One of the newer admins here at Illini Esports is Daniel “Miamiphins13” King, the community coordinator for Rainbow 6 Siege. Yet, his face would be familiar to long-time Illini Esports fans as he’s been competing on the Rainbow 6 Siege Illini Esports’ teams throughout the last couple of years. His skill within Rainbow 6 Siege is impressive and his dedication to improvement in Rainbow 6 Siege is inspiring. Simply put, the gameplay that he shows in tournaments time and time again speaks for itself. Yet, what is really amazing is his love for the community here at the University of Illinois and the players that love gaming like he does and loves the Rainbow 6 Siege game that he adores as well. I had the wonderful chance to sit down and interview him this week and discuss a bit about his past and what is in it for the future.
Daniel grew up pretty close to Champaign in a small town around 15 miles away. He went to Unity High School, a school for the surrounding 5 towns in the area. In fact, Daniel’s graduation class was only a little over 100 students. Being such a small school, Unity didn’t provide much AP options let alone have an esports team. While growing up in a small town that is nice and peaceful and it was nice knowing a lot of people in the town, there were also fewer things to do and places to explore. Yet, Daniel found games to be his own retreat and would play video games growing up on his console such as Madden and MLB (Major League Baseball) and grind them for hours on end. He even dabbled into first person shooters such as Call of Duty and Halo. To Daniel, games are an adventure into a different world and to experience an exciting and different story. Daniel graduated from high school and enrolled in Parkland and he met a group of friends who convinced him to switch from console to PC. It wasn’t until he built his first PC that he dabbled into Rainbow 6 Siege. Rainbow 6 Siege was the introduction game for keyboard and mouse gameplay for Daniel and he was hooked instantly. The game just clicked for Daniel and has a blend of past games Daniel dabbled in such as Call of Duty but also the competitiveness that he loved from games such as Madden.
Daniel transferred to The University of Illinois into the College of Media as a journalism major. While he didn’t know much about the vastness of esports in college or the industry as a whole, he was told by a friend at Illinois State that the University of Illinois has quite a good esports organization. As such, Daniel went to quad day, met the people behind Illini Esports, and tried out for the Rainbow 6 Siege team. The rest has been history! A simple day for him on the team could involve queuing with a couple of teammates in ranked or team practices where queues are together. The biggest thing that helps with their improvement is their use of the replay system. These “vod” reviews allow them to see what exactly went wrong as it’s hard to see when you are in the moment and see what you could have done differently. While Daniel has been part of the team for a while, he has recently joined the Illini Esports admin team at the start of 2021 as the community coordinator for Rainbow 6 Siege. From talking with competitive coordinator Sean “LLucky” Koo, it ultimately stems from his ability to lift other people up when they are feeling down and unite the team together when issues arise. Talking with Daniel, he is stoked for the upcoming year as more people are in person this year and hopes to plan events to get to meet the Rainbow 6 Siege community here at the University of Illinois. Again, everyone is welcomed to come participate in these Rainbow 6 Siege events and the Illini Esports discord is welcomed to all types of gamers, from casual to super competitive players.
Daniel and the rest of the upcoming Rainbow 6 Siege team are super exciting and it is a team to keep your eyes on for the upcoming semester. What I found super fascinating about Daniel and the rest of the Rainbow 6 Siege team is their dedication and ability to bounce back from rough weeks and losses. From talking with Daniel, we happened to discuss matches that happened in previous years. One of these times that occurred was when they were dismantled the previous week with a back to back score of 0-7. Many teams feel devastated or start having thoughts of being super bad and having no chance in this tournament. Yet, Daniel and the rest of the Rainbow 6 Siege team recovered well through the week, fixing the issues that led to the loss and bouncing back with a whopping victory week with a score of 14-0. This was not a onone-time occurrence and it happened throughout the season where defeats always lead to growth in the team. From talking with Daniel, I can tell this stems from his open and improving mindset. He’s always pushing himself to play better and looking to improve his own gameplay in each game that he plays. The common phrase in esports of “It is not the victories that makes a team good, it is how they handle losing” is a great example of why Illini Esports Rainbow 6 Siege team is a must watch for this semester. No matter if they are down 0 – 4 with their backs against the wall, Daniel and the rest of the Rainbow 6 Siege team will fight back and not back down the challenge. With that kind of energy, what is there not to be excited for? I’m sure this semester is bright for Daniel and I’m excited to see what is next in his esports career.
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Thanks again to Daniel for taking the time out of his day to do this interview/spotlight. If you’re also interested in following Daniel, his Twitch handle is miamiphins13 and his twitter and instagram handle is also @miamiphins13. Again, to keep up with Illini Esports and the Rainbow 6 Siege team, follow our social media accounts (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook) as game announcements and results will be announced there! Also if you are also interested in Esports be sure to join the IE discord at https://discord.gg/illiniesports. We always do many different events there and would love to see you join us there! See you there!
– – Geoffrey “Maybe” D.