With Viperio’s trials for the summer season fully underway, we spoke with Alan Reid, General Manager for Viperio League of Legends about about his experience this offseason so far.
How have trials been going?
“For the first time since Autumn 2019, I’m having to build a new roster without any of the starting players of our UKEL Split. I generally like to build a roster around our strongest piece and expand from there. Last season we did this with JonnyREcco. This split we’ve had no one to do this around, so it was harder to start off. At the same time, this allowed us (coaching staff and myself) to decide on what was required to build a successful roster.”
When do you think that tryouts will begin to end, and player development will begin?
“We would like to end our trials by next week. We have a shortlist of the players that we’re interested in for our main team. We’re going through the iteration process to be able to find the best combination and that requires quite a lot of scrims but given the players we’ve already extended interest with, this allows for those players to constantly work together to gain synergy. It’s a rough process which takes a lot of time for everyone but it makes sure we have a good roster.”
There has been praise towards UKEL teams for their proactivity this offseason compared to UKLC teams. Can you elaborate on why this may be?
“The format of the UKEL has created legitimate competition which allows players and teams involved to be given justified credit for the performance within the split. No one wants to get relegated and to make sure of that, you have to get the best team formed as soon as possible to get the practise between the players. The UKEL is becoming a hell lot more competitive with both X7 and Resolve Academy entering the scene, it’s forcing everyone, including Viperio to act faster. By extension, the UKEL is upping it’s bar which will prove detrimental to UKLC teams acting slowly.”
“Right after losing to Bulldogs in the UKLC relegation tournament, I was already on my way to form the new team. I had already talked to the players about what would happen if we won or lost. That allowed me to enquire about players and staff and to get the ball moving.”
How confident are you currently feeling about Viperio’s line-up for the summer and beyond?
“I’m always confident with any team I’m working with but I’m going to be honest, the UKEL has humbled me and I’m still eating that pie. Both Rydona and Kaya formed fantastic teams thanks to their involvement with the UK in-house community and connection with the scene. I’ve learnt a lot of lessons from my re-entry to managing back at Summer 2019, working my first split with Viperio. I feel I have a good idea on what’s required to win the UKEL regardless of X7’s and Resolve’s involvement. Very quickly I brought in the same staffing from Spring and added Calvin to our coaching lineup. It’s been absolutely fantastic. From our tryouts, we have a good core of players which I’m very excited to work with and if our iteration process proves successful, then I feel I have good grounds to feel confident. We nearly did it twice now and I believe I’ve learnt important lessons for this year.”
If you’re still interested in trialling for Viperio for summer 2021, we urge you to reach out as soon as possible directly to the team manager via Twitter.
