After a brief appearance at Echoes of the Rift, Héloïse "Torlaine" Klaine and her team, the Femmes Fatales, are gearing up to prove themselves following their qualification for the 2025 Equal Esports Cup. With a spot at League of Legends Game Changers (LGC) Rising on the line, the budding squad has everything to gain and nothing to lose. In this exclusive piece, the team’s midlaner sits down with Sheep Esports to discuss her career journey, defying the odds, the current state of the scene, and her goals.

This is your first time qualifying for the Equal Esports Cup. You had to change both your support and coach right before the tournament, and you didn’t have much time to practice. Despite all that, did you still expect to qualify?

Héloïse "Torlaine" Klaine: “Yes, definitely — we still expected to qualify. There were four teams that really stood out in terms of level: Zerance, Last Minute Airlines, Supernova, and us. On our side, we were a bit less stable, less structured — it was more chaotic. Some players also struggled a bit with handling pressure. And when it comes to practice, we didn’t have much time at all — we maybe had three scrims in total. So it wasn’t easy, especially playing so many matches over a single weekend. Fatigue definitely played a role, but we made it through.

Where do you see yourself in your development? Do you feel stronger than in 2023–2024, especially now that you're about to face your first real big test at the Equal Esports Cup?

Torlaine: In 2023, I was really just starting out. It was the first year I hit Master. At first, I was still a Zilean OTP, then I started picking more traditional midlane champions. PlayHerz was a good first experience — that’s where I met Erika (Erika Perpétua), who’s still my toplaner today. Playing in front of thousands of viewers on the OTP channel was a real eye-opener. We lost to BDS in the quarterfinals, which wasn’t too surprising: we were a mix of players with barely four scrims under our belt, and I wasn’t very strong yet.

Then last year, I spent a long time in tryouts. A lot of teams seemed interested, but nothing ended up working out, which was pretty disappointing. I eventually landed at GameWard, kind of miraculously — though in hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best choice for my career. It was also a mentally tough period; I wasn’t at my best. I was coming off a month-long break, hadn’t found a team for the Equal Esports Cup, and even though I tried playing the Storm Takeover qualifiers, my team got eliminated early. GameWard didn’t have much synergy, but I met some great people there — especially my coach, Baguette (Simon Cordonnier), who was a real gem. He still supports me to this day and has helped me a lot.

During the offseason, I barely got any tryouts. It’s a bit frustrating to see so few opportunities. Personally, the only tryout I got for a high-level team this year was with GameWard — and I never even heard back from them. There were a lot of ups and downs. I wasn’t selected for the final rounds of Solary's tryouts either. Right now, I do think I’m better than before — and better than quite a few of the players who made it past me in those tryouts, even if the scene might not agree. I do have a bit of an ego, and I’ve improved massively since November. I showed that during the Equal Esports Cup 2025 qualifiers, where I really came into my own. I see myself as the best midlaner in the whole qualifier. I’ve gained confidence, and I’ve learned to handle pressure — not just my own, but also my teammates’.

You said you consider yourself the best midlaner in the qualifiers. Now that you’ve made it to the main event, how do you stack up against the invited teams? What are your goals for the tournament?

Torlaine: My goal is to be the best. For me, there’s no point in playing if that’s not what you’re aiming for. I have a very competitive mindset. If I’m being honest, I’d say there are two midlaners in the tournament that I currently see as better than me: Apollonia (Dafni Gkerveni) and rym (Rym Salloum). There’s also Sashy (Sasha Barrault), but she’s not competing this time because she couldn’t find a team. As for the other players, I’m either on par with them or ahead.

Now that you’ve qualified, you have a few weeks to prepare. What aspects do you think still need improvement before the tournament?

