Getting Noticed by Pro Teams On FACEIT - A CSGO Guide With DignitasVIE HEAP
Learn why the Elo system is so important and how you can climb it with HEAP.
Getting to higher ranks on FACEIT and getting your name out there is one of the main goals of any serious competitive CS:GO player. As soon as they feel they are capable, they toss Valve’s Matchmaking to the side and get on this PUG service that made itself known as one of the best in the business.
There are already several examples of otherwise unknown players that made a name for themselves through the platform and eventually grabbed a professional contract. One of them is even considered one of the best players in the world right now - Robin "ropz" Kool, from mousesports.
But how exactly can a player get known through FACEIT? And why is it so important? These are the questions that I’m going to be tackling in this article and I’m joined by one of the players from the DignitasVIE CS:GO team, Ludvig "HEAP" Alonso!
FACEIT is much more than just a PUG platform - it’s also home to the majority of the open qualifiers that give access to big international tournaments for teams that manage to go through them. And even on those, your FACEIT level can impact the players you face. If most of your team is level 10, you’re most likely to face a lower leveled team in the first round due to automatic seeding - that’s just one of the reasons why ranking up is so important, in case you’re trying to make it a career.
FACEIT is also one of the best tools available to get your name out there and, if things go right, maybe even land a professional contract with a team. It happened before, it can happen again. Contrary to the past where players had to grind team environments to eventually reach professional status, they can now do it “alone”.
If you reach level 10, I think you should try to qualify for FPL-C (FACEIT Pro League Challenger), and then play a lot there! You can then try and climb up to FPL, the main division. In there, you will definitely start to get your name out there to the world. You can even start streaming and people will most likely tune in.
HEAP has no doubt when saying the FACEIT Pro League (or FPL) is the big goal. FPL is a league that was created some years ago where only the best players in the world compete to have the most competitive PUG experience. Not only that, but it also has some amazing monthly prize money for those that are able to finish the month in the top rankings of the ladder. It’s where you see your favorite players like Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev playing. Naturally, it’s super hard to get there.
To serve as a bridge between “normal queues” and FPL, there’s an introductory division called FPL-Challenger (or FPL-C) where players can compete to earn a spot in FPL. There are several ways to get there - either from national qualifiers (you’ll have to get informed about your own country as they’re different for everyone, and not every country has them), through the Master ladder in FACEIT that you can access after reaching level 10, or by direct invitation - this last one is more likely to only happen to players that are having good results on a team.
But first things first, why is ranking up so important and how do you do it?
If you reach Global Elite, you won't face better players in the long term because you peaked. In FACEIT, you can't really peak, since you can still get more and more elo.
One of the reasons is exactly that - you can’t really peak in FACEIT. Sure, you can reach level 10 by the time you get 2000 elo, but it does not stop there. You can have pretty much infinite elo, but it gets harder and harder to climb up because not only will you get fewer points for a win, you’ll also lose way more due to the point difference with the other players.
Some players might even say they already know how to play due to having reached Global Elite rank on Matchmaking. Honestly, that couldn’t be further from the truth, and HEAP also agrees:
When you reach the highest Matchmaking rank, you kind of already know the basics of the game, you're still not that good, let's be honest. But when you reach level 10 FACEIT, you generally are a much better player. The elo system... it's just better than the one in Valve's Matchmaking.
There’s a saying that you will only get better at a game or sport by facing better players than you - and that’s generally true. By playing against better players almost consistently on FACEIT, you’ll be forced to play better, learn new tricks, and that’s how your overall level improves.
I think the elo is not a perfect ranking system, but there's a lot of difference between players that have 3000 or 2000 elo. Sure, you're still level 10, but the small number means so much to show your experience and how much you should know about the game. That's why I think FACEIT is much better than Matchmaking, because once you reach Global Elite, you can't really climb any higher, but when you reach level 10 on FACEIT, you can still climb up indefinitely.
But let’s talk about actually climbing up those levels. First of all, you’re going to have to be patient. Honestly, I look at it just like Matchmaking. If you’re actually playing on a level that makes you deserve higher levels, you’ll eventually get there in the long run. Everybody has those games where you feel you shouldn’t have lost or just got really unlucky on the queue system with some bad teammates. It happens to everyone. But if you grind and continue to be persistent, it’s a given that you’ll eventually reach the place you want to be, as long as you play enough good CS.
The biggest tip I can give you, and probably one that you’ve heard already countless times, is to just grab a few friends that also want to reach higher levels and just play together as a premade. You’re not a team, you’re just a group of friends that enjoy playing together and are looking forward to climbing up the ranks. You’ll learn how to play better in the process and even start to get some team notions, which are even more important in higher levels where team play is of the utmost importance.
I think you should find a few friends to grind on FACEIT and, above all, make sure to have fun! Just grind FACEIT all day and all night, that's what I did!
As HEAP said, make sure to have fun. That’s the most important aspect. After all, this is a game and even the professional players started only as an escape to have some fun.
Stream!
Streaming can be one of the most important tools to get your name out there eventually. If you manage to reach higher levels in FACEIT and maybe even manage to qualify for FPL-C, you should definitely start sharing your journey with others on platforms like FACEIT or YouTube. Sure, it’s not mandatory - you can still get noticed if you’re a CS prodigy, but it will be even harder. Why do you think even the best professional players stream? It’s good for their image and brand, it’s “free” publicity and everyone can do it.
Stream! If you're consistent and have good results on FACEIT, it's almost guaranteed you will gain some traction! Just be nice to people, make some new friends, and maybe someone will start talking about you!
Let’s say you start having some really good results. If you don’t have anything to show, you’re less likely to be noticed because you might be only playing a few games with more influential people that may talk about your potential. But if you stream, everyone can see how good you are, people can start following you and even vouch for you in certain scenarios. Let’s say someone who has a huge following on social media asks about who people think is the “next big thing” - some of your followers might actually refer you and that person will check you out. Do you see where I’m getting at?
Of course, the probability is low, you’re competing against thousands of players, but hey - it happened to some people! You can be the next professional player coming out of FACEIT!
Thank you for reading this article! Hopefully, it will help you climb up those ranks on FACEIT and get your name out there! You can reach out for feedback or suggestions via my Twitter.
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