was absolutely surreal that this could happen. […] The concept was presented to me about half a year ago. In the last few months, I thought, T1 would never come here. Faker was injured on his wrist, whether the roster would stay together was questionable, whether they would even make the playoffs and be allowed to go to Worlds, all that was questionable.
And just because T1’s schedule has been very packed all year round, I had thought maybe they want a little vacation too, the guys. That they would actually do it, come here and I got to not only play against them – I also got to interview them.
There were over 7,000 people in the arena and everyone was hyped for this event. […] Absolute dream come true. […] Great from Red Bull and especially great from the fans that they made this possible. […] I am infinitely grateful for that.
Tolkin at theRed Bull League of Its Own-event
Tolkin fulfilled his dream of meeting T1 and especially Faker
The opportunity not only to play against T1 but also to interview them was a highlight for Tolkin, as he emphasized. He pointed out how nervous he was and said regarding the interview with T1:
That I got to interview T1 was only clear about half a day before. And I was really up until 2 AM writing questions. […] I was super nervous, I didn’t know how to deal with it because I’m a hardcore fanboy. I am a huge, huge fan of this lineup, this team – and especially of Faker.
And I only slept for 2 hours. I was much more nervous before the interview [with T1] than before the game. […] Generally, they are extremely polite and especially very professional.
Tolkin at theRed Bull League of Its Own-event
- He will soon upload his interview with T1 on his YouTube channel. We will link Tolkin’s video here later.
T1 presented Tolkin with a unique gift
After the interview with T1, Tolkin even received a very special gift from the entire team – a T1 jersey with his name on the back, which Faker and the entire team also signed.
Here you can see the moment:
Rockstar feeling during the match against T1
The impressive emotional match NNO Old vs T1 created a real fan frenzy in the Velodrome. We wanted to know how it felt for Tolkin to play at this event and whether NNO had anticipated so many fans:
We didn’t know exactly how big it would be. It can be hard to visualize 7,000 people. The largest arena I’ve ever played E-sports in was about 4,000 people and this was almost twice that.
[…] And that so many people were cheering for us, that the entire hall was roaring – even the T1 guys turned around to us when we walked in. […] It was extremely cool to experience this feeling, almost rockstar-like. Incredible, a once-in-a-lifetime chance and it was wonderful.
Tolkin at Red Bull League of Its Own
Tolkin is a big fan of Faker, if not the biggest
During our conversation, it became clear time and again how great Tolkin’s enthusiasm for the LoL superstar is and how happy he was to fulfill his dream of meeting Faker. He emphasized how much of a fanboy he is of T1 and especially of Faker.
What Tolkin said about his dream of meeting Faker:
Super cool, […] it was definitely insane to meet Faker and then also play against him. […] I even killed him in-game. […] That was really wonderful. […] I don’t know what the next step could look like, if there is one.
Tolkin at Red Bull League of Its Own
The moment he killed Faker in-game happened at minute 24, which Tolkin also posted on X.
On the top lane against T1 Zeus: He was by far the objectively best top laner today
Tolkin picked the champion Camille in the match against T1 and Zeus picked Vayne next, a hard counter pick against Camille. He had hoped Zeus would play Aatrox as a fan of Aatrox, which is why he picked Camille. Zeus is considered one of the best Aatrox players, if not the best.
We wanted to know how it was for Tolkin to play against T1 Zeus on the top lane. He had been looking forward to this for a long time:
[…] I initially felt a bit bad because he really took me down hard. But then I saw how Wunder, Viziscacsi, Cabochard were all destroyed. BrokenBlade was also taken down by Zeus.
He was by far the objectively best top laner today. That was a bit clear from the start. […] Zeus is incredibly young, […] already a world champion and LCK champion. […] I’ve won the German championship a couple of times, but this guy is on a whole different level.
Tolkin at Red Bull League of Its Own
Zeus had to pick a top laner who has an SKT skin
Later, Tolkin reflected on the match and the entire event in his stream and explained why he was to blame
for Zeus choosing Vayne:
[…] I really wanted to play Camille against Aatrox. And I realized at that point that we were playing against an SKT draft. […] But when preparing bans for Camille […], we banned Jax and Renekton.
Both Jax and Renekton are champions that have an SKT T1
-skin. Tolkin mentioned in his stream: Zeus had to pick a top laner with an SKT skin
– in this case, Vayne. Because all T1 players chose a champion with an SKT skin. Faker, who rarely plays with skins, chose the T1 Azir skin from player Easyhoon.
He emphasized that Vayne is a hard counter to Camille, but Zeus had no other choice. So one has to say that it’s one’s own fault, it could have been thought of.
Here you can see the clip:
Tolkin asked T1 top laner Zeus for tips
In Tolkin’s interview with T1, he asked the top laner Zeus for tips for the Aatrox matchup, as he revealed to us. Zeus’ reaction when he realized he would play against Tolkin the next day was, in Tolkin’s words: Hä, I’m not giving you any tips, I want to win
– which Tolkin found funny and incredibly likable about Zeus.
Huge thank you from Tolkin to the community
At the end of our interview, we asked Tolkin if he wanted to say anything to the community. These are his words to you:
I just want to thank everyone again, because yes, the path of the pro player didn’t allow me to play against Faker – but as a content creator, it did. And that’s only because of the people who were here, who were hyped.
That’s why Red Bull also invited us. You could feel that in the arena, it was so much fun – people also followed us absolutely great at home. The way this passion for e-sports has been shared with everyone and also given back is just something to be infinitely grateful for. Only thanks to the people who are hyped at home, who are hyped here, does it all work.
Tolkin at Red Bull League of Its Own
Red Bull League of Its Own-event as a press representative. The costs for admission, travel, and accommodation were covered by the organizers.
I myself watched the match of Tolkin and his team NNO Old vs T1 live and it was the most emotional match I’ve ever experienced: I was there live when the German team NNO lost against world champions T1
