In an effort to inspire and bring up the next generation of North American talent, Riot have put together Scouting Grounds, a League of Legends combine designed to take the best players on the ranked ladder and have them show off their skills in front of various LCS and CS representatives. As well, the players will get immersed into the lifestyle of a professional, and as a result pick up crucial tips and tricks to succeed at the highest levels of competitive play. If all goes well, the players could even be retained by these organizations and kickstart their career.

This year, the top 20 players (four in each role) that fulfilled Riot’s criteria are participating in the inaugural event, with high expectations for a fair few of them. We caught up with five players to keep an eye on at the combine and spoke to them about their motivations, their unique path to Scouting Grounds, and their ideal playstyle.

Top Lane: Fallenbandit

Notable Champions: Kayle, Gankplank, Nautilus, Kennen

Comfortably in the Top 10 of the solo queue ladder at the time of the scouting ground lock, Fallenbandit comes into this event as the second-highest LP attendee (970), the highest among top laners, and a plethora of competitive 5's experience with the success to match. As a representative of the now-disbanded Team Checkpoint (which featured fellow scouting grounds players Zaganox, Omargod, and Lolfill), Fallenbandit won the highly competitive DreamHack Montreal and came out undefeated in a group featuring Open Qualifier stalwarts Arsenal and Frank Fang Gaming at the Carbon Premier Invitational. His solo queue prowess combined with his LAN experience and competitive nature puts him at the top of the tops.

Do you feel you play better in a carry role or do you feel more comfortable supporting others and enabling them to carry?

I like being able to carry a game and have things work around me, but I understand that this can't always be the case so I'm also content with helping other people carry better.

You recently played in and won DreamHack Montreal with Team Checkpoint. What was that experience like for you and what did you learn from it?

It was a really fun experience being able to meet a lot of the players that I've played with in solo queue. Honestly, I was nervous going into the event because there were several challenger teams there and I wasn't too sure about how they were going to perform, but it turned out pretty well. Everyone on our team kept a positive mindset and that was one of the key things that helped secured our victory in the end. I learned how to deal with the anxiety of playing in-person and the importance of keeping your team's morale up.



And yeah... I guess you can say we learned how playing from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. [in Montreal] is not exactly very fun.

What are you expecting from this experience? An LCS starting spot? Have you heard from these teams in advance?

I'm excited to see some familiar faces at Scouting Grounds and will expect everyone to try their hardest. I don't necessarily think I'll place right into LCS but I want to get as far as I can possible get with my current skills whether it’s LCS, NA CS, or other team opportunities.

Remaining Scouting Grounds Top Laners Notable Champions Bobjenkins Kennen | Riven Maxtrobo Poppy | Gangplank | Riven i Shadow i Yasuo | Riven



Jungle: Omargod

A true leader in every sense of the word, Omargod is the jungler we highlight not only for his evident skill in solo queue, but for his status as a key leadership figure in the teams he has played on. The captain of his League of Legends collegiate team at SUNY at Stony Brook, and another member of the Team Checkpoint that ravaged tournaments over the past summer, Omargod is among the talent that's paving the way for a new generation of NA junglers, breaking point memes be damned. His insane champion diversity combined with his stellar Lee Sin makes him incredibly flexible and mechanically proficient enough to keep up with the game's best.

Notable Champions: Lee Sin, Graves, Olaf

Describe your ideal meta.

The last patch of season 6 was the ideal meta. It gave aggressive junglers ample opportunities to solo carry and snowball maps by themselves. If your team had a bad jungler, you would almost always lose the game. Also, out of the top 20 players, 10 of them were junglers at one point.

Do you prefer a team dynamic where you are the one carrying or where you facilitate the success of others?

I prefer a team dynamic where I can solo carry my team, but it's also really nice to be able to facilitate the success of others by ganking and warding their lane and making sure they're in a position to succeed.

You're a particularly unique attendee to my knowledge, being the only candidate to have participated in ULoL. Can you describe what that experience was like for you and how it helped you grow into the player you are today?