Torlaine: We still have work to do, especially when it comes to synergy. Our teamfights are solid, but it’s our mid game that needs improvement — particularly in macro decisions and coordination between the midlane, jungle, and our support. Our communication is gradually getting better. Dunneboshond (Elianne Haas), our former support, used to be our main shotcaller, so her departure left a gap that we had to fill. Right now, it’s Iana (Ana Ioana Popp), our new support, who takes the lead in the early game, and depending on the match, either Eveevii (Evelin Eschner) or I step in during the later phases. That said, practice in June is going to be a bit tricky. Our support and ADC are finishing their studies, I have to go to Germany for media day, and I also have a few personal trips planned. So we won’t have a ton of time to train — especially since we’re not being paid: we’re all playing in our personal time.

Most of your teammates are still relatively new to the scene. Do you feel the need to take on a captain role within the team?

Torlaine: I kind of joke around about being the captain, but honestly, I could take on that role. Mentally, I’m doing a lot better these days, and I’m able to absorb some of the pressure that a few of my teammates still struggle to handle. Of course, I can’t take it all on — everyone needs to feel at least a little pressure to perform well.

It’s true that we don’t have a ton of experience on the team. Our toplaner has played a bit, but not yet at a high level. In the jungle, Meloncola (Abigail Horst) has competitive experience, but not in League — she comes from Age of Empires, where she was genuinely one of the top players. Some of her strategies are still studied today. As for Eveevii, she mostly played in the mixed scene of the Prime League, so she doesn’t have that much experience yet either. The only real veteran on the team is Iana, who played in last year’s Equal Esports Cup and finished top 4 with Chester Gaming. So yeah, we’re more of a rookie team overall, but we still have some competitive background. We’re not completely new to this, like Owpi (Mimi Effraimidi) or Emerrin (Emily) — we’ve already got a few reference points.

Every year, there’s debate around the teams invited to the EEC. Some line-ups spark discussion, and some people feel not all invited teams are necessarily up to the level of the league. What’s your take on roster building in the scene?

Torlaine: That’s definitely something we see. The offseason is both very public — everyone hears bits and pieces of what’s going on — and also quite opaque. Some decisions are hard to make sense of, and sometimes, “tryouts” aren’t really tryouts at all. You can tell that some choices are based more on personal connections than on actual performance.

In the end, the best rosters will rise to the top — the game will speak for itself. But some of the invited teams probably shouldn’t have been there, while teams that came through the qualifiers, like Zerance, clearly deserved it. They were pushed out at the last minute for questionable reasons, even though they’re a solid semi-pro organization — whether it’s in LFL Division 2 or on the VALORANT Game Changers scene. So yeah, there are valid criticisms to be made about the current system.

Will the arrival of the Game Changers circuit and Riot Games’ investment be enough to move the scene forward? What else do you think is needed to reach a point of real stability?

Torlaine: It's still too early to say. For now, we only have the dates and format of the main event, but everything will depend on the media coverage Riot decides to give the Game Changers. What we really need is a more structured league, planned further in advance, and involving more major stakeholders. The reality is that, right now, very few large esports organizations are investing in the GC scene — some even jumped ship during the last offseason.

In the end, we’ll have to wait until the end of the year to properly assess these first Game Changers. The scene can only survive if the event returns next year in a more organized format and with new orgs showing interest. There also need to be more tournaments throughout the year if the Game Changers don't cover the full calendar, because for some rosters, this year means waiting six months just to play a single official match. From a purely economic standpoint, it’s a disastrous investment — paying salaries for nothing.

Several major French teams like Solary, Galions, and Vitality didn’t attend Echoes of the Rift. Given that the event was announced quite late, do you think their absence is understandable, or is it still disappointing?

Torlaine: In some cases, it’s understandable. Take Solary, for example — they had just come off a bootcamp and Gamers Assembly a month earlier, which was already a big commitment. Attending the biggest LAN in France is something you plan for well in advance, so their absence here makes sense.

But for a team like Galions, it’s harder to justify. Why not plan a bootcamp and show up to the LAN? They absolutely could have come. It’s disappointing, especially since the players from those teams didn’t even show up to GA in mixed rosters either. Aside from Lilith (Luna Benzerara-Arnoux), who came as a spectator, none of the top team players were there.

