Photo: LoL Esports
On League of Legends, the routine can quickly turn. Careers are short and changes, for good or bad, can be rapid. There are many examples… How many players have fallen into oblivion after a small poor performance? How many players have written their legend out of nowhere? The Frenchman Adam”Adam” Maanane perfectly illustrates this ambivalence inherent in esports. In 2021, the tricolor was the hit of the year. In the space of a year, he had gone from Div 2 to Worlds, from Karmine Corp. at fnatic, collecting on his way a title of champion of France and a title of champion of Europe (EUM). Absolutely everything worked for him and the media, French and foreign alike, made eyes at him. But the honeymoon didn’t last.
After Worlds as complicated on a personal as collective level, the Frenchman experienced a real descent into hell. Mired in a drama that lasted, weighed down by clumsy statements and with hindsight, unwelcome, he changed tune to join Team BDS during the offseason. But the negative spiral continued despite this departure. Sportingly, he finished at the bottom of the rankings but on the networks it was also complicated. The tide has turned and many, in France as elsewhere, have turned their backs on Adam. the little Prince of the toplane has become the fallen little prince… The former K Corp lost his place in the top flight and he was sent to the academy team, team 2. But could this demotion, which sounds a bit like a punishment, not be a bad for good ? In any case, we want to believe in it on our side. For his big comeback in LFL, we want to turn the page and wish good luck and good luck to Adam.
Open letter to Adam
Adam, despite your young age and your career which is still in its infancy, you will have already made us see all the colors. Like many, you were discovered with the crazy story of the Karmine Corp. and at the time, we had fallen, like the whole community, under the spell. We’re not going to lie and at the very beginning, we didn’t really know if you had the level to shine, even in LFL. It must be said that the march between the two levels of the French league is not insignificant. But quickly, you were able to convince us, by dint of beating up the other toplaners. Whether it was with Darius, Olaf or Renekton, you entertained us and we definitely became fans with this very fine victory at the European Masters, where you showed us that you had more than one trick up your sleeve and that being weakside didn’t scare you.
Obviously, the hype took a new turn with your recruitment at fnatic in the middle of the season, a structure necessarily dear to the French community and to the “elders”. Again, we almost want to apologize because we still had doubts. the LECit’s something and without offending our French league, it’s not given to everyone to be able to compete with dinosaurs like Wunder, Odoamne or Armut. But you have once again managed to convince us, showing intelligence in your game to blend in perfectly with the collective of this historic structure. We remember in particular your roams and your commitments, which fully participated in the qualification of the team for the Worlds at the end of the year. Which incidentally was really not won after the spring of the orange and black structure. And no one can take that away from you. You’ve been in the LEC final since your rookie segment and you’ve played in the World Championships, crossing paths with big names like Xiaohu (RNG) and Chovy (Hanwha Life).
It is unfortunately from there that the blue sky became overcast. The clouds have accumulated and between the complicated results at the Worlds and the long drama that followed, it was hard to keep the faith. To be totally transparent, I myself was a bit disappointed. Not by your level of play, but by your awkward communication, see unwelcome on the networks. We remain convinced that there was nothing to gain by spreading out in public, to talk about Fnatic and your former teammates. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, esports suffers enough from its dramas and sulphurous situations and we would like all the actors involved to pull the sphere upwards by raising the standards of the professionalism. To say the terms, we were disappointed. But maybe we put you too quickly on a pedestal, maybe your meteoric progress made us forget your young age and your relative inexperience… above all, we weren’t exposed like you to the pressure and the requirement of the high level. With time and hindsight, we were able to soothe our disappointment.
We mostly followed you to Team BDS and we had the opportunity to interview you several times during the LEC Spring Split 2022. Superficially surely, we were able to probe your intentions and your state of mind. Adam, you are a talented person, but above all you are a touching and of spontaneous. We felt that you were touched by the situation and the criticisms and that morally, you lived through complicated times. If the community praised you for a while, it was also tough on you. Where some have turned their backs on you, today we want to show kindness. We do not turn our backs, but the page and we remain convinced that you have the makings of a great. It’s by making mistakes that we learn and even if you will no longer play in the LEC during this Split, we will continue to follow your performance in the LFL. You’re back in your garden and we’re sure you’ll be back on top very soon. We’ve already doubted you too much in the past, the time has come to make you trust.
It is difficult to anticipate the welcome that will be reserved for you by the Karmine Corp Ultras, especially since there is a small liability between KC and BDS… But in any case, your duel with Cabochard is a dream. We sincerely wish you good luck. Even if there will inevitably be some embittered on the chat or on the networks, we are ready to bet that the French community will welcome you, rightly, like a king. You’re not perfect, like all of us, but you bring color to the competitive scene. For that, a thousand times thank you. take care of Nidalee and break everything to quickly come back LEC.