It's actually pretty funny. All of my current ULoL teammates don't want me to get scouted so that I can come back and carry them, but at the same time it would be really cool if I go pro and give them shoutouts. Playing for ULoL helped me improve as a team player and as a captain immensely. Before, I would give criticism and hoped my team would improve and not hold me back. But as we played together more, I realized that in order for us to succeed, I would have to do everything to support them by individually guiding and helping them to improve to succeed. You can't help your team by just criticism, you gotta help them improve. I guess [as a result] the player I am today is that I never criticize, or condemn, or complain about my teammates. Instead, I try my best to show sincere appreciation and praise them for improving.

What are you expecting to get out of this experience? Would you only settle for LCS offers or are CS and sub positions on the table for you?

I know I'm good enough to play for an LCS team. But since I'm relatively unknown as a player, it would be really hard to get on an LCS team, Realistically, I would play starter for a challenger team and get my name well known. If I don't get offers, I really hope I can get an internship from Riot Games and build my network there. It's my dream to code and design League of Legends.

Remaining Scouting Grounds Junglers Notable Champions Silas Kroeger Zac | Rek'Sai | Hecarim Gahlin Evelynn | Hecarim Wiggily Elise | Nidalee | Hecarim

Mid Lane: Tuesday

A former Flash Point esports darling, Tuesday is the one to watch in the all-important mid lane because of his relative experience at LAN as well as his relative champion diversity compared to his scouting grounds peers. Whereas they have been criticized for their tendencies to gravitate towards one or two champions, Tuesday does not have the same propensity to be banned out, making him an appealing option to teams participating. His tendency to be an aggressive trader, both for good and for bad as highlighted in this series, makes him appealing as bait for an active jungler looking for ganks and counter-ganks. In teamfights, Tuesday plays his part admirably, either as a diver or a peeling presence, and he adjusts his build and his method of playing teamfights better than most as a game goes on. In that sense, Tuesday is a fantastic team player, harnessing his time at Flash Point to build up skills such as effective roaming and having a more imposing map presence.

Notable Champions: Cassiopeia, Viktor, Syndra

Describe your ideal meta.

I like the control mage meta but I wish there was some sort of viable assassin, so a mix of both control mages and assassin would be the ideal meta for me. I used to play a lot of Zed and Ahri back when they were really good.

Do you prefer being a mid laner that plays a carry in the mid lane or as one who plays supportive champs meant to facilitate the success of others?

I definitely prefer playing carry mid laners, but with a good team and players I trust I can play supportive mid laners like Karma and Zilean just as well.

You're one of a few of Canadians who will be making the trip over to NA Scouting Grounds. Do you think Canada is overlooked when it comes to teams looking for the next NA prodigies?

I don't feel any difference between Canada and United States when it comes to finding new talent. I strongly believe we have a lot of talent here in Canada and, as a French-Canadian, I'll try my best to show everyone that we can be serious about the game too, since we have a pretty bad reputation as a community.

What's one area of your game that you want to improve on while here? The mid lane selections have been criticized for their small champion pools; is this something you might be working on?

I do think the rest of the mid laners going to scouting ground have a really small champion pool. I play close to every meta mid, and for me being a good mid laner is being able to adapt to the meta quickly and always be on top of it. I kinda wished I was against mid laners with a wider champion pool, because I feel like the competition at Scouting Grounds is not gonna be so good after banning their main champion.

What kind of offers do you hope to get out of this experience? LCS, CS, Sub?

With scouting grounds, I’m hoping to perform well enough to get noticed by a challenger team. LCS is obviously the ultimate goal, but I'm staying realistic and I have to prove myself before getting there. so yeah I improved a lot over the past three months and I've been putting a lot of work in, so I'm confident I can get scouted by a challenger team.

Remaining Scouting Grounds Mid Laners Notable Champions Rjsgoddnd Gangplank | Viktor | Ryze Strompest Ryze | Fizz Butler Delta Anivia

AD carry: Deftly

With impressive showings in solo queue and in organized leagues, Deftly was scouted and has been a part of the new generation of Cloud9 Challenger that has been training with their staff and ensuring that they have everything they need to succeed (including the attitude).



