Taking Your First Steps to Becoming a Pro - What You Should Aim For

There probably aren’t many players out there that haven’t had the thought, “What if I could go professional in this game and make my living out of this?” But wanting something and actually being able to do it can go a long way – professional gaming is actually one of the hardest careers to succeed in. But the hardest part is actually the first step – getting yourself known within the community.

In this article, I am going to write about the different ways for a player to get their name out there and maybe even obtain a rare opportunity to show what they are capable of.

Before starting to list the very limited ways a player has to get known, there is one very important thing to note. Only the best make it to a professional level and only a very select few are able to even aspire to reach an elite level. Even if you are constantly have good games, always top-frag, and know every Smoke and Flashbang in the game, that may not be enough. Playing PUGs and playing competitively is something very different and what works in public games will not work in official matches most of the time.

Onto the business at hand. There are two main ways of getting yourself out there, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. I will talk about them and weight a bit on their pros and cons. But remember that trying to follow one way does not make you unable to also follow the other – in fact, you should be trying to reach the level you want in every way possible that your free time allows.

Keep in mind that all these tips are assuming you are already a very technical and highly skilled player, team-wise and individually.

Get a Team and Work Together

One of the ways you can get up there is to get a team and climb your way up together. In the past, this was pretty much the only way to get known in the Counter-Strike world if you didn’t have any connections with already established players.

Grab a few friends or even search online for players with the same goal as you (this is important, as different goals may cause the team to disband easily) and start practicing against other teams. You can easily find other teams to practice against in IRC or Facebook groups.

Your next step is to sign up on as most Open Qualifiers and Tournaments as you can and start from there. Getting spots at Closed Qualifiers can be the ticket to attend offline events. In fact, getting to a Major (the biggest and most prestigious CS:GO tournament) starts in an open online qualifier where anyone can participate for free. But then again, being the tournament that it is, the qualifier is also filled with great teams (many of which are professional).

Besides qualifiers, there is also one other tournament I recommend you play in: ESEA Leagues. These are leagues separated into divisions of different skill and caliber, with the two top most being professional. Being a new team, you would be starting in the open division, scheduling matches with the other teams from the same division in hopes of winning enough matches to reach playoffs (in the top divisions, these are played offline).

If you get a good enough placement in the playoffs (it changes depending on the division), you are able to start the next season in the next-higher division. Each season lasts approximately 2-3 months.

If you’re into competitive Counter-Strike and follow the professional scene, the top most division is what you know today as ESL Pro League. And yes, it is possible to get there. What usually ends up happening is the players that stand out individually on the lower divisions sometimes get picked up by higher division teams – and that is where opportunities start to appear.

 

Grind Solo to Get in Professional PUG Leagues

The new way to reach new heights in CS:GO – use services like FACEIT or ESEA to reach leagues where you can play matches with other professional players and show yourself to the community. There are already a few examples of players that got professional contracts through this path and there is even an example of someone who is on a top 10 team – ropz from mousesports.

Although there are several services providing this kind of leagues, I strongly recommend FACEIT. That is where most of the professionals play, it has the biggest player count, and provides the best services (servers, support, anti-cheat, etc).

A lot of countries have access to Hubs with different divisions where the topmost places give access to the FACEIT Pro League Qualifier. That league is your ultimate goal – it’s where the professionals and other amazingly good players play with each other everyday. FACEIT holds one qualifier each month for each region with the duration of two days (8 hours each day). Only the player ranked #1 by the end of the qualifier gets the spot in FPL. Also, important to note is that the queue in these leagues and Hubs are all solo (or duo in some rare cases).

It’s an amazingly hard goal to achieve but it is not impossible, as it is proven every month with new players.

Prepare to Grind

If you’re trying to reach these heights, get ready to grind every day. Only the best of the best gets there and only with practice (and natural talent) is it possible to get there. Remember that when you’re not playing, there is always someone practicing. That is why it is important for you to think if it is realistically possible for you to reach it – you need to have in mind your own life, whether it is work, school, or even the social aspect. You can grind, but never neglect your future or health trying to achieve something that 99% of players never achieve.

You should focus on trying to qualify for as many offline events as possible - that's where you will get the most experience and where you'll be noticed. Playing under different conditions than the ones you have in the comfort of your home is what separates the good players from the best - that is one of the reasons why LAN matches are harder and way more important for your development as a player. Maybe you can even get lucky and be noticed by some already established professional players, and they start talking about you. Also, there are LAN events out there that do not require qualification to play in (they aren't played in a stage most of the time, though), but you should participate in as many as you possibly can, even if the only goal is to get experience. 

Since you will be spending hours upon hours in the server, make sure this game is your passion – otherwise you’ll get burned out really quickly. Also, never lose your motivation – you can’t win everything, you’ll actually end up losing a lot of games. Learn with those games, talk with your team, and understand how to improve.

Good luck on your path!

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