With RLRS qualifiers coming up and sign ups closing August 6th, you can expect to see an increase of team queues in ranked within the coming couple weeks. Whether you are interested in making a deep run in those qualifiers or you are just interested in participating to see how far you can go, here is a comprehensive list of steps you can take to help you transition from ranked play to tournament play.

Mental Game

Before you pick up the controller, before you even find teammates to play with, the first thing you must do is solidify your mental game. The most integral component, almost as important as your mechanical skill, is the mentality you go into each game with. Something I have struggled with personally when playing competitively is keeping a positive attitude going into matches. Staying optimistic and keeping faith in yourself and your teammates all depend on the mentality you enter field with.

These are the key components of keeping a level-head. This is especially prevalent in tournament play compared to ranked because unlike ranked, tournament play occurs in series, where the winner is decided by how many games they win out of three, five, or seven games. One lesson that I learned the hard way as I began to play competitively was maintaining my mental stamina, or realizing losing the first game potentially does not matter because there are at least a couple games left to play. Being calm yourself not only benefits your play, but also has huge effect on team morale which is essential in the instance you and your team need to make a comeback in a series. Pierre "Turbopolsa" Silfver, as shown above, exemplifies the ideal mental state as he has won three world championships in a row as a player.

Finding Teammates

You and your teammates are what will define you team, which is why finding compatible teammates is essential to creating a team dynamic that thrives when you and your teammates are clicking as well as motivates you when you all are not. Of course, finding teammates close in skill is integral, but more importantly it is necessary to find compatible teammates. The ideal teammate should be one that you have fun with, but also one that is not afraid to tell you their opinions on not only the whole of the game but your play as well in a non-toxic manner.

You should be able to joke around with your teammates just like Team-Dignitas players Pierre "Turbopolsa" Silfver and Alexandre "Kaydop" Courant are able to as shown above. Enjoying spending time with them because you’ll spend a lot of it with them, but not so much so that you are afraid of hurting their feelings when giving them constructing criticism. The goal of the entire team should be around improving, so whether or not you are giving or receiving criticism, it is important to let any personal pride go when trying to improve. For instance, I have one particular teammate who was not afraid to tell me what I was doing wrong in what I perceived to be a blunt manner, but what I realize now is it was just honest manner, and I can truthfully say that my play as well as the team’s play improved because of it. So that being said, when choosing teammates, someone who is close in skill, fun, and honest is ideal.

Practice

After gathering your mentality and your teammates, now comes the fun part: what most of the community terms as “grinding.” This refers to playing what might seem like endless hours with your team in order to get better. Ranked is the most obvious place to get in practice quickly with your team. However, there are a couple other ways of gaining even more valuable practice as well.

Commonly referred to as “scrims,” scrimmages are practice series where two organized teams play a series and take it as seriously as an actual tournament match. Playing scrimmages is the ideal place to work on communication between teammates and developing your team style and chemistry against real, developed teams rather than against solo queue teams. If someone does not have a full team, that’s fine too! Settle for a lobby of six mans which is where a lobby of six close-in-skill players rotate teams every game and focus on improving in an environment guaranteeing them strong opposition and teammates every game. With two world championships in a row under their belt as a team, Team-Dignitas, as shown below, epitomizes hard work and "grinding."

Game Day

After grinding with your team for hours and hours, the occasion of RLRS qualifiers is finally here, and just like any other major occasion, it is important to maintain your health before you play. Getting a sufficient amount of sleep and eating well are key because, whether it is apparent or not, your health on the day will affect how you play. Besides that, keep a level-head, communicate with you team, and execute those plays you and your team practiced so much and your hard work will pay off in the end. Good luck!

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