As for Vitality, it’s even less excusable. They’re an organization with more resources, and their players are full-time — they could have easily arranged a bootcamp during that time. When you look at the energy they invest into other scenes, like the LEC, it’s really disappointing that they didn’t make the effort to be present here.

Is there a particular team you’d like to face — one you feel a rivalry with?

Torlaine: There’s one team I absolutely want to face, and that’s G2 — mainly because rym is a midlaner I respect a lot. She might even be the player I respect the most in the scene. I played against her during last year’s Storm Takeover qualifiers, before she really made a name for herself, and she left a strong impression on me. She was the first player — even counting solo queue — who ever impacted me that much. After that match, I reached out to her privately to congratulate her and tell her I believed in her potential. Since then, I’ve become her biggest fan — and it’s mutual. She supports me a lot, too. We push each other to improve, which is really healthy, and it helped me a lot mentally last year when things weren’t going so well.

I also really want to face Solary, because Lilith is a friend and a role model. She was the first person I talked to in the scene back in 2023, even before I started playing — when I was just a fan. It’s a team I’ve supported for a long time, wore their jersey as a fan, and attended events with. Then there’s Zerance, who we lost to at Echoes of the Rift. Lilly (Lilly Yücel) is a very good friend, and we’re always teasing each other — kind of like best rivals, in the end. The rest of their roster is made up of some of the kindest people, so it’s always a pleasure to play matches against them. But next time, we’ll definitely take our revenge. The scene is so small that, in the end, we all know each other pretty well.

Is there any rivalry with Nexus Reapers, given that two members of your original roster left to join them?

Torlaine: To me, that’s all in the past. Looking back, our first roster wouldn’t have lasted in the long run — it just wouldn’t have worked. There would have been a divide, whether between two players or between our coach and some of the players, and honestly, it’s better this way. I think Dunneboshond probably fit better with Nexus Reapers, and Iana found her place with us. Diane (Diane Masson), too, is probably better off at Nexus Reapers. It was a tough period, a kind of storm, but it passed pretty quickly. That said, I still want to show Diane that she didn’t back the right team.

What is your career goal? Would you like to play in mixed teams someday, for example in the ERL? Do you think you have the level for that?

Torlaine: My level tends to improve pretty steadily. When I hit a plateau, it usually takes me a month or two to break through and raise my level. So honestly, I’m not really sure where my ceiling is. What I do know is that I really love competition. That said, I’m not deluding myself — I don’t think I have the level to play in the LEC one day. The LFL probably won’t happen either, because if I reach that level, my profile might no longer match what teams are looking for.

Age remains a very taboo topic in esports. Teams often prefer very young players because they supposedly improve faster and have more time to dedicate. Yet in other games like Counter-Strike 2 or fighting games, you see players in their thirties or even forties achieving great results, showing that age shouldn’t be an irreversible barrier. But in League of Legends, age is still a significant factor. That said, playing in the ERL isn’t necessarily a goal for me. Beyond competition, what really matters is evolving in a healthy environment, meeting people, making friends, and making a name for myself in the women’s scene — maybe even inspiring other players to get involved.

When looking at the Women's and Non-Binary scene, who do you think could one day make it in mixed teams, maybe in the ERL or even the LEC?

Torlaine: The name everyone mentions is definitely Miella (Mia Steger). She’s still quite young, barely 20, and she’s already shown a lot. She won the EEC last year, in only her second season in the women’s scene. She wasn’t very well-known at first, but she ranks pretty high in solo queue — she even reached Grandmaster rank. She works hard on herself and has had great support, first at NNOwO, and now at SK. That said, breaking into ERL Division 1 remains very difficult, especially for women, since the environment isn’t always very accessible.

The other player I think of is rym. She’s had the strongest progression since last year. Twelve months ago, during the Equal Esports Cup qualifiers, she wasn’t at her best and was eliminated quickly. But today, she’s probably the best active midlaner in the scene.

Do you think the current environment in mixed teams still poses a barrier for women in gaming?

