daps · @daps
8th Apr 2022 from TwitLonger
Ending the Orgless project and my thoughts on NA CS
Today our team has decided to go our separate ways and will no longer compete together in CS. I will go through some of the reasons that led to this and will also share my insight on CS in NA compared to what it once was so that it hopefully improves and provides more opportunities for the next generation.
This project started with RUSH and I looking to make a team in NA even with the understanding that we potentially wouldn't be paid for a while. RUSH got an offer from EG early on which almost made me not continue the project since I knew how hard it would be to make a team progress at a good rate with no experienced players on it and also the fact that non of us had played CS together. I ultimately decided to continue because I love competing and the coach and I at the time wanted to see if we could make a shot at the RMR/Major.
Our results at the RMR were pretty bad and we did not meet the early goal we wanted to hit nor could we find an org that could offer the support needed to accelerate the progress of this team as all 10ish orgs I talked to could not provide any form of bootcamp support. Shortly after this our coach left which was understandable looking at the current climate in NA and the fact he needed to get paid.
The reasons listed above lightly added to this decision but were not the main reasons as making a good team takes time especially if you aren't building from a core 3 that have a history together or if the players are inexperienced.
The main reasons I will list in point form.
**Incase some people think im ignoring how other regions have struggled forever I am not but I will only be addressing the NA region in my points**
1. The NA scene is not what it used to be and while this was obvious before I started this project I didn't really feel it until we started this team. When I say this I am not shit talking the teams in NA as I actually think there is a lot of talent here. What I mean when I say this is that the support system I had coming up is non existent, there is no ECS/FACEIT, EPL, Flashpoint, StarSeries & i-League, DreamHack Open etc. The reason this is so damaging is there little to no opportunities to go to Tier 1 events or decent tier 2 LANs. This LAN experience is crucial for the development of players and while Fragadelphia is there it is not a substitute for a decent field of teams at a DH open or a StarSeries event for example.
2. This is a continuation of the 1st point but new players rarely ever go to EU let alone even practice or get match experience vs the best teams in our own region since they're in EU most of the year. This point is pretty self-explanatory but with less quality practice and less quality match experience removes the ability for new players to improve faster. It also removes the potential breakthrough players need of upsetting a team like Liquid which then creates a ton of confidence, I have seen this first hand many times and the chance of this upset happening now is almost impossible especially in a bo3 since the top teams are in EU getting the best practice and getting a ton of great match experience consistently.
3. Money, the chance of a new org coming into the NA scene and paying a liveable salary is extremely unlikely since there really is no point unless they fork over the 5-10 million required to be apart of the Louvre Agreement. If an org does end up doing this the team will most likely not be based in NA anyways so there is little point in waiting for this scenario.
4. Making the major is imo the only way to get an org that can offer proper support as the money an org can get from making the major is very high. While you can say "just make the major then" competing with all the above points in mind makes the chance very small unless one of the big orgs builds a team that doesn't work or you get the right matchups at the RMR and sneak into the major. Let's say you do make the major but you are again not a partner team, if you miss the next major you will most likely get dropped (what I think happened to EXTREMUM but I may be wrong). On top of that your best player(s) will most likely get poached by the partner teams since those players have to join them for any form of event/job security.
5. This point is more related to me but I am turning 29 this year and having people tell me im wasting my time with this project and it's not worth it did make me question my normal timeline for making a team good or to a level I feel happy with. With all the above points in mind my normal timeline has probably doubled with how things are now compared to when NA was more alive and as much as I love CS I am not 21 anymore and pouring 2+ years into this isn't on the table as I have people to take care of and more responsibilities.
One solution which I think is easy to do and would help a ton would be to bring back NA EPL at a minimum, this way partner teams can be challenged like they used to be and also gives the new talent more consistent match and practice experience vs the best in the region. I will hopefully do a podcast with Mauisnake and a few others in the future on NA CS and what to do to make it better for the new generations and get into more details about other things in NA as I don't want to ramble too much here.
I would like to thank Minus, Swisher, Lucid, Bwills, Koosta, Infinite, SATURN for trying to make a team from scratch with me on short notice. It was definitely ambitious with the time we had to reach the goals we wanted to hit but we can at least say we tried.
As for me I will take a bit of a break since I feel like I have been rushing into projects instead of actually assessing what is the best fit for me ever since Gen.G fell apart.