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If securing the title of "the best" in a competitive video game is hard enough, then holding onto that mantle is another ball game all together.
However, India's very own Clash Royale superstar, Karan “Jin Kazama” Manganani, makes it look like one of the easiest things to pull off, even when surrounded by some of the best oppositions in the competitive scene.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Esports' Abhishek Mallick, Karan opens up on some of the hurdles on his road to becoming India's best Clash Royale esports athlete, and also on what it takes to hold on to the crown.
Here is an excerpt of the conversation.
Q. Karan, you have often been hailed as the best Clash Royale player in India, and your journey to the very top was most definitely not an easy one. So can you talk to our readers about the hurdles that you faced along the way and what inspired you to keep achieving new heights in the game?
Karan: Achieving the title of “one of the best" is a very difficult task. The competition is fierce. I’m going up against millions of players across the country, and the latent difficulty that comes with it is the struggle to hold onto the title.
In my opinion, being consistent is the most difficult trait than becoming the best. The kind of attitude and mindset you need to hold onto the 1st position is the difference between a good player and the best player in the nation.
Being a gamer in India already comes with a lot of challenges in itself. A player has to face these if he wants to pursue esports. My main challenges are:
- The recognition and acceptance from my family, and their support.
- The availability of resources which is necessary to compete and be in this industry.
- The income of a professional player to be accepted and valued.
- Getting recognized in this industry poses as the greatest challenge. It personally took me 2-3 years to get recognized in the industry and in the community at the same time.
I will say that the hunger to win and become the best in the world inspired me to grind day and night. So, you need to have that kind of determination and will-power to make sacrifices if you want to reach the road to glory.
Q. Who is Karan Manganani outside of the Clash Royale server? Tell us a bit about your hobbies, and what your relationship was like with video games while growing up.
Karan: I personally like to balance my life, both inside and outside the game. I balance my studies, my passion, my esports career, my relationships, all at the same time.
Outside Clash Royale, I’m an active individual who has many types of interests and hobbies, so I am generally determined to be an all rounder.
Some of my hobbies:
- I am a fitness enthusiast. I play football, and I work out every day to keep myself fit, which helps me to improve my attitude and mindset and ultimately gives my training hours of Clash Royale a significant boost
- I’m also into music, as it helps me relieve any kind of stress during my training sessions. But rather than listening, I play instruments. I play Guitar and Mouthorgan at a good level.
- I also like to keep my brain sharp and absorb as much knowledge as possible, which results in increased productivity throughout the day. I additionally read a lot of novels, and any text I can get my hands on.
My relationship with video games has been intact since childhood. I still remember the time I got my first PC when I was eight, and I played Super Mario for the first time.
I gradually started playing different kinds of games, which helped me discover my forte and the niche that I can be the best in.
Since I like cerebral games, I discovered that RTS (Real Time Strategy) is my niche, as it forces me to think on my feet and play a very fast paced game style, similar to speed chess.
Q. I am aware that your parents are quite supportive of your career choice in professional gaming. What’s the dynamic like back at home? How do your parents feel about your incredible achievements?
Karan: The support from my parents has been quite good, and it has helped me maintain a positive mindset.
Knowing that my parents will approve of my choices, I will say, in this scenario at least, that “actions speak louder than words.” My parents were quite skeptical when I started back in the day, but once I started winning and bringing laurels nationally and internationally, the whole scenario changed.
In hindsight, I feel it might have just been their protective nature and concern that brought on the skepticism, as I was around 17-18 at the time.
As of today, I can say that my parents support me a lot and are proud of all of my achievements, and this further motivates me a lot to keep grinding and bring more championships in a bag.
Q. Your IGN is Jin Kazama. Do I sense a fellow Tekken buff in you?
Karan: Yes, it’s indeed correct that my professional name comes from the main character of Tekken. Since childhood, I have been a huge fan of this series, and I have played every version of this game up until now.
Jin is a character I admire a lot, and he inspires me to always give my best. I can relate to him on a personal level, as I feel that my personality is quite similar to his.