Notable Champions: Sivir, Caitlyn, Jhin

Describe to me your ideal meta.

My ideal meta is one that plays around AD carries; mainly one where assassins can't one shot and tanks can't simply run them down with Ghost. For champions, it'd most likely be AD carries that can scale and hyper-carry. Champions like Sivir, Vayne, and Ezreal especially.

You were selected after the punishment of an ADC above you in the rankings. Do you feel like you have something extra to prove compared to the other AD Carries attending as a result of that?

Despite the context of how I was promoted, I really don't feel I have anything to prove. Especially with current scrim results. Most of these AD carries can’t keep up to me, on a mechanical or knowledge level of the game

I understand that you gave up a C9 Challenger contract to attend this event. What was your experience like with that organization and how did they help you take the next step, if at all?

I didn't necessarily give up a contract, but I do play on C9C [without a contract] currently. My experience with the organization has been a great learning experience, with the organization giving us access to an analyst and allowing us to have a strict scrim environment. They helped me take the next step by giving us more in-depth analysis than most amateur coaches would, as well as giving me a strong roster to scrim against some surprisingly strong teams on.

What are you expecting from this experience? LCS opportunities, CS? Sub opportunities?

Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect from this experience. There's a lot of rumors about how people think it's going to be a waste of time, how the players going don't actually represent any of the strong amateurs, but I definitely think I'll stand out. There's almost no way I don't get any attention from my play when compared to some of the players going.

Remaining Scouting Grounds AD Carries Notable Champions Shynon Jhin | Caitlyn Zaganox Lucian | Jhin iKingvex Corki | Lucian

SUPPORT: Winter

The odd one out, Winter is a support to watch because of his champion pool. The mantra he described for his supports of choice was simple: “I like CC.” His new account's two most played champions include Morgana and Veigar, both who have crowd control longer than the time it takes to brush your teeth in the morning. They’re also champions that didn’t really have a place in Season 6’s meta, and yet he found so much success with them in his play. The one weak side is that his overall propensity towards playmaking leaves him lagging behind the other scouting grounds attendees in warding numbers (Winter averages eight less wards per game than his competition). If he brings those up to par, we could be seeing someone very special.



Notable Champions: Morgana, Thresh, Karma

Describe your ideal meta.

I don't really have a preferred meta, but I prefer supports with CC who can make plays (Thresh, Alistar, Morgana). I also like champions with a high mechanical ceiling, who can be clutch if you don't miss anything.



You have a unique distinction to the other supports attending scouting grounds, in that you play Morgana a lot more than anyone else. Why do you think she is so strong? Did preseason help her?

I don't think she's strong, she's just good against CC tanks who can't break her shield. The pre-season didn't actually change anything on her, she's the exact same.

How do you think the supports attending will be judged? Much of their strength has to do with synergy with teammates and success of their AD carry. Do you think the choice of AD carry you play with will have a big impact on how well you perform?

I think we will all be judged on our communication and mechanical skills, but we will work on shotcalling and team synergy together too. Yes, at the end of the day you need an ADC who you can have a good synergy with to get the best of both worlds.

What do you expect from this? LCS, CS, or sub offers?

I don't know what I will get from this, maybe an offer and experience playing with a team, but I would really love to get the chance to prove my worth because it's my dream to be a pro player.

Final words or shoutouts

Yes I would love to thank my fiancée and my family, because they really took this dream upon themselves to let me come this far. I feel as if my fiancée impacted my league career a lot during our relationship. She has been there when I needed it and motivated me a lot to continue to try hard and even harder than before. This is why I would like to make it to the pro scene: especially for me but for her too, because I want to show her that those efforts were not in vain after all. I'm really thankful to all of you who let me have my chance.

Remaining Scouting Grounds Supports Notable Champions Whyin Janna | Nami | Karma LolFill Janna | Braum | Alistar PandaTV Janna | Braum | Alistar

Scouting Grounds runs from Nov.13-19.

Gabriel Zoltan-Johan is a News Editor at theScore esports and the head analyst for the University of Toronto League of Legends team. His (public) musings can be found on his Twitter.