Kicking off the 2020 season of the League of Legends European Championship, Laure "Bulii" Valée was joined by Lara Lunardi to talk about her offseason, expectations for the Spring Split and her personal goals for the year.

How was your offseason, Laure?

Well,I didn’t have much of an offseason, because you know how Worlds Finals was played on Sunday? The next day, on Monday, I was on a video show because I am also a TV host.

Oh wow!

Yeah, every Monday on beIN eSports, which is kind of the European equivalent of the ESPN, it’s a sports channel. Since four years ago, they implemented an esports show, a weekly one, and I have been hosting it. So yeah, after Worlds finals I was back at my second work, if I may, and I didn’t have time to rest except during the Christmas break. I had two weeks and it was amazing, I could see my family and enjoy time with my boyfriend, but outside of it, work only I would say.

Do you ever feel like working could get you to burn out of esports?

Ah, yeah. Honestly, I should be more careful about this. I don’t manage myself enough and my relatives and close friends tell me that I should spend more time chilling. We’re in January, and I already planned a month of vacation, with one week in June, so I am trying to have a healthier schedule. I love esports so much that it’s hard sometimes to just get off.

And what does talent usually do in the offseason? Is everyone as busy as you?

Hmmm. Most talents are Riot Games contractors so they have a real offseason. I know that Sjokz for an instance has one of the craziest schedules.

Right, I just saw her at the Esports Awards in November, right after Worlds.

Yeah! Esports Awards, and then she had something else in Asia, she didn’t stop at all.I feel like this is a freelancer thing, because you never know when the next gig is going to be, so you want to keep yourself busy.

Did you follow the roster developments in the offseason? What were the most surprising changes to you?

I think Mithy going to coaching, because he only now came back to Europe, he wasn’t bad per se, so I was surprised to see him go straight to coaching, and when I wanted to interview him today about this, he declined *laughs* that’s a story I wanna follow!

Looking at the rosters we have right now, which team do you think is the most likely to make it to the top - other than G2 *laughs*

Other than G2, I really believe in Rogue.

In Rogue, really? Why is that?

I had an interview with Hans Sama and Vander yesterday, and as many people have been saying,I think this is the best fit for Hans Sama. The way he could shine when he was playing with IgNar, I feel like he is bringing the same thing to the team, I would say other than Hans Sama, it’s basically the same lineup, and they made playoffs last year, so I have high hopes for this team, other than that, Origen.

And are you excited to see the return of a legendary player like Forg1ven?

I am excited. I’m just waiting to see a bit more cause this first week was not the best for him.

Rosters aside, what is the biggest thing you want to work towards this split - maybe in terms of yourself, or maybe a career goal? I know we just talk about how hard you work and I don’t mean to just pull you back into talking about it, but what’s your biggest development goal?

English.

English? You speak so well!

It’s okay, here and there really. If I don’t get enough sleep or if I drink too much coffee I’ll fumble a lot, so I just want to work on this. You know the musicality of english? Right now I feel like I am a French person speaking English. Even if I can’t get rid of my accent, just the way I speak and the amount of  words I am able to use, that would be great, so that’s my main goal for this year.

You speak many languages, right? Which ones, specifically?

I speak French and English fluently, know my way around Spanish and German, and I'm currently learning Korean.

That’s amazing, Laure. What’s your approach to learning new languages?

I just like it. I was a huge fan of American TV shows when I was younger, and in France you couldn’t see them, so I just downloaded them without subtitles which is how I learned English, and then my addiction spread it to German TV shows, Spanish TV shows, and all over the world.I just like learning languages as a whole.

That's all for today's talk. I look forward to speaking to you again this split.