It feels like ages ago, when Jerome "NiaK" Sudries traveled to Arles, France to personally supervise a young prodigy making his first steps in lan. That was at the end of 2011, and that young prodigy was Kenny "kennyS" Schrub. It was unthinkable at that time to recruit a nearly unknown player among one of the best teams in the world without having him prove himself in lan. As a matter of fact, the mediocre individual performance of the young sniper during this PxL Lan compared to his level online, among other things, cost him his spot in VeryGames.

Today, things are very different. The rise of FACEIT in the CS:GO ecosystem, particularly in Europe, has drastically  changed scouting methods. With the creation of the FACEIT Pro League (FPL) in 2015, the platform has pulled off a stroke of genius by getting Europe's best players competing against each other with a few bucks at the end of the line. The concept caught quickly, helped by the tens of thousands of dollars of cash prize donated each month.

In terms of communication, FACEIT also hit the jackpot. If you come across a pro player's stream, chances are they will be broadcasting their games on FACEIT Pro League. Adding up the audiences of each player-streamer, it is easy to see the huge marketing potential, a point that surely didn't go unnoticed among the sales team of the London-based company.

36,000 viewers for s1mple in FPL

But our main topic here is the impact of the FPL on CS:GO as an esport. Initially thought of as a meeting place for professional players, the FPL quickly became "the place to be" for any ambitious player. Before FACEIT, one of the prerequisites for success was to be able to integrate one of the Mumble or Teamspeak servers where pick-ups with well-known players were organized. The FPL finally institutionalized and internationalized this phenomenon.

In order to keep this very elitist championship active, the FPL counts now more than 240 participants. If the majority of the professional players of the circuit are in the game, illustrious unknowns have managed to make their way to this very closed club thanks to a qualifying way set up by the platform. A path that is in fact a truly demanding ordeal. Each month, only two players get their ticket for the league. They are the respective winners of the FPL Challenger (the league below the FPL with more than 200 players) and the FPL Qualifier (ephemeral league taking place over a single weekend with more than a hundred players).

Before even arriving in these FPL anterooms, it is necessary to dominate one of the different official championships such as the ECL which gives, each month, twenty places for a qualifier which itself allocates only five slots in the FPL Challenger. Also note that it is possible for a semi-professional player and/or one with an already small record of achievements to his name to ask for a direct invitation to join the FPL-C.

An elite circle, apparently not elite enough for some...

You get it, reaching the FPL is the goal of many unproven players but requires grinding the game for several months. It is so much the case, that we're seeing more and more examples of young players starting to play CS:GO full time without even having a team, in order to play ECL, FPL-C and then FPL. Leaving everything to play random pick-ups, an idea that would've made a fool of you just a few years ago.

Even once the grail has been reached, and an invitation to the FPL received, it is necessary to continue to be very active at the risk of being demoted. Playing FPL has become a real job for some people. Recently, David "davidp" Prins was surprised to see some of his teammates prefering to play FPL rather than train as a team, even though they had a Mountain Dew League slot to defend.

[...] We tried to practice a bit but it didn't work. What you have to know is that FPL players are playing for money. They are not like me or devoduvek, who want to play in teams, they just want to grind the FPL, they don't bother praccing [...] davidp on 1PV.fr, March 23rd, 2020

Why would you rather play FPL than train with a team? The financial argument is undeniable. 20,000 dollars are put into play each month and the top fifteen can claim a share of the prize (up to $4,500 for the winner). If we take the example of the top 15 in March, only two players are among the top 20 teams in the world in HLTV rankings. Potentially winning $500 to $4,500 each month with a team means that the team is able to win relatively large tournaments. But this is not really the case for many players finishing in the top 15. The calculation is quick: you might as well play in FPL in the hopes to make the time spent in front of the screen financially worth.

Top 6 of March 2020

To finish in the top 15, you have to play. A lot. The number of daily games played by the top 15 members last March averaged more than four. A figure heavily pulled down by professional players forced to spend time practicing with their team. The most active FPL players have more than 200 games on the scoreboard, nearly seven games a day! A frantic pace that is hardly compatible with the schedule of a top-level team.

