Nadeshot explains why criticism of 100 Thieves LCS team isn’t fair

Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag, popular esports entrepreneur and ex-professional Call of Duty player, has criticized the current state of the LCS, arguing that it simultaneously wants teams to develop young talent and win trophies. 

100 Thieves’ recent expansion into the second season of the CDL has caused major excitement among the esports community. The organization’s success has been largely mixed in esports so far, but the thought of it coming back to its owner’s roots has, understandably, generated anticipation.

One of the esports in which we’ve already seen 100 Thieves compete is League of Legends. The roster has had mixed success, and seen a plethora of players come and go.

However, as many fans look forward to the future, Nadeshot has been reflecting on his organization’s mixed fortunes in the LCS.

During a November 13 live stream, Nade took some time to discuss his issues with the LCS, explaining that he finds some of the standards placed on rosters unrealistic and contradictory.

• Read More: 100 Thieves officially enter Call of Duty League as Los Angeles Thieves

“Here’s the issue with League of Legends esports,” he said, while playing Black Ops Cold War. “Every, every, every single fan and journalist wants you to win now but then they preach about development of talent. It’s win now, develop talent at the same time. It’s a very difficult thing to do.”

Essentially, Nade is arguing that developing talent often comes at the expense of not winning trophies for at least a few seasons. Young players can often take time to gel and perform, requiring coaching and practice to be able to compete with the very best.

“League of Legends is a difficult space for a new team,” he continued. “I mean, obviously we went to Worlds our first year which was incredible. [But] I think that just gave us unrealistic expectations… We were matched up against teams that have been in the league for 10 years. We had to come in and build relationships with players, player’s managers and agents, other organisations to make transactions with each other. It’s not as easy as it may seem. Everybody just wants us to write a cheque and go and get the best players right away. We tried to do that.”

He summarized the issue by saying that, irrespective of the research and due diligence, multi-million dollar deals for players can go wrong if the player simply doesn’t pan out as expected.

What the future holds for 100 Thieves League of Legends isn’t particularly clear, but Nadeshot clearly has some issues when it comes to unrealistic expectations from fans and journalists. Only time will tell whether they can turn their mixed fortunes around.