The Case for No Public Showcase: Concerns with Team Liquid’s Public Tryout

On October 26, Team Liquid revealed their plan to do something a tad bit different. Starting November 7 through November 13, the team will be holding tryouts for their academy division. Even better, they will be streaming some of it.

This is not the first time fans will be able to watch tryouts through a Twitch stream. Now defunct with the new amateur system, the LCS’ Scouting Grounds system gave solo queue standouts the opportunity to network and perform in front of front offices, paving the way for talent to potentially sign with academy or amateur lineups.

But this is the first public spotlight through an organization-run event. While admirable, the public nature of the tryout process does raise some concerns.

If the goal truly is to find the best talent available for the future of Team Liquid and to highlight the future of the team, open tryouts can cloud the judgment of talent. Public opinion continues to have an influence on how teams make decisions – with publicly praised talent likely to be perceived individually better than talent that does not have the spotlight. It is a great showcase of how talent performs in front of a larger audience but also doesn’t necessarily provide confirmation of this trait. While additional work likely will be completed, team performance in scrimmages truly has become an outdated yet still heavily used method to evaluate individual talent.

There should be an expectation that scouting is a core function of a front office’s day-to-day duties. Creating an open invitation for talent at a certain skill level and having them complete a Google form of pre-designed questions somewhat feels lazy to the cause and may not completely capture the value of a player or their potential. Bringing in talent for developmental systems requires additional effort. It is important to know the talent you are bringing in, putting in the hours upon hours of research needed to understand their personality, approach, style of learning, etc. Esports has struggled in this area given how much takes place behind a computer screen – potentially without access to body language, communication styles, etc. The team likely will not be able to learn this through two weeks.

And if this is like every other open tryout where talent is brought in but the team enters with a good understanding of who they will be looking to bring in, the process is disingenuous to the cause – especially if this is considered a sponsorship deliverable. Despite potentially making the argument that this will act as a platform for other teams potentially swoop in on talent not signed, the likelihood of this taking place is minimal. Plus, this is written with the bias that players will perform well. What if a player doesn’t perform well? How does this impact their future and their career?

For a region that has constantly struggled with scouting and developing talent, Team Liquid’s newest venture continues the trend of front offices perceiving the esports scene as entertainment-first rather than competition-first, prioritizing content over competitive health. The worst part: the LCS hasn’t been entertaining.

Team Liquid is moving on from arguably one of the best academy lineups produced in LCS history. Their method to replace feels elementary rather than that of a prestigious esports organization that has preached their efforts of building out infrastructure. As the team is moving on from their “deep pocket days,” moments like these do not inspire much for the future where the team is unable to simply buy their way towards the top of the standings.