The amateur scene for competitive League of Legends is a cesspool. Bereft of Riots authoritative presence, this realm is filled with all sorts of unethical and shady characters. Many of them may appear genuine at first, only to reveal their true colors later on. With the spotlight on LCS and more recently, the Challenger Series, the amateur scene is the last true frontier for competitive League of Legends. Forget Summoners Rift - the real battle is fought here. Poaching is all too common; while player contracts do exist, they are virtually useless if an organization cannot afford to pay the legal fees necessary to uphold them. Unfortunately, many organizations in the amateur scene are strapped for cash, as the more lucrative sponsorships (not to mention Riot paychecks) are reserved for more established teams. To further complicate the matter, oftentimes the poachers are wealthier than the organizations they are seeking to victimize, thus making their offers quite tempting. The players, while talented at League of Legends, are overwhelmingly young, impressionable and lacking in life-experience. Many sign contracts that offer little protection to the players, but simply put them under the organizations control. The following example is but one of many. Numerous organizations have lost some, or even all, of their rosters to the highest bidder, rendering null their significant investments of time, energy and funds.

Prime for the Poaching

Founded in May of this year, Enigma Gaming’s League of Legends roster shows promise of qualifying for the Challenger Series. Their performance in the amateur scene has been quite impressive; they have placed first on many occasions, including in multiple Go4LoL and League One tournaments. Further impressive is their possession of three out of the top four ranked 5s teams on the EUW ladder. However, it is precisely these qualifications that make them so appealing to other organizations.

On August 18th, Enigma Managing Director Nick Smith was contacted via Facebook by an interested party. This individual introduced himself as Rhys, manager of Exertus Esports. The two transitioned to Skype, where Rhys revealed his intention of purchasing Enigma’s League of Legends roster. Aside from his personal attachment to the players, Smith informed this potential buyer that his players were all under long-term contracts, but was willing to discuss a partnership/sponsorship arrangement. Rhys then asked if he could see the contracts himself and if Enigma’s management would provide a buyout price. Smith responded by saying that they were not particularly interested in selling, and that if they were, it would be at a far greater price than the team was worth. He also informed Rhys that he was not willing to share his players’ contracts with him. This conversation concluded with both parties agreeing to discuss matters further after a few days.

Deceitful Tactics

However, unbeknownst to Smith at the time, Rhys proceeded to contact a player on Enigma Gaming only a few hours after their initial conversation. Not wasting any time, the first question he posed was, “Are you guys under a contract?” The player was immediately apprehensive; without answering directly, he questioned Rhys’ intentions. The Exertus Manager then specified that he was interested in whether or not said contract contained a buyout clause. He continued, explaining that Exertus recognized their roster’s budding talent and wished to help them reach their potential. The player asked if they would need to leave Enigma; Rhys responded that yes, they would have to do so in order to join Exertus Gaming. Upon the player mentioning that he would discuss the matter with Enigma’s management, Rhys become irate. He proceeded to claim that Enigma Gaming had “no money in it”, and that the contracts were essentially void. The player, having had enough of this conversation, recommended that Rhys discuss matters with another player on the team.

A few days later, Rhys initiated contact with this other player on Enigma Gaming. After being denied a Skype conversation, Rhys presented his offer via direct message on Twitter: Exertus was willing to offer the Enigma League of Legends roster “full LAN support” at the modest price of 10% of the team’s tournament winnings. This offer included the possibility of travel to North America to compete in tournaments. The Enigma Gaming player was confused; he was under the impression that Exertus already had a League of Legends team. Rhys explains that they did in fact have one, but that they “are in a state where (they) can fund both.” He also mentioned that, depending on how things played out, Exertus was willing to drop their original team and fully support the new roster. The player wasn’t particularly keen on the prospect of sharing a roof with another team – especially one that he could be replacing. Rhys responded that, after having just spoken with his boss, Exertus would be willing to release their original roster upon the signing of the new one. After discussing things with his team, the player informed Rhys that they were content to stay with their current organization, saying that they have it “nice and safe in Enigma.”

This proved quite disappointing to the Exertus manager. Rhys advised the player against staying with Enigma, saying that “in the long term, Enigma will only fuck you over.” He also claimed that the owner has been “jumping organizations since 2003.” (Enigma has two owners – it isn’t clear which one he was referring to.) A few days later, Rhys contacted this player again and continued pushing the offer. He boasted about the “pedigree” of Exertus and continued to badmouth Enigma Gaming. After a final refusal from the player, Rhys reluctantly accepted their decision.

The Big Picture

Situations like these are unfortunately common in the amateur scene. The road to the Challenger Series, let alone LCS, is fraught with obstacles. This is a troubling situation for many reasons. First, this hinders the development of native talent. Many players in the amateur scene have bad experiences with organizations sooner or later, and with a career in professional gaming being fragile enough as is, this could dissuade many young players from pursuing eSports. Most players, such as those on the Exertus Gaming roster, are expendable; contracts at this level generally exist to protect the organization, not the players. Second, honest, well-meaning owners and managers can lose their rosters in the blink of an eye. This can dissuade many of them from entering, let alone staying, in the scene. Third, teams in the amateur scene with unethical owners/managers could potentially make it to the Challenger Series, or even the LCS. Are these the types of individuals we want at the forefront of our scene? Surely, they are not.

This entire discussion begs a number of questions: So what? What do we do about it? How can we improve the amateur scene? If there are obvious answers to these questions, I must apologize; I dont have them. However, even without an immediate solution, I would still argue that the these questions are worth asking.