Going Pro in League of Legends

If you're into professional League of Legends, you probably pay attention to Riot's eSports scene. The North American Championship series (NALCS) or even its counter part, the European Championship series (EULCS) skyrockets in viewers every year.

The fact is, going pro in video games isn’t something you can just poof into reality, even with hard work and some talent. If you’re good at something in life—math, for example example—you can channel that and become an engineer. In eSports, being good at shooters does not automatically translate to a spot on an FPS pro team. There are hurdles. Whether it’s time, money, or just not catching a break, some gamers give up everything and still get nowhere. Often, being paid to play video games really is too good to be true.

But now that eSports is starting to boom, opportunities for newcomers arise with greater frequency. The League of Legends Challenger Series is the best example of this—that’s where any ragtag amateur team can play for their chance to go pro. On paper, it’s easy: find some players, start a team, join the circuit. But with the costs, time required, and risks involved with chasing the gaming dream, making it happen often feels impossible.

In League of Legends, the ‘Challenger’ tier is the upper echelon of the ranked ladder. Spots are limited to 200 individuals, usually pros and top-level streamers. That works the same way for ranked 5 vs. 5 team play, where teams at the Diamond level often encompass individual players from Challenger.

To qualify for the Challenger Series, however, your team must be placed in the top 20 of the whole ladder by the designated cut-off time. The top four of those teams are given auto-qualification into the Expansion Tournament, the assumption being that they’re good enough to compete at the pro level if they perform well. For the other 16, they must brave the murky waters of the Season Qualifier, a three week long gauntlet, before they can join the pre-qualified teams.

The good news is that the ladder itself is accessible to everyone, but obviously you’d be hard-pressed to compete if you’re new to the game. Still, it’s not enough to just be in the top 20, win the qualifier, the tournament, and then ride off into the sunset. Riot’s format dictates that the top teams of this tournament will eventually fight the bottom LCS teams for their spot—yes, these fresh Challenger teams fight battle-tested LCS teams in a duel to the virtual death with everything on the line. It’s brutal.

At some point, players within these Challenger teams must realize that they’re competing against teams with structure, staff, sponsors, and bigger names. Again, the risks continue to grow and the chance of success feels like it’s dwindling away. The rules start to seem less fair, and the pressure starts to sink in. And the pressure doesn’t start there. Before you do anything else, you have to actually find a team.

Going pro isn't that easy and the similarities are just exact as to real sports such as basketball or soccer. It takes months, maybe even years of practice, hard work and drive.