Lothar, can you introduce yourself and your role in your new team?

Hi Kevin! My name is Jakub Szygulski, more known in the scene as Lothar, I'm 29 year old progamer in Hearthstone

For my new team, I was offered a Captain position and I'm more than happy to take it on. I was responsible for recruiting the players for the Hearthstone division and of course my job is here to ensure the team is properly organised so my players can focus on practicing and streaming. I'm not resigning from a player position myself, however, so I'm not quitting being competitive.

What was the process behind the formation of the Nihilum Hearthstone team? Since Kungen is the CEO of the organization, was he the one who approached you and all the players about joining him along this journey?

The idea of joining forces was kinda spontaneous, I liked the idea of building a community among Blizzard fans as ourselves, we love Blizzard creations and we almost exclusively play their games. It felt natural and I'm really happy about this fusion. Also as you certainly know, most WoW players are playing Hearthstone too and vice versa, so it really made sense to go this way.

So was it Kungen or both you and Kungen together who approached Kinguin as your first sponsor?

We were both approached by Kinguin before the whole team idea was born: it was just a matter of prolonging our work together.

So is it fair to say that Nihilum is Kinguin's esports team as much as it is Kungen's? In the same vain, Kinguin is Nihilum's only sponsor at the moment. Does the team plan to procure additional sponsors in the near future?

Our team wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Kinguin. They are helping us with our dream and I'm really grateful for that, they believe in us, in our players, and in our skills that will take us to the top. That kind of support takes a lot of weight from our shoulders so we can focus more on what we love the most - competing.

Kungen is of course the sole owner of Nihilum and his decisions are final. Kinguin is our sole sponsor for now but we will be looking for other sponsors.

Recently, game key selling sites, specifically Kinguin and G2A have been sponsoring many esports teams, especially Hearthstone esports teams. These days, it seems like you can't have a major Hearthstone team without the support of one of these companies. For example, Kinguin sponsors Nihilum, Cloud9, Tempo Storm, and IhearthU while G2A sponsors Archon and Teamliquid. Do you have particular thoughts on the role of these companies in Hearthstone community?

This is my personal opinion - I'm happy because this support lets us build our professional scene, the more time passes the more our esports scene starts to look like the "normal" sports scene where there is a ton of sponsors and investors. Without them building a successful team is almost impossible.



You left Planetkey Dynamics in back on December 1st with the intention to work on Hearthstone full time. Was the idea to join and manage the Nihilum Hearthstone team already solidified by the time you made this decision to venture full time into the esports world?

My contract with PkD was coming to an end and I was starting to get offers from bigger organisations also, so I felt it was the right moment to become a free agent and take a risk. The whole idea of a new team was born later and took off really fast.

I am still really grateful to Stefanie and Stefan, the owners of PkD and Tt esports for helping me start in esports.

Nihilum currently has four players on its roster right now. Was it always the plan to have four players or are you guys actively looking for more talent?

The basic idea was four people on the rooster (editor note: wait for it). I'm not saying we won't expand -- but for now -- it's just us four. We have a really good relationship with each other so being part of the group feels great.

Speaking of roosters, was the initial typo on the website your fault?

I wrote that now on purpose haha :D but somehow it passed through all the eyes that saw the website, we don't know how that happened. I'm not sure if that was my fault alone :p

Thijs, Rdu, and Lifecoach are all some of the most established players of the game and could each be considered aces on a lesser team. Based on your personal practice experience with them, who have you seen to be the most impressive player of the three?

They are all very impressive and to be honest I cant really say which is the most but I know for sure they are all very hardworking. That's one of the most important aspect of a player. Especially when it comes to teamwork and practice.

Nihilum, like Tempo Storm and Archon, is an esports organization formed with roots in the Hearthstone community. In what ways would you say that Nihilum differs the other two from a community aspect and a managerial aspect?

As you said, all three teams are community based. Every single player in those are established players from ladder and tournaments. Everyone in my team, including myself, dedicated a lot of time to grind through the qualifiers and grinding the ladder for Blizzcon. I think we have more in common with Tempo Storm or Archon than we have differences. I'm proud to be a part of HS Scene, especially with those community driven teams which are taking off now, both T/S and Archon are doing a great job when it comes to grow the game community and I'm sure Nihilum will do the same.

What do you perceive are the advantages and disadvantages of being a mainly Hearthstone team like Nihilum, Tempo Storm, and Archon versus a an multi-game esports team like Teamliquid and Cloud 9? Are there any immediate plans for Nihilum to expand into other games?

When you are a part of a team like TL, C9 or other similar organisations I think the biggest advantage is the reach you get instantly for being a part of such well known teams. In smaller, player established, teams you have to work hard to get that kind of attention when it comes to social media. On the other hand, our sponsor and our potential sponsors will be focused on us and not on several divisions.

I'm not in charge of expanding the divisions -- so I can't tell anything specific -- but I'm not saying there are no plans. I bet that when Nihilum will get bigger, we will have more divisions. Maybe CS:GO will be next? Who knows ;D


Alright, I think that's all the questions I have now. Do you want to give some final shoutouts?

Of course, thanks for the interview! I would like to shoutout my new team, Adrian, Radu, Thijs, our CEO Kungen and our sponsor Kinguin.net

You can check us out at www.nihilum.com - this is just a start and the website has more community features planned for the future ! We also stream on twitch, you can find our social media also on our page. See you in tournaments and on streams!

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