My experience with fighting games has been fantastic, and I still remember playing Street Fighter 5 after ESL LAN events which I used to play to refresh myself.
Q. Over the years you have managed to accumulate a fist full of accolades under your belt. Tell us about some of your career heights. What were some of your fondest moments in professional Clash Royale?
Karan: I have come quite far on my journey, and I’m not planning to stop anytime soon.
The one thing which I always like is winning. I am very competitive in my personal life as well, and I want to win everything that I participate in. Be it Clash Royale or any other competitive title, I always try my best to take home the title.
Winning some events on a grand scale has surely bought recognition, and with that came a lot of memories which I can never forget.
If I had to name my top 2 career heights:-
- 1. ESL India Premiership Winter Season Champion (2018-19), was my first ever LAN event which I attended and won at the same time.
- 2. Asian Games National & Regional Champion 2018. This has to be one of the iconic win of mine. I still remember travelling from India To USA to attend my CRL combine of 2018 in which top 64 players of the world were invited, and leaving for Hong Kong from the USA on the same night to attend the Regional Qualifiers of Asian Games 2018. There was only 1 spot available for South Asia and I had to defeat 5 countries to secure the spot for our country. I had to play without any sleep and I was tired from constant jet lag and travel, but my pride for the nation kept me going and I won everything which was thrown at me.
Q. What is it about Clash Royale that attracted you so much that you ended up investing so much of your time in it?
Karan: While playing different games on my iPad back in the day and even trying out PC and console games, Clash Royale was a game that grasped my interest instantly. There is something about this game which fascinates me every time I play it.
This fascination can’t be described in words, but I’ll say that when I got my hands on this game, I realized that I was chosen to play this game when I saw how skillful I was in it.
You recently tweeted about how you were facing a lack of motivation in grinding Clash Royale any further. You even took a hiatus from the game but decided to come back to it, soon after. Was the decision solely due to your semester exams or were you facing significant burnout issues from spamming the game so much?
Karan: I realized for the first time that burnout can be an actual thing if you keep repeating an activity you do on a large scale every day.
I would say that it was kind of an initial reaction to the burnout from the game after grinding at it every day for around 6-7 hours for the last 5 years. I realized that taking a break can resolve this issue, and when I felt that the burnout was gone I came back to the game.
In another tweet, you mentioned how you might be feeling bored with Clash Royale and would like to permanently shift to Riot Games’ Wild Rift, which is the mobile version of their base MOBA League of Legends. Is this shift something that your fans can look forward to once the game officially launches in India?
Karan: Actually there have been a lot of rants going around Clash Royale. The recent update was not appreciated by the community.
I had never ranted about anything before, so this was just a friendly rant for the game which I tried for the first time. Since a lot of big creators in the community follow me on Twitter, I thought maybe after seeing it coming from me they can address that issue in their videos.
That being said, I’m not planning to shift to any other game as of now, I can play Wild Rift for the content but my main will always be Clash Royale.
Q. What were your initial impressions of Wild Rift? Do you think it has the potential to grow in India?
Karan: After playing Wild Rift for the first time, I realized how skill-intensive the game is, as it makes you develop better communication skills with your teammates.
Since I have been a solo guy for years, my socializing is very weak, and my team mindset is also quite low at the same time. However, I am looking forward to developing on that.
And since the majority of the players in India are more inclined towards FPS, I can’t exactly say how successful it will be in the nation, but professional players will love the amount of skill expression that is in the game without a doubt.
Q. Any parting words for your supporters and the upcoming esports professionals of tomorrow?
Karan: I would like to end with a quote, "Never let success get to your head, and never let failure get to your heart." This is a key principle which I follow, and it helps me remain consistent with my performances.
I basically compete with myself every day to become a better version of myself. I would like esports enthusiasts of tomorrow to follow the same mindset.
It was great providing some insights about myself, and I hope that this can help my supporters as well as other people who are reading it, have a better understanding of the esports scene.
I hope everyone can take key points from my struggles and story and apply them to their daily lives.
