Billy 'NutriLoL' Wragg talks with Nightsend on the keys to launching a successful stream, and his personal inspirations.
Known as a streamer and a Challenger jungler from the UK, Billy 'NutriLoL' Wragg talks with Nightsend on the keys to launching a successful stream, his personal inspirations and what he'd like to tweak in the current meta.
Image from eSportspedia
What first got you into League of Legends and streaming?
NutriLoL: I was introduced by a friend back in Beta. Initially I wasn't too sold by the game as the graphics and game play style didn't appeal to me, however, my friend insisted that I keep playing and I did, before I knew it I was completely hooked playing 6+ hours a day. The move to partially streaming didn't come for many years, mostly due to confidence + internet stability. Once I had some LAN experience and had played in front of large crowds it felt more natural on the whole to stream and so I started up a channel and streamed occasionally when I wasn't scrimming.
Is there a certain player or players you admire or have helped you get to where you are?
NutriLoL: There are 3 that come to mind that I've spent a lot of time thinking about and reflecting on their approach towards the game.
1. HotshotGG - In his time he was one of the best, if not the best tank champion players in the world, an opinion I echo from Chauster + Doublelift, said on an own3d stream back in the day if I recall correctly. Watching him play Cho'Gath really helped me to understand the concept of damage soaking vs damage output vs the damage that his team can output in the periods that he is soaking damage. It's something I'm really thankful that I learned so early on as it had a very large impact on how my knowledge developed throughout the years.
2. Bischu - Bischu's Nidalee play was an art form and it's hard to put into words just how much I learned from watching his mouse clicks + movement on that champion. In season 5 I hit top 10 Challenger soloq playing mostly Nidalee - I feel as though I have him to thank for that in part.
3. Tundra - Playing on a team with Tundra for over a year helped me a lot with developing a strategic mindset. I was taught to think critically and to have viable ideas that have as few holes in as possible via scrutiny of said ideas as well as questioning and exploration.
What led to you to start playing on competitive teams in addition to streaming?
NutriLoL: Playing on teams came before streaming due to my internet + computer situation. Watching streamers fueled my desire to want to be able to play with them, queue into them, be on their level and to be relevant to them. It's incredibly difficult to "make it" as a streamer whereas to play on teams you just have to have the skill and intelligence.
Do you consider streaming or playing competitively your career and the other a smaller part of it? What draws the line between a professional player and streamer who plays on amateur teams?
NutriLoL: I think that it's very hard to consider streaming a career until you reach certain breakpoints, holding a schedule + holding a viewerbase are two key aspects, two which I've generally been missing for the most part. I suppose the line is drawn by income - I took a step back from the idea of streaming due to the income I was making from playing Tournaments and the scrimming and practice that it took to uphold the results I was getting.
What do you think of the opportunities for amateur players at the moment? Do you think enough are provided, especially to compete in the CS and LCS?
NutriLoL: I think there are enough opportunities, however the scene is becoming saturated at a fairly rapid rate and day by day it becomes more difficult to break into the scene.
Riot has tried every season to improve the jungle role, especially it's champion diversity. How do you think season 6 has done in making the role both impactful and increasing champion diversity?
NutriLoL: Champion diversity is definitely getting to an acceptable point, Nidalee + Kindred definitely need to be addressed, as does graves. If those changes are to come then the Jungle meta will be in a good place and we are likely to see fairly diverse picks in competitive play.
Do you consider yourself to have a certain playstyle in terms of champions or a jack-of-all-trades?
NutriLoL: I definitely find most success playing mid-line bruiser/damage dealer champions such as Nidalee/Kindred/Elise but I can also comfortably play tanks such as Gragas.
If you could make a single change to the game, changing an item, champion, or something about the map, what would it be?
NutriLoL: Giving gold bonus back to dragon - lane swap meta is stale and I wish it wasn't rewarded so much.