Torlaine: Yes, it’s definitely still a real issue. There have been some well-managed mixed projects, like Cosmïc (Charlotte Tranquillin) with Angry Bats in the Italian Division 2 at the time. But there are also more worrying examples. For instance, the way Caltys (Maya Henckel) was treated at Valiance in the Balkan league two years ago… she barely got to play a few matches, and everything stopped abruptly without any clear explanation. Even today, we still see problematic players — people who really shouldn’t be part of the scene anymore — continuing to be tolerated. Some staff or even organizers protect them instead of pushing them out. Officially, everyone says that’s unacceptable, but behind the scenes, it’s not always the same story.

Do you think it’s a failure of the scene that certain problematic people haven’t been pushed out, to the point of creating an environment where others don’t feel comfortable?

Torlaine: For me, it’s not just a failure of the esports scene itself — it’s a broader societal failure. When you see people like Sardoche (Andréas Honnet) or Tiky (Dylan Sorrentino) still having a platform today, it highlights a bigger problem. What’s unfortunate is that esports could have been a driver of change. It’s a young environment, with mindsets that could have evolved faster. Even though there’s a very misogynistic, very “incel” fringe, there’s also a part of the scene that’s much more inclusive. And it’s important for that part to take over, gain visibility, and help push toxic behaviors out of the scene.

Lately, there’s been increasing transphobia on social media, especially following Solary’s announcement. As a trans player, is this something you feel? Does it add extra pressure on you or potentially discourage others?

Torlaine: Personally, I’m not very affected by it. I’ve become somewhat desensitized over time. I’ve also been fortunate not to be targeted often by transphobic attacks, probably because I have good passing. It’s been just over two years since I publicly came out, and about a year and a half since I started my treatment. So on my end, I’m doing pretty well. But I know that’s not the case for everyone. Some players suffer a lot from it, and even though I’m less affected now, that doesn’t mean I’m insensitive. I’m still aware of what kind of challenges this can represent for others, and it does affect me nonetheless.

You’re representing YumYum Squad at Echoes of the Rift. It’s your second time at Esport and also your second time on stage. How does it feel to be here? How are you experiencing it?

Torlaine: I really love the crowd, the cameras, and being able to put on a bit of a show. It’s something that frees me up. At first, I had trouble expressing myself, but over the past year, now that I feel comfortable in my own skin, I’m much more confident. And so, I can really play that up. Being at a LAN, seeing friends again, having your teammates by your side… it’s always amazing. And meeting someone like Yume (Camille Laisné) is also really cool. She’s done so much for the scene — both mixed and women’s — and she’s always there whenever something’s happening in France, always promoting female players. I’m very proud to have met her and to have placed top 2.

Zerance is a solid team, also qualified for the Equal Esports Cup. What do you think of their progress and their place in the current scene?

Torlaine: Zerance is a really interesting project. It’s a team made up of rookies who had almost no experience — like Owpi or Lorie (Lorie Zhou), for whom this is even their first time on a team — and players with a bit more experience like Lilly and Malo (Malorie Lefebvre), although their backgrounds are still fairly limited. Then there’s Viki (Velouria Baty), who’s a real pillar of the French scene. She was let go by Vitality in a way that, in my opinion, wasn’t very fair, which raises questions about how the most visible or experienced players are treated.

What makes Zerance truly dangerous today is their cohesion. They’ve been playing together for several months now, they have good mechanics and real synergy. On the other hand, our team, YumYum Squad, had only two real practice sessions before the event. We put the team together somewhat last minute, which obviously makes things more complicated.

What’s your hot take for the Equal Esports Cup?

Torlaine: Vitality won’t finish top 3 in their group, and I’ll make sure of that.

Would you like to share a final message to conclude the interview?

Torlaine: There are so many people who support me every day, and I’m truly grateful for that. Two and a half years ago, I was very withdrawn, I spoke to very few people, and I didn’t feel happy in life. Since then, a lot has changed. The Solary community has given me so much, as have my friends, and especially my girlfriend and my mom, who help me take care of myself and keep moving forward every day. So, thank you to everyone for this support — it means the world to me and keeps me going."