In addition to the monthly cash prize, the FACEIT Pro League is above all a great way to get noticed. As an introduction, we were reminded of this anecdote with NiaK and kennyS which illustrated the state of mind back then. Today, we'd bet that NiaK wouldn't even bother booking train tickets. One of his first instincts would have been to open the latest FPL rankings and see the best players, thanks to the detailed statistics provided by the platform. He could even have downloaded all the demos of a player to get a glimpse of his strong positions and playing style. With a bit of luck, NiaK could even have obtained the Twitch replays of the games and thus listen to the communication of the targeted player.

Clearly, with the FPL, it is now possible for a team in search of new blood to draw a detailed portrait of several targeted players without even having to contact them. A luxury for a coach. In recent years, examples of players signed in professional teams after being spotted in the FACEIT Pro League have multiplied. In France, this is how Team-LDLC gave their chance to two unknown but successful FPL players back in September 2019. Or more recently, would the arrival of Kévin "Misutaa" Rabier in Vitality have happened if he hadn't excelled in FPL a few months earlier? By winning three consecutive seasons of FPL in 2016, Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut had become the object of all desire. And that's only in France, so imagine in the rest of Europe.

The kind of tweet that can start careers

Make a place for yourself in FPL is a guarantee of precious visibility. To attract attention, statistics are a major tool. The players have understood this and the already very individualistic structure of this championship is all the more reinforced. It is difficult for a player not to adopt a very selfish playstyle, both in the choice of positions on the map and in the game itself. And, of course, the sum of individualism and ego doesn't add up well.

Recently, the debate on the atmosphere within the FACEIT Pro League has been heated. Several players, mostly professionals and already widely recognised, have spoken out against this atmosphere, which is often detrimental to the collective stakes. As you get higher, you can see a growing gap in perception between experienced players with nothing left to prove and simply wishing to play between top-level players, and the youngsters who see the FPL as a door to their dream of becoming a professional player.

Early FPL was very relaxed, not money driven at all and showed competition & insights between the higher tier of the scene and provided a lot of cool content Steering away from making it so exclusive creates this situation and youngsters coming in should be minimal, not majority. Nathan "NBK" Schmitt

As the Swedish Robin "flusha" Rönnquist, not known for having his tongue in his pocket, points out, less and less top level players enjoy playing in FPL. There are even rumours of a new, more exclusive league reserved only for the top of the top.

The FPL is administered by FACEIT officials but also and above all by a board of professional players. Every month, they decide together on possible invitations granted and, more importantly, on revocations. The latter are being increasingly debated in this particularly deleterious context. The reasons can be multiple but are very rarely publicized and therefore often misunderstood. Lack of communication, lack of seriousness, lack of respect or simply lack of activity are all reasons for relegation. Recently, the reigning FPL champion, the Pole Piotr "morelz" Taterka was ousted from the league along with a dozen other players. A scenario that agitated the community and pushed us to write this article.

In this conflict with three stakeholders, only two really have a voice to be heard. On the one hand, FACEIT and its leaders, owners of the platform, will always have the last word. On the other hand, the players' council ultimately only represents the seasoned professional players who make up the vast majority of the board. What about the recently promoted, little-known up-and-comers? Who protects their interests in this championship? Yet they are the ones the FPL is the most important for.

March Top 15 (players marked with a red cross have been evicted from FPL)

In fact, the governance of the FACEIT Pro League is becoming more and more questionable. Firstly, the lack of transparency regarding the reasons for eviction is not worthy of such an important league. A board of a few professional players can, overnight, decide the fate of a player by citing sometimes shaky reasons such as "insufficient level". Six of the players excluded from the latest wave were in last month's top 15. Insufficient level, you said?

If you think about it even more deeply, the current governance model of the FACEIT Pro League leads to a major potential conflict of interest with professional players represented by a board that dictates its law and who have no real interest in letting young talent shine and threaten their place in a top team in the medium term. Let's not forget that places on the professional scene are very expensive.

It is simply not possible for a handful of players with no interest in integrating young talent into the FPL to have almost the power of life or death over the careers of young aspirants. The current situation must push FACEIT to introduce much clearer objective rules, adopt a much more transparent communication and give a voice to players whose accession to the FPL is a major issue; much more than for a professional player with a five-figure salary and for whom the FPL is only a post-training bonus.

FACEIT has promised changes to come. To